Exceptional copy with richly coloured woodcut illustrations by Georg Lemberger

49 Martin Luther, Das newe testament deutzsch

Wittenberg: Melchior Lotter, 1524. First in-8° (otherwise fifth) edition by Lotter, in revised second state.

8°, 169 x 119 mm. 330 leaves, complete:A-T8,V10, a-x8 (including blank leaf V10). – Title page with coloured woodcut border, 44 full-page woodcuts printed from 34 blocks by Georg Lemberger, with lavish original colouring heightened with gold. – Well-preserved, partly finger-stained. A small water stain on the illustration on r3 has dissolved the colour (cf. off-print on the opposite page) and has caused the woodcut to shine through. – Later black morocco binding with silver buckles, two clasps and punched gilt edges. In a modern half-leather box.

PROVENANCE: 1. Fly-leaf with note of ownership in pencil: Johann Roth (?), probably 19th century. 2. Note on rear paste-down in pencil: 1944 (name illegible). 3.W. H. Schab, in 1964 sold to 4. Collection Otto Schäfer, Schweinfurt, OS 339.

TEXT:Titled Das Newe Testament Deutsch. Vuittenberg, Luther’s first translation of the entire New Testament from the Greek original was published by Melchior Lotter the Younger in September 1522, with woodcut illustrations by Lucas Cranach. The so-called September Testament was received so enthusiastically that a second edition with corrections by Luther was printed as early as December of the same year. Not only is the September Testament regarded as a milestone in the history of German Bible translation, but also it had an unequalled hand in the promotion of the Reformation, as well as in the dissemination of the High German language. Numerous reprints bear witness to its success: 12 editions were published in Basel, Augsburg, Grimma and Leipzig during the year 1523 alone. At the same time, first editions of the translations of the remaining parts of the Bible were prepared in Wittenberg. Although Melchior Lotter was still involved in the publication of the first part of the Old Testament in 1523, the publishers Christian Döring and Lucas Cranach banned him from all further participation in that project in 1524, following his trial for the maltreatment of one of his workshop collaborators. A handier and more easily portable New Testament edition had probably been projected early on and was now realized by Lotter as his sole responsibility. Our copy belongs to the second state of this edition, which is almost identical with the first. Obvious differences include a regular inter-linearity on the title page (VD 16) and corrections on the final page at the end of the index: lies alßo Da eyn grosse theurung ward ym gantzen lande (cf. Panzer).

ILLUSTRATION: In the September Testament only the Apocalypse received a narrative illustration cycle, which is complemented by figurative initials at the beginning of each book. For the in-8° edition Lotter charged the painter and draftsman Georg Lemberger (c. 1495-1540) with the illustration, an artist who worked in Leipzig but who probably originated from Nuremberg or Landshut. His work is clearly indebted to the so-called Danube School centred around Albrecht Altdorfer and Wolf Huber, and he introduced its style to central Germany. A follower of Luther, documented in Leipzig from 1522 onwards, Lemberger was forced to leave the city in 1532 and probably moved to Magdeburg. Some of his woodcuts for the newe testament are dated as early as 1522 and 1523. They were re-used by various publishers until much later in the 16th century. For the Apocalypse, Lemberger took Cranach’s compositions as models, complementing them with new illustrations. With a total of 44 full-page images plus 27 larger initials and the border decoration of the title page, this edition is lavishly illustrated. The Gospels are introduced with portraits of their authors, the Epistles with images of the apostles, and thus each book of the New Testament begins with a woodcut.The artist renders the evangelists as hermits placing them in a wilderness setting, while he shows the apostles in the act of handing over their letters to messengers who depart into wooded, mountainous landscapes. The halos of the apostles are rendered as spectacular, luminous apparitions.The figures are depicted in close-up before landscapes featuring low horizons and woody or rocky mountains. A typical element is the large conifers stretching out their long branches. The woodcuts have been illuminated and heightened with gold. Usually such illumination (‘Fürstenkolorit’) was not produced as serial work, and therefore the owner of this volume must have been of high social standing. The woodcuts themselves are surpassed by the quality of their colouring, which must have been executed by a very talented panel painter or illuminator and which enhances the sense of depth in the images: the dark green trees in the foreground, for instance, are contrasted with the pale blue mountains in the far distance.The draperies of the figures are rendered in vivid colours, and all this is complemented by dramatic cloud formations. The palette likewise recalls panel paintings of the Danube School, as do the large yellow halos, made still more luminous by their golden rays. A well-known panel by Lemberger, “The Fall of Man and his Deliverance” (Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum), shows similar dramatic contrasts and gold heightening and Lemberger himself might therefore have been responsible for the illumination of our volume.

RARITY: Exceptional copy with richly coloured illustrations. Only six copies of each of the two versions of this edition are recorded across the world. No copy has been on the market during the past decades. Moreover, prints of the 16th century with ‘Fürstenkolorit’ are generally extremely rare.

LITERATURE: Panzer 1805, no. 2122, p. 243; Zimmermann 1924, no. 17 and p. 20ff;VD 16 B 4351; Exh. cat. Nuremberg 1987, no. 74; Exh. cat. Schweinfurt 1996, no. 12; Exh. cat. Schweinfurt 2001, no. 9.