INCUNABLE 1482 New Testament LATIN BIBLE with LYRA's Postilla MEDIEVAL Catholic

Description

[Early Printing - Incunabula - Venice] [Holy Bible - Latin - Vulgate - New Testament] [Roman Catholic Church]  [Biblical Exegesis and Commentary] [Judaica - Medieval antisemitic writings]
Printed in Venice by Franciscus Renner de Heilbronn, 1482.
Text in Latin.
Offered here is very attractive example of a
COMPLETE NEW TESTAMENT VOLUME OF THE SECOND EDITION OF THE LATIN BIBLE with the 14th century
Postillae
of the Franciscan Nicholas de Lyra.
Nicolaus de Lyra's massive commentary,
Postilla litteralis
, was the definitive biblical commentary which remained vastly influential from the late Middle Ages until the Reformation, and is considered A MILESTONE IN THE HISTORY OF BIBLICAL EXEGESIS, and was the first Christian Bible commentary ever printed.
Significantly, Lyra's
Postilla
extensively quotes from Rashi and other Rabbinic authorities.
This edition also includes (at the end of the volume) Lyra's short polemical anti-Jewish treatise
Contra perfidiam Judaeorum
which was later used by Martin Luther.
"Luther uses and cites
Contra perfidiam Judaeorum
by Nicholas of Lyra, a work written in the medieval genre of a
defensio fidei
. He argues that Lyra's description of the apostasy of the Jews is a 'right, good, and strong argument'. Jeremy Cohen states that Lyra began
De Iudeorum perfidia
[...] as a scholastic discourse in 1309 and revised it in the 1330s." (Archive for Reformation History, vol.28, p.144)
The prominent early Venetian printer, Franz Renner from Heilbronn, whose press was active from 1478 to 1483, "eschewed the humanities almost entirely, but most of his work, both in roman and in gothic, is conspicuously good of its kind."
(Scholderer,
Fifty Essays
, p. 87).
Nicholas de Lyra (c. 1270 - 1349), a Franciscan theologian, born in La Vieille Lyre in Normandy (Northern France), who taught at the University of Paris, was among the most influential Biblical commentators of the Middle Ages. Lyra studied with the Jewish rabbis of Évreux, one of the medieval centers of Jewish learning, and was known for his knowledge of Hebrew language and Jewish exegetical sources, including the writings of Shlomo Yitzchaki, aka Rabbi Solomon (1040-1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi. His knowledge was displayed in his massive
Postilla
, in which he commented extensively on the entire Bible according to mostly literal senses.
The
Postilla
of De Lyra is considered a milestone in the field of biblical exegesis, not only for its completeness but also because of its use of Hebrew exegetical scholarship. It was used by generations of scholars, among whom JOHN WYCLIFFE and MARTIN LUTHER. John Wycliffe acknowledged his indebtedness to de Lyra in his translation of the Bible from around 1388.
Luther consulted and used the Postillae regularly throughout his career, especially for his translation of Genesis. He saw the work as a good exegetical and practical resource which provided a better understanding of the historical sense of the text.
Luther wrote in his
Tischreden
(Table Talk) "Lyra's Commentaries upon the Bible are worthy of all praise. I will order them diligently to read, for they are exceedingly good, especially on the historical part of the Old Testament.
"
"The report that he was of Jewish descent dates only from the fifteenth century. He took the Franciscan habit at Verneuil, studied theology, received the doctor's degree in Paris and was appointed professor at the Sorbonne. In the famous controversy on the Beatific Vision he took sides with the professors against John XXII. [...] It was to exegesis that Nicholas of Lyra devoted his best years. In the second prologue to his monumental work, Postillae perpetuae in universam S. Scripturam, after stating that the literal sense of Sacred Scripture is the foundation of all mystical expositions, and that it alone has demonstrative force, as St. Augustine teaches, he deplores the state of Biblical studies in his time. The literal sense, he avers, is much obscured, owing partly to the carelessness of the copyists, partly to the unskillfulness of some of the correctors, and partly also to our own translation (the Vulgate), which not infrequently departs from the original Hebrew. He holds with St. Jerome that the text must be corrected from the Hebrew codices, except of course the prophecies concerning the Divinity of Christ. [...] Hereupon he declares his intention of insisting, in the present work, upon the literal sense and of interspersing only a few mystical interpretations. Nicholas utilized all available sources, fully mastered the Hebrew and drew copiously from the valuable commentaries of the Jewish exegetes, especially of the celebrated Talmudist Rashi. [...]
His exposition is lucid and concise; his observations are judicious and sound, and always original. The "Postillae" soon became the favourite manual of exegesis. It was the first Biblical commentary printed. The solid learning of Nicholas commanded the respect of both Jews and Christians.
" (Catholic Encyplopedia).
"
Lyra's most noted work is his
Postillae Perpetuae in Universa Biblica
, 'THE ONLY TRULY IMPORTANT MONUMENT OF CHRISTIAN EXEGESIS SINCE THE EPOCH OF THE CHURCH FATHERS'
[Soury]. It is divided into the
Postilla litteralis
(1322 - 1331), which followed the literal sense in Biblical interpretation, and the
Postilla mystica
(1339), following the mystic sense; it contains fifty books of commentary on the entire Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha; there are also thirty–five books of
Moralities
. [...]
"After Lyra's death the i>Postillae were supplemented by several additions [...] Paul de Santa Maria of Burgos, a Spanish Bishop, who as the Jew Solomon Levi had been converted to Christianity, wrote the
Additiones ad Postillam Nicolai de Lyra super Biblias
, about 1429; and prior to 1469, Matthias Doering published his
Replicae Defensivae
[included in this 1485 edition] in answer to Paul's criticisms of Lyra. The Postillae had great influence among contemporary and later scholars. [...]
"Lyra's exegesis was characterized by a very
independent attitude towards traditional interpretations, by a remarkable historical and critical sense, and by a fidelity to the literal meaning of Biblical texts
. For the enrichment of his works Lyra drew upon many sources: Raymond Martin's writings served him for authoritative information concerning Aramaic and Arabic; he sought the aid of Thomas Aquinas' comments on the Book of Job.
It was, however, to the 'treasures of the Synagogue' that he turned most frequently, making direct use of available Jewish sources. We have already mentioned his reliance upon the commentaries of the great Jewish exegete of Troyes, Rabbi Solomon Isaac, or Rashi.
Like Roger Bacon, he spoke of the latter only in terms of praise. [...]
"Thus Rashi's works passed almost entirely into the writings of the Franciscan monk who, like the Hebraists of the Reformation,
may be called 'a disciple of the Rabbis'.  Lyra transcribes him almost word for word, finding inspiration for the method of literal exegesis in Rashi's use of
peshat
, and making him the source for most of his information concerning Jewish traditions and customs.
From the moment of their first appearance and dissemination until even the present day,
Lyra's works
have exerted a profound influence in the Christian world. The translators of the Latin and Hebrew Bible into the vernacular languages of Europe turned to his commentaries for assistance. [...]
The German Reformers, among them Melanchthon, Urbanus Rhegius and others, consulted Lyra repeatedly, and Luther owed to him much of the knowledge he possessed of Rabbinical literature, particularly of Rashi
; in his interpretation of Genesis he followed Lyra point by point. [...]
In the writings of Servetus, Zwingli, Calvin and many others, Lyra is constantly cited, a fact which is ample indication of his importance, not only in orthodox Catholic, but in Protestant circles as well.
"In fact, it may be said that prior to the Reformation and the rise of scientific grammatical aids to Christian Hebraists, no single individual made the imprint of Jewish and Hebraic scholarship upon Christian interpretation and doctrine so profound as did Nicholas Lyra. The Jewish tradition found in him one of its most powerful bearers and transmitters the more Jewish his scholarship; the more potent was his influence." (Louis Newman,
Jewish Influence in Christian Reform Movements
, p.62-5)
The Vulgate Bible is an early 5th century Latin version of the Holy Scriptures, translated from the Hebrew and Aramaic by St.Jerome between 382 and 405 CE, on the orders of Pope Damasus I.
It takes its name from the phrase versio vulgata, "the translation made public", and was written in a common fourth-century style of literary Latin in conscious distinction from the more elegant Ciceronian Latin. The Vulgate improved upon several translations then in use, and became the definitive and officially promulgated Bible version of the Roman Catholic Church.  Through the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance and Reformation, St. Jerome's monumental work stood as the bedrock of the Roman church as it strove to unite a fractured Europe through the Catholic faith, while also
exerting a powerful cultural influence, especially through art and music.
Bibliographical references:
Hain 3165*; Proctor 4180; Goff B-612; Bod-Inc B-318. BMC V, 197; BSB-Ink. B-447; CIBN B-429; GW 4287; IGI 1685; Copinger, Incunabula Biblica, 58; Darlow–Moule 912.
Physical description:
Folio, textblock measures 32 cm x 21.5 cm. Rebound in modern half leather over marbled boards, spine with raised bands, and a printed paper label. Edges speckled in rd and olive-green.
311 unnumbered leaves (forming 622 pages).
Collation: 38-49
10
50-51
8
52-60
10
61
8
62-65
10
66
8
67-69
10
(-69
10
blank).
COMPLETE N.T. VOLUME
(without the rear blank).
Text in large gothic type, in double columns, surrounded with Lyra's commentary in smaller gothic type (also in double columns); 73 lines of commentary, plus headline. Types: 7:130G (headlines), 9:80G (text) 6:65G (gloss).
Numerous 3- and 5-line initial spaces, filled by contemporary hand with blue and red Lombard initials, many with pen-work decorations and marginal flourishes; rubricated with textual capitals nicely highlighted in pale yellow.
Colophon dated 1482 on leaf 693v, followed by Nicolaus de Lyra's 'Pulcherrime questiones Judaicam perfidiam in catholica fide improbantes' and 'Probatio incarnationis divine persone' (leaves 69
4
r-69
9
r). Registrum on 69
9
v (otherwise blank).
Condition:
Very Good antiquarian condition. Rebound, with new endpapers, but retaining an early front fly-leaf with a 17th-century(?) ownership inscription and a small pasted-on clipping from a French catalogue. First page with an inked-out early possession note to top margin; several pages (mostly in Matthew) with curious manuscript marginal notes in a neat early (late 15th- or 16th-century) hand. Occasional light soiling, several leaves (at the beginning and at end) with light marginal water-staining. Several leaves with light-to-moderate browning. One leaf 53
6
(in Romans 14) with a long tear causing a minor text loss (a few words only); leaf 62
1
with a neat repair to bottom margin (no loss of text). In all, a very attractive, wide-margined, genuine example of this rare early incunable edition of the Vulgate New Testament with Lyra' important commentary.
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