Title from half-title page, leaf [a]1r.
Imprint from colophon (leaf qq6r): Deme alweldigheme gade. deme he[m]melscheme vadere sy vmmetlike danknamicheyt ... myt welkerer hulpe vn[de] vorbiddinghe dyt hilghe werk in ene hulpe der hilghen mene[n] loueschen kerken. mit groter achtinghe vn[de] vlite ghebetert is. vn[de] grundliken auergheseen. Vnde mit dessen erne bokstauen ghedrucket. vnde selichliken vulle[n]bracht. vormiddelst Steffen arndes. in der keyserlike[n] stad lubick Int iar vnses heren M.cccc.xciiij. vp de[n] dach der hilghen wedewen sunte Elizabeth. de dar was de xix. dach des manten Nouembris.
Printed in Arndes's types 5:92G, 6:165G, and 10:172G.
Signatures: [a]⁶ b-z⁸ [et]⁸ c[on]⁸ A-E⁸ F-G⁶ H-I⁸ kR⁶ L-M⁶ N-O⁸ P-Q⁶ rR⁸ S-Z⁸ aa-oo⁸ pp-qq⁶: 492 leaves. Leaf [a1] unsigned; leaves [a2-3] signed "ij" and "iij"; leaf kR3 signed "kRiiij"; leaves qq1-3 signed "qqij", "qqiij", "qqiiij."
Paper format: Royal folio.
"The third Low German Bible. Presents an independent version as far as 2 Kings vii; thereafter both text and woodcuts are mainly borrowed from the Cologne Bible ... The glosses by Nicolaus de Lyra and by other doctors (especially Hugo de Sancto Victore) are incorporated in the text"--Historical catalogue of the printed editions of Holy Scripture in the Library of the British and Foreign Bible Society. See also: Walther, Wilh. Die deutsche Bibelübersetzung des Mittelalters. Braunschweig, 1889-1892. v. 3, columns 671-676.
Nicolaus Bucholt, custos of the Lübeck Franciscan custody, has been proposed as translator and editor. See: Schwencke, Olaf. Die Glossierung alttestamentlicher Bücher in der Lübecker Bibel von 1494, 1967, pages 188-190.
A few spaces left blank for initials, with printed guide letters.
Illustrations: 151 woodcuts (including repeats), comprising 2 large square cuts (St. Jerome, repeated to 3; creation of Eve); 93 large oblong cuts (repeated to 96); 1 medium-sized square cut repeated to 38; 4 small oblong cuts (the four Evangelists) and 1 small square cut (St. Jerome; repeated to 9). "The cuts, most of which are in the Old Testament, somewhat resemble those in the Cologne, Quentell, ca. 1478, Bibles [low German Bibles known as the Cologne Bibles], but are in no sense copies. About fifty, for the most part in the Pentateuch, are distinctly superior to the others in draftsmanship and conception and are among the most remarkable of the fifteenth century. Their designer is known as the Master of the Lübeck Bible and to him have been ascribed the cuts in the Dance of Death, Lübeck, 1489 ... and, tentatively those in the Lyons, Trechsel, 1493 edition of Terence. The other cuts in the Lübeck Bible are considered to be the work of an inferior artist, influenced by the Master, and possibly working from his rough dummies"--New York Public Library. Spencer Collection. Dictionary catalog and shelf list of the Spencer Collection of illustrated books and manuscripts and fine bindings, 1971. For further discussion, see: Schramm, Albert. Die illustrierten Bibeln der deutschen Inkunabel-Drucker. Leipzig, 1922, pages 17-20.
Beneath colophon is the woodcut device of Steffen Arndes. See: Weil, Ernst. Die deutschen Druckerzeichen des XV. Jahrhunderts, page 84 (left portion); Schramm, figure 950.
Cuts reproduced in: Master of the Lübeck Bible. Die 92 Holzschnitte der Lübecker Bibel aus dem Jahre 1494 / von einen unbekannten Meister ; herausgegeben von Dr. Hans Wahl, Weimar, 1917.
Title page, page [1]; contents, with caption "Her anheuet sick de delinghe unde inholdynghe desses bokes der godliken scrift der Biblien": pages [2-5]; note on the reading of the Bible and on the glosses by Nicolaus de Lyra, beginning "Item dyt boek der hillighen scrift de Biblie is van alle[n] tolesende ...": page [5]; colophon: page [983]. For detailed analysis of contents, see Catalogue of books printed in the fifteenth century now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (cited below).
PML copy print variant, with several woodcuts not printed (leaves e8r, m7r, r6v, t8r, v1v, and v3r).
PML copy leaf dimensions: 36.4 x 27 cm; leaves in quire [a] remargined.
Biblie mit vlitigher achtinghe: recht na deme latine in dudesck auerghesettet
Hand decoration: Contemporary Lower Rhenish initials in red and blue with penwork decoration and yellow wash (leaves [a]3v and b1r), with red underlining and capital strokes. Annotations: 2 contemporary German marginal notations in New Testament.