Biblia or a Practical Summary of Old & New Testaments. 1728. Wilkin, R. [London]. 1727. Underlined in red and hand corrected to 1728. Red binding.

Biblia or a Practical Summary of Old & New Testaments. Wilkin, R. In S.Paul's Churchyard. [London]. This particular copy has been ruled in red on every page, including title-pages, plates and blank leaves, before being bound. In contrast to the considerable numbers of unlined Wilkin's Biblia that were printed, Adomeit records only a single copy that has been decorated in this way (Adomeit copy 1), in fact Adomeit stated that  it "is the only Thumb Bible located that has been so decorated". 1727 hand corrected to 1728. Adomeit reports that other than the rare red underlining and this date alteration, "there seems to be no difference" between copies with the handwritten dates and those without them. [i-iv], [1], 2-153, [154-155], 156-278, [279-84] printed pages. 16 copperplate engravings, including two frontispiece illustrations, one preceding the Preface and another prior to the main text, as well as two engraved title pages. Choice and content of the images is extremely close to the adjacent text and, compared to many other Thumb bibles, they are plentiful. To this day, the author of this most influential Thumb Bible in the English speaking world remains entirely unknown. Issued by printer and bookseller Richard Wilkin, this is the first English thumb Bible in prose, all earlier editions having been in verse, and was very popular with children although intended for adults; illustrations in the Wilkin Bible are "vastly superior" to those in the Newbery edition. Indeed, the plain but finely executed depictions of Biblical subjects, such as Noah, Joshua, and the Nativity, are striking for the boldness of their lines. It is for this and other reasons that Bondy considered the Newbery Bible to be "distinctly inferior in most respects" to Wilkin's Bible. It is a translation, copy (illustrations), and expansion (4 times longer) of the Lutheran schoolteacher & author, Georg C. Ganshorn's German Thumb Bible, the  3rd edition 1705 Altdorff Biblia.  It adds an entire new Book, 'A Brief Chronological Account of the State of the Jewish People, from the Death of Moses, to the Birth of Christ'. 3 x 4 cm.  Original red morocco. The spine has some damage. Inner hinge cracked and showing some weakness. An image of a title-page from a copy that has not been underlined in red ink is supplied for comparison. Adomeit, B16. Bondy, 33. MyrvoldParmente, 58. Welsh, 1003.   2 firsts2024