Mazarine Bible (The)

The earliest book printed in movable metal type. It contains no date, but a copy in the Bibliothèque Mazarine contains the date of the illuminator Cremer (1456), so that the book must have been printed before that date. Called “Mazarine” from Cardinal Mazarin, who founded the library in 1688.

In 1873, at the Perkin’s sale, Lord Ashburnham gave £3,400 for a copy in vellum, and Mr. Quaritch, bookseller, gave £2,690 for one on paper. At the Thorold sale, in 1884, Mr. Quaritch gave £3,900 for a copy. In 1887 he bought one for £2,600; and in 1889 he gave £2,000 for a copy slightly damaged.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.