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BIBLE, New Testament in Greek. TH? KAINH? ?IA?HKH? A?ANTA. Novum Iesu Christi Domini Nostri Testamentum.
Sedan, Ioannes Iannoni, 1628 [March 1629]
£1450.00
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32mo. pp. [3], 4-571, [v] last two ll. blank. Greek letter. Small floriated initials, entirely ruled in red. C19 armorial Bookplate of the Earl de Grey on pastedown, manuscript notes praising the volume and especially its typography in latin and Greek on fly. A fine copy, crisp and clean with large margins in 17th-century English black morocco, covers triple ruled in gilt to a panel design, large fleurons to corners of outer panel, spine with raised bands, double gilt ruled in compartments, metal clasps, lacking catches, spine slightly faded. a.e.g. A lovely, handsomely bound copy of one of the smallest Greek Testaments ever printed, using one of the smallest Greek types ever made. This miniature Greek New Testament, entirely unglossed, takes the text from the 1624 Elzevir edition, and for generations has been a sought after bibliophilic delight. Jannon, a Protestant from Switzerland, trained in Paris before working as a printer for the Calvinist Academy in Sedan. In 1621 he printed a Specimen in which he showed a range of types, which Beatrice Ward showed to be the types used (from 1640) by the Imprimerie Royale. He produced his own version of Garamond's Roman and Italic types which were often confused with Garamond's. A lovely copy well bound probably in London c. 1680. From the library of Thomas Philip, Earl de Grey, (1781-1859), known as Lord Grantham from 1786 to 1833, a Tory politician and statesman. He was made Privy Counsellor in December 1834, holding office as first Lord of the Admiralty till April 1835, and a Knight of the Garter in 1844. He was appointed yeomanry aide-de-camp to William IV and held similar position under Queen Victoria. He was the first president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, a fellow of the Royal Society, a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and served as one of the New Buckingham Palace Commissioners from 1848. Besides remodeling his London home at No.4 St James's Square (now the Naval & Military Club) he designed the new Wrest House inspired by French architecture at his Wrest Park estate estate in Bedfordshire between February 1833 and October 1839, assisted by James Clephan. A lovely copy of this beautifully printed miniature book.
BM STC Fr. C17 946. Darlow & Moule 4676: 'the smallest Greek Testament ever printed, with the exception of Pickering's miniature edition of 1828'
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