Hutter's Hebrew Bible – Hollow Type – Hamburg, 1603

Hutter's Hebrew Bible – Hollow Type – Hamburg, 1603

Biblia Ebraea, eleganti et maiuscula characterum forma – Torah, Neviim and Ketuvim, arranged by Elias Hutter. Hamburg: ex bibliopolio Frobeniano, 1603.
This Hebrew Bible, known as Hutter's Hebrew Bible, was prepared by the Hebraist Elias Hutter, professor of Hebrew at the Leipzig University. Hutter aspired to produce a Bible which would be easy to read, and would facilitate the study of Hebrew. He therefore printed it using two different types – the root letters were printed in regular, thick type, whilst the inflectional letters were printed in hollow type. The root letters which do not appear in the word were printed above it in small type.
First title page printed in red and black; additional title pages for Neviim Rishonim, Neviim Acharonim and Ketuvim. All within architectural engraved borders.
[7], 423, [1], 425-1135, [1], 1140-1572 pages. 35.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Dark ink stains affecting text on some leaves. Marginal tears to first title page. Some open tears (with minor loss to text), repaired with paper. Title pages trimmed, slightly affecting engraved borders. Handwritten inscriptions (English and Latin) on endpapers. Inscriptions on several other pages. Original leather binding. Spine restored. Damage to binding. Bookplate on inside back board ("Rev H. Campbell").
Hutter's Hebrew Bible was first published in 1587. The following editions used the stock of the first edition, adding different title pages and introductions (the 1587 stock was also used for the Hamburg polyglot of 1596). According to the Bibliogrphy of the Hebrew Book, there are differences between copies of this edition. Some copies open with [11] pages. This copy opens with [7] pages (as does the copy of the national library of France).
An almost identical edition was published in 1603 in Cologne.

PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.