The text is Daniel 12:3 (being the end of Daniel's apocalyptic vision of the end days) though Hosea 1–3:5 (with its promises/foretelling of Israel's destruction). It is printed in roman brevier type, in double-column format, with generally 62 lines per column. It took 139 and a half weeks to set the type and print the Bible.

The Bible was a monumental undertaking and achievement in its day and it remains an American monument today.

•  Evans 73; Wing (rev. ed.) B2755; ESTC W38287; Darlow & Moule 6737; Pilling, Algonquian, 139–152; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 1175–77; Winship, Cambridge Press, pp. 208–44.   Removed, inner margin slightly irregular; edges chipped (never approaching text) and light soiling. Definitely, a treasure.  (26071)

•  Very good condtion, in a single-ply mat.  (24660)

•  Vellum soiled, with a few holes or tears along the edges and a few small holes in the text. Pieces of cellophane tape have been affixed in the margins of the verso, one running out beyond the page. Much of the text and music has been erased, or covered over with strips of vellum, and rewritten. Interesting to look at. Though this is one of our smaller pictures, it is one of our larger leaves!

In the U.S., both Goff and the ISTC only locate only stray leaves of this text: two at Stanford and one at Illinois.

Provenance:  Clearly once part of a offering of The Foliophiles Incorporated, and probably from its ad hoc album Pages from the past : a collection of original leaves from rare books and manuscripts [New York: T.F.I., c1926–27].

•  ISTC ij00554000; Goff J554; H 9556*; GKW 7675; Pr 4725; BMC, V, 309.   Mounted on a brown cardboard backing, with a description (but no bibliographical information) on the verso of the board. Leaf in very good, bright condition.  (27100)

•  ISTC im00464000; Goff M464; H 11040*; Pr 516; BMC, I, 119.   Inner margin irregular and light semi-circular waterstain in lower outside corner away from text. Leaf identified in pencil in lower margin of the recto side.  (26686)

The text is written in one column of 50 lines on the recto and 51 lines on the verso. The leaf is faintly ruled in lead on the verso only, the impression of the ruling showing on the recto, the top line of text being above the top line of ruling; on the right edge of the page are double rules enclosing the first letter of each line. On the outer edge are prickings for the ruling. The left edge of the recto has directions to the rubricator, the explicits of each section being done in darker ink in a different hand. One line on the verso has been crossed out with a single thin line of ink. At the bottom of the verso is the quire number VIII and remnants of a catchword can just be seen at right on the bottom edge. English manuscripts from this period are rare.

Provenance: Ex–Zion Research Foundation (later known as the Endowment for Biblical Research); very likely to Zion from Ege.

•  Judith, Manuscripts Sacred and Secular, 18, f. 9. A small hole in the lower margin. Parchment a little soiled, especially on the hair side, as is not unusual with English vellum. Traces of adhesive from mounting on the corners of the verso.

Available AT THIS WRITING, subject to prior sale: C (the Israelites gathering manna), D (man kneeling in prayer, before a radiance), I (Sts. Peter and Paul), M (woman giving alms), S (the Savior[?] with an orb), and V (the Ascension).

•  Each leaf is offered unmatted, in a museum-recommended and -approved clear Mylar sleeve that will allow it to be enjoyed without worry of soiling it with hand oils or dust.

•  ISTC is00307000; Goff S307; HC 14508*; Klebs 889.1; Polain(B) 3469; IGI 8828; Oates 1026, 1027, 1028, 1029; Pr 2084; BMC, II, 437.   Old stitching holes in inner margin; one short tear in lower margin; spotting or old staining (generally light) in margins; no wormholes. Very nice.  (26692)

The text is St. Thomas' highly influential theological treatise: It is printed in a small gothic with roman influence, in double-column format, 48 lines per column, with hand rubrication and one initial (“A”) accomplished by hand in blue. The type bears all the appearance of a trial font and clearly was one that did not gain favor, thereby making it yet more interesting.

•  ISTC it00197000; Goff; T-197; Hain; 1440*; BMC, VII, 911 (IB. 29893); Pr *6781; Oates 2550.   Overall dust-soiling; old creasing, one tear into text without loss, and some small, pin type worming. One margin reinforced and two other small areas with modern paper reinforcement. A very nice early incunable leaf, and a handsome representative of an early Italian incunable.  (26688)

•  This leaf is folded in half to fit the folder, with a good scattering of medium-sized, perfectly round pin-type wormholes.

A small sheet, with a pleasantly compact text block.

This leaf is only 4 1/4 inches tall and two inches wide. That's a woman's forefinger, not a man's thumb, in the picture . . .

That's it, for the printed “portfolio” leaves!

Click either image for an enlargement.

This particular choirbook was printed with 10 lines of text and music per page. Each leaf contains music and words, and is printed in black and red; text is in black, with an occasional small letter in red, and the music is provided for all the antiphons in black square notation on a four-line red staff. Antiphons begin with a tall decorative initial printed in red, as high as the text and music together. The initials vary from leaf to leaf.

•  Crisp, wide margined leaf with slightest bleed-through from one side to another. Printed on handmade paper of 100% rag. A marvelous display, accent, or gift item.

We offer a copy of the last of those variants — the decidedly rare Signers’ Edition. Bound in full morocco, it containstwo original Bible leaves, one from the Old and one from the New Testament.  (The “Colonial Edition” contains only one leaf, from the Old Testament, and it was bound in quarter leather.)

Single-click either image, for an enlargement.

Not content merely to double the ordinary offering of Aitken Bible leaves, the Signers' Edition added a special insert on Benjamin Franklin that contains a third original leaf — this from Franklin's 1745 printing of the Confession of Faith — being, in this copy, the start of ch. XXVIII, “On Baptism.”

Found only here in the Signers’ Edition, in addition to the standard (and handsome) facsimile of a 3-page letter from George Washington, are a facsimile of Aitken's printing of the Declaration of Independence and a special frontispiece that presents facsimiles of all of the signatures of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

All editions of this fine leaf book end with Edwin Grabhorn’s still-notable essay on typography in America at the time of the Revolution.

•  Full crushed morocco, some spots to covers and without the slipcase; clean, and quite a good copy. (10453)