[Berlenburg Bible.]

Berlenburg, (J. J. Haug), 1726-42. Folio. (12),+ 804; (8),+ 880; (8),+ 784; (6),+ 858; (8),+ 820; (8),+ 792; (8),+ 600; (4),+ 556,+ (44) pp. Some spotting and minor stains, small paper repair in margins. Part 1-7 in four contemporary black full morocco, spines with raised bands and beige labels, finely gilt edges, part 8 i somewhat worn contemporary full calf, blindstamped spine with raised bands. Minor tear to tail of spine to part one. Five volumes. From the library of Ericsberg, with its book plate. An engraved frontispiece, sometimes present, is not in this copy. Darlow and Moule 4239. The famous Berlenburg bible is a new German translation, edited by the learned pietist Johann Friedrich Haug and other scholars, with ”strong mystical symphaties” (Darlow and Moule). Bad Berlenburg had, thanks to Casimir Graf von Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berlenburg, become a refuge center for radical pietists, like the brothers Haug, and thanks to them Berlenburg soon also became the publishing center for the so called ”German Philadelphian Movement”. One of the brothers, Johann Jacob Haug, was a publisher and printer, and another, Johann Friedrich, was a theologist and orientalist. Their goal was to produce a Bible based on the original texts, with explanatory notes and comments, and for that reason Haug enlisted the support of academics in several European countries, and he worked on the project for almost 20 years. The result become a monument of the German 'Philadelphian Movement' and the bible influenced radical pietist, esoteric, and others. The agent for its sale in America, Christopher Sauer, used the text as a model for the first German-American Bible (1743), when his supply was exhausted.