Item Details

Sobota, Jan (binding).

Velislav's Bible [Design Binding].

Czech Republic: Archa Publisher, [2007/2012]. Fascimile/Binding. Hardcover. Limited edition of 799 copies. Jan Sobota was commissioned to bind 10 copies in 'period' style. Soboto passed away, however, after completeing only two of them. One remains with his wife/archive, this is the only copy publically available. It is also the final binding he worked on prior to his death.
The bible has 376 pages and nearly eight hundred paintings. It is the largest illustrated medieval manuscript in central Europe. Sobota's binding is a facsimile of the original binding.
"Most comprehensive illustrated medieval manuscript in central Europe was created around the mid 14th century thanks to the initiative of Velislav, who is portrayed on fol. 188r as kneeling before a statue of St. Catherine, the patron saint of theologians and philosophers. This seems to be evidence that he was a member of the clergy, although he is not wearing a tonsure and his clothing is rather secular. He can be most probably identified with a Prague capitulary of the same name, who was a notary to Jan of Luxembourg, later a notary and a diplomat of Charles IV. The book was created in a secular, laic book-workshop with signs of stable and standardized operation.
Velislav's Bible is neither a biblia pauperum (a Bible of the poor) - this type was introduced only later and typically had around thirty to forty recurring paintings - nor it is a fully illustrated Bible comprising the whole biblical text.
It includes the following books: Genesis (1r-52v), Exodus (53r-88v), Daniel (89r-108r), Judges (108v-115r), Judith (115v-130r), Antichrist cycle (130v-135v), Christological cycle (136r-149r), Apocalypses (153r-168v), Apostles' deeds (169r-179v) and above that a cycle about Czech patrons saints Wenceslas and Ludmila (180r-188r). Different other individual images appear in the second half of the book. Given the fact that vast majority of images is accompanied by comments and that occasionally written names of the characters occur, the manuscript can be regarded as a medieval comics. The brushwork shows some romantic elements, with some elements of the later so-called "beautiful style."" Fine. Tight, bright, and unmarred. Full leather binding, metal fixtures; full color facsimile of the textblock. 4to. np. Illus. (color plates). Limited Edition of 10 [N.B. Only two completed before Sobota's death]. Item #8668

Price: $4,500.00