Biblij Cžeská. Cum Gratia et Priuilegio, Serenissimi Romanorum, Hu[n]gariae, Bohemiae etc., Regis. ANNO MDLVI. (MDLVII). [= 1556, 1557].
Scope: 2° [X] – 604 pages = ([X] 33 (unnumbered)+ l. 17-474+3 (unnumbered)+pages 475-604).

Czech Bible published in Prague in 1556-1557 by the publisher Jiří Melantrich of Aventýn - Senior. Jiří Melantrich of Aventýn (around 1511 – 1580) prepared five publications of the bible between 1549 and 1577, but only three were newly redacted: the first in 1549, the second in 1556/1557 and the fourth in 1570 (which is why the fourth edition is called the third in the foreword). The remaining two editions (1560/1561 and 1577) are reprints, even though none of Melantrich’s biblical prints are identical in terms of typography. In this second edition, Jan Stráněnský translated a Comparison of the Evangelists from German for the first time.
Note: Some specimens of the same publication have the year 1557 on the title page, where the roman numerals were later corrected from VI to VII. The two years 1556 and 1557 on the title page are explained by Elsner in No 8 of his “Reports” in that “the edition of 1557 had to be embellished with a new title because, as is often the case, the edition of 1556 was in fact printed in the autumn (15. X.) and that the year 1557 was deliberately added to the title as it was only sold in 1557.”
Literature: Graesse I. 371, Jungmann;1849: Jungmann IV. 1166, Book List No 1102 and Book List - Addenda No 1102.
Condition: the book is in its original leather binding, worn and perforated. The book block is loose in the binding and many pages are not bound. The first 33 pages were restored in the past. After page 474 there are three unnumbered pages, then 475 through to the last page, 604.