[Low German New Testament].
Day Nye Testament vlytlich verdüdeschet.
Wittenberg: Hans Lufft, 1524.
A rare surviving example of the early small-format editions of the scriptures that contributed greatly to the success of the Reformation movement, this translation of Martin Luther’s German New Testament into Low German (or Niederdeutsch, a regional dialect of northwest Germany) is one of two recorded copies; the other copy is in Stendal, Germany. Although Low German Bibles had been printed in Lübeck in 1494 and at Halberstadt in 1522, this is the first edition of the New Testament in Low German to utilize Luther’s translation. The woodcuts, hand-colored in this copy, were likely the earliest to be designed for an octavo printing of Luther’s New Testament.