Bible Historiée
Bible Historiée
| Title | Bible Historiée (or Historiale). |
| Editor | Antoine Vérard |
| Date | c. 1498 |
| Printing Location | Paris, France |
| Contributors |
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| Language | Middle French | Examples accessible |
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About this Bible…
During his reign, Charles VIII, King of France from (1483-1498), made a request of Antoine Vérard, famous Parisian editor: to edit and print the Bible Historiale.1 While the exact datation of this particular Bible is unknown, Hillard, quoted by Fournié assesses that the quality of the illuminated text in this edition is inferior to those typical of books printed for Charles VIII, but does correspond to the quality of those printed under Louis XII, his successor, which makes this Bible likely to have been finished after the death of Charles VIII in 1498.2 It remains, undoubtedly, an incunabulum. As the first full Bible printed in French, it remains an important object in the history of French biblical history.
The text, the various hands that created it, and Vérard’s role
This Bible Historiale (or Historiée) is not a new text by the time the Parisian editor receives the request from the king. Fournié, in looking at the text, assesses that parts of the original text are based on the Historia Scholastica of Pierre le Mangeur (in latin: Petrus Comestor), written in the 12th century, while it also relied on the Vulgate by Saint Jerome, translated by Guyart des Moulins into French.3 This makes it, according to her, “a personal and unprecedented version of biblical history.”4 The exceptional aspect of this text, and later on of this first edition we are concerned with, is that it is the first manuscript that contains the whole of the Bible translated into vernacular French.5 Another man was important to the creation of this Bible: Jean de Rély, the royal chaplain, whom the king had requested be involved, which results in Rély occupying the position of ‘scientific editor’.6
When it comes to the editor Antoine Vérard, not much is known about him and his activity. Scholars have varying hypothesis regarding his origins: some think of him as likely to have been the son of a rich family, others view him as having previously been a copyist or engraver, and more.7 While it is widely thought of that he was ‘merely’ a bookseller, some scholars have advanced the theory that he might also have been a printer. For this edition of the Bible however, the colophon clearly indicates that it was printed for him in his capacity of bookseller: “Imprime a Paris pour Anthoyne Verard libraire”.
The illustrations of the editions that Verard requested are particularly interesting, feeding into the idea that he might have been an engraver of illuminated manuscripts himself.8 However, he was not above asking the printer to reuse engravings, likely in order to cut down cost: Bonicoli estimates that in his first edition of the Bible Historiale, 67 matrixes from a previously published book (Miroir de la rédemption) have been reused.9 The sculpted wood images, through the addition of colours, were altered, leaving only a vague impression of the original engraving.
Furthermore, Verard’s artistic demands were subject to change throughout the multiple editions: in the second edition of this Bible, there are fewer illustrations that can be found.10 More importantly, as he made the decision to sell this Bible in England, Verard had to adjust the illustrations to the public he was directing the items to. Comparing an edition which was intended for the royal court of France and an edition that was sold in England, Dupuigrenet makes the hypothesis that the difference in illustrations between those two copies comes from the need to avoid a political blunder, as the illustration in the English-bought book depicts the insignia of the English royal family rather than those of the French royal family.11
Isaiah’s Vision : the illustration in Vérard’s edition
In this representation of Isaiah’s vision of the destruction of Babylon, we see a fortified castle, strongly evocative of the French medieval period, in surroundings that are also reminiscent of European environments. We are far from the orientalist, false historical, approach to Babylon’s destruction that we see in Doré’s illustration of this scene (see Doré’s illustrations for La Grande Bible de Tours). Instead, we are plunged into the decor of the European medieval era, with a castle on a moat, a wise man dressed in clothing that does not contrast with the setting, with perhaps a hat that can be considered a little unorthodox. The sky is clear, and the castle, nor the city within, does not appear to be in any danger. As far as a vision of destruction goes, this is quite soft. The illustrator of this particular edition is more inspired by medieval imagery than by a historical imagery, which truly marks this bible as of its time. As the printed heir to a medieval manuscript, these choices for the illustrations are not a deviation but rather a norm, a conformation to what is already existing.
Footnotes
- Fournié, Eléanore. “Les éditions de la Bible historiale. Présentation et catalogue raisonné d’éditions de la première moitié du XVIe siècle”. Open Editions Journal
- Fournié, “Première Moitié du XVIe siècle”.
- Fournié, “Les manuscrits de la Bible historiale. Présentation et catalogue raisonné d’une œuvre médiévale”. Open Editions Journal
- Fournié, “Les manuscrits de la Bible historiale.”Translation my own.
- Fournié, “Les manuscrits de la Bible historiale.
- Fournié, “Première Moitié du XVIe siècle”.
- Bonicoli, Louis-Gabriel. “La production du libraire-éditeur parisien Antoine Vérard (1485-1512).” Doctoral thesis in Art History, Université Paris Nanterre (ArScAn-ESPRI), 2015. Accessed on Hal. P.33-34
- Bonicoli, p.33.
- Bonicoli, p.305.
- Bonicoli, p.289.
- Dupuigrenet Desroussilles, François. “Misprinting the word and the image of God (Paris, 1498-1538)” in Printing and Misprinting: A Companion to Mistakes and In-House Corrections in Renaissance Europe (1450-1650), ed. Geri della Rocca de Candal, Anthony Grafton, Paolo Sachet. Oxford University Press, 2023. Accessed through Google Books.
Sources for the images
All illustrations within this page are part of the Public Domain and were sourced from Biblissima.
