The Koberger-Bible

Splendid, originally coloured incunable:
9th German Bible, called "The Koberger-Bible"
Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1483 A.D.

This is the first of the two volumes Koberger Bible, which was printed in Nuremberg on February 17th, 1483 A.D. It is the ninth of the eighteen editions of bibles printed in German before Luther, and is considered one of the most beautiful bibles ever printed. The Koberger-Bible is a typical bible of the incunabula era and, in addition to the Nuremberg Chronicle, is one of Koberger’s most important prints. The estimated print run is between 1000 and 1500 copies, of which only about 150 still exist in public collections.

The printing office of Koberger was equipped with 24 manual presses, and employed about 100 assistants. For its time, it was a large firm with international contacts and clients. Koberger also printed several editions of Latin Bibles, which he ordered to be printed in Lyon, Basle or Venice as a way of saving transportation costs to the trade fairs.

Koberger’s Bible is impressive because of the splendour and vibrancy of its woodcuts presented in landscape format as well as from the new typeface used, the richrubrication and the beautiful colouration.

With a few changes by Koberger, the text was taken from the fourth German Bible, which was published by Zainer in Augsburg in 1475 A.D.

The woodcuts originate from the two Lower German Bibles, which were printed in 1478 in Cologne. Koberger bought the printing plates and adopted 109 of the 123 woodcuts from the Cologne Bible (82 of the 109 are included in the first volume which is offered here). The woodcuts illustrate the Old Testament and the Apocalypse. The names of the main figures are stated, making it easy to identify the scenes. There are some idealised images, like that of God the Father as a dignified, old man with a long, white beard and halo. Due to a mistranslation of Exodus 34:29, Moses is shown as a horned man. The image of Creation in the present volume is splendidly decorated by gold-leaf, and is considered one of the most beautiful woodcuts in an early Bible edition.

The woodcuts of the Koberger Bible are impressive because of their rich colours and diverse shades: luminous blue, cinnabar, bright yellow, ochre, brown, violet and different tones of green. It is assumed that many copies of the Bible were coloured in Koberger’s own workshop before they were sold, which was quite unusual at that time. It is therefore rather likely that the present, coloured volume was coloured in Koberger’s workshop. His book painters were working expressively with a combination of colours that intensified the vibrancy of the woodcuts and that created a dimension of depth.

Koberger left blank spaces for initials in the text, which were then painted with red and blue Lombard initials after the printing, probably also directly in Koberger’s workshop. All majuscules in the text were indicated with a small cinnabar dash. This improved the readability and enforced the solemn character of the Bible.

The type that was used by Koberger was a new Bastarda which formally is somewhere between Schwabacher and Fraktur script. It makes for a readable typeface that is reminiscent of manuscripts. Chapter headings were accentuated using a large size of a Rotunda type.