ბიბლია [Bible], Moscow, 1743. - Lot 58

ბიბლია [Bible], Moscow, 1743. A large in-folio volume (43 x 28.5 cm; Ep.: 10.5 cm), Georgian text in two columns, [14]-1088-[10] pp. Imitation marbled tan basane (ca. 1890-1900), six-ribbed spine, red morocco title-piece (gilt title in French "Bible en géorgien"), place and date stamped on tail of spine, boards on wooden aisles with beveled inner edges, framed with cold roulette on boards, red edges (corners dulled, (corners dulled, head and neck rubbed, small epidermis on lower board, hinges split, title page missing, first flyleaf detached, small restoration on first page, light foxing on some pages, marginal flaws including very light dampening and wormholes on qq. pages towards the end of the book). This book is the first complete Bible printed in Georgian (see Catalogue of Georgian Prints: ქართული წიგნი, ბიბლიოგრაფია, ტომი პირველი. Das Georgische Buch, Vollständige Bibliographie. I Band. 1629-1920, Tbilissi, 1941, no. 33, pp. 44-47). It was printed under the aegis of Bakar, son of Georgian King Vakhtang VI, who had fled to Moscow to seek support from Christian Russians when East Georgia belonged to the Iranian world. It was preserved in the monastery of St. George in Djrushi, western Georgia, which had been a copying center since the 10th century (the first surviving manuscript copied in Djrushi dates from 936, and is now kept in Tbilisi under the number H-1660). It consists of a 14-page preface with the coat-of-arms of the Georgian royal family woodcut at the end, and 1088 numbered pages comprising the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Acts of the Apostles. The text is adorned with 3 vignettes at the head of each part, and numerous woodcut culs-de-lampe and lettrines. This copy, confiscated from the monastery in Soviet times, was exchanged by the State Public Library of Georgia in 1935 for Maggio's Georgian Grammar printed in the West. David Tsereteli's name appears at the beginning and end of the book. This metropolitan was administrator of the monastery in the first half of the 19th century. Extremely rare book in the West. Possession notes on title page. Provenance: Saint-Georges Monastery, Djroutchi, Georgia; David Tsereteli (d. 1853); Bible received from Père François Graffin in 1978.