Dutch Bible with chain, 1785
Biblia Dat is De Gantsche H. Schrifture vervattende alle de Canonyke boeken des Ouden en des Nieuwen Testaments. Uyt de Oorspronkelyke Talen in onze Nederlandsche Tale ge-treuwelyk overgezet. Door last van de Hoog Mog: Heeren Staten Generaal. Der vereenigee Nederlien Volgens het Besluyt van de Synode Nationaal. Gehouden tot Dordrecht in de Jaaren 1618 ende 1619. Door gemeene ordre der Kerken van Drukfouten verbeetert, 1785.
Full leather with raised bands on the spine. Metal corners and clasps/hasps (engrave with Moses, an Aaronic priest, and the four evangelists). Similarly engraved metal cleats for the chain. Long, thrice-threaded chain, with some segments of varying links suggesting repairs. Small cracks at head of hinges. Leather split along edges of boards. A few small scuffs on boards. Interior hinges cracked, as well as gutter at one point. Engraved general title page. Ink signature on verso of title in an early hand. Corners of text block thumbed. Many leaves with turned down corners. Set in two columns. Mild toning. Clean and tight throughout.
Duodecimo. Foliation: Old Testament 420 leaves, New Testament (1784) 132 leaves, Psalms and Catechism (1780) 168 leaves, blank. Three title pages.
A beautiful example of a “Staphorst Bible” with chain. Though the nomenclature attached to this style of Bible seems firmly entrenched, in reality most recorded copies of such Bibles in Staphorst apparently had their chains, corners, and locks made elsewhere. Indeed, such style could well be from Zeeland. Chains of three strands were common, and these books were intended for ease of carry. These were in use as early as the end of the 17th century. (Noordwijk, Zilver voor de Zondag)
The Synod of Dort commissioned a Dutch translation in 1618. Corrections and emendations followed in several versions but this family of Dutch Bibles became the standard version in its language. It is essentially among Dutch Bibles what the Luther version is among German Bibles and the King James Version is among English Bibles.