Books of the Month - Sold on Commission: Brian Walton's "London" 17th Century Polyglot Bible

We have been honored to be contacted by some new friends of the store who have entrusted us to sell their rare and significant Bibles from the 16th and 17th centuries.  We thank this wonderful couple for entrusting us with their treasured possessions and for agreeing to allow us to sell their books on commission.  We are normally reluctant to take books on commission because it can be a vexing process for both buyer and seller, however in this case it's been a wonderful opportunity for us to deal in some of the finest printed matter in the world.

That being said, we recently sold an incredible set of Brian Walton's Biblia Sacra Polyglotta dating from 1654-1657.  These six volumes comprise one of the most significant polyglot (multi-language) Bibles of the Early Modern Period/Era because they were the first to include Ethiopic and Persian.  These volumes contain the translation of the Bible in 9! languages commonly used in the 17th century.  The set we sold was in need of re-binding but contained all all 2,938 leaves originally printed.  The first volume also contained the most beautiful plates I have seen in the seven years I have been directly dealing with books.  Some photos are attached below.  Again, these books were an incredible glimpse into a different era of human history and we were fortunate and honored to have been entrusted in the task of selling them for their rightful owners.  We are happy to say that they have been sold to a very serious Bible collector and scholar and we thank all of the parties involved in the transaction.

If you have any questions about the books or would like to discuss the sale of books you own please feel free to contact us directly at longfellowspdx@comcast.net  Thanks again for visiting and Happy Holidays!