6. Spreading the Word

fol. B1v The Creator

6.2
Das Allte testament deutzsch. Wittenberg: Melchior Lotter, 1524. Shown: Pentateuch.
Octavo. Vol. 1 (Pentateuch). [214] leaves (last leaf blank), 6⅞ x 4¾ inches. Gothic. 13 woodcuts, 2 original for this edition. Contemporary blind-stamped pigskin; lacking catchplates; vellum label on spine hand-lettered. § DM 4189, note; WA DB 2:271–72. § CD-ROM: 6.2, fol. B3^v, Creation and Fall of Man.

As soon as the New Testament was complete, Luther turned to the even more daunting task of translating the Hebrew Bible. Initially, he made rapid progress, with the first five books of the Bible appearing in 1523 and completing Genesis through Song of Songs by 1524. Luther was not able to complete his translation of the Hebrew Bible for many years, and his first complete Bible did not appear until 1534. He was aided in his work as translator by many of his colleagues in Wittenberg and also by several philological aids that humanists had published, especially those by Reuchlin, Münster, and Pagnini. But he also consulted medieval sources, most notably Nicholas of Lyre’s commentaries. His source text was the Hebrew edition of the Bible printed by Gershom Soncino (Brescia, 1494).

Melchior Lotter’s octavo volume has thirteen illustrations, eleven of which are reduced-size copies after woodcuts in the first edition of 1523, a folio with full-page woodcuts. The two other woodcuts, The Creator (fol. B1^v) and Creation and Fall of Man (B3^v) are apparently original compositions for this edition.