Koberger’s publishing catalogue had included, as said, no less than fifteen impressions of the _Biblia Latina_, eight of which presented material differences of notes and commentaries which entitled them to be described as distinct editions. In addition to these, he interested himself in keeping in stock, and in describing in his _Sortiments-Catalog_, examples of all the noteworthy issues of the Bible as yet in print. These included the four-volume Bible printed in Strasburg, 1478-1480, containing the commentary of Walafrid Strabo (dating from 849) and the notes of Anselm of Laon, written in 1117, the Lyons editions of Castellanus and of Gradibus, and the several issues of Froben and others in Basel. The characteristic feature of all the editions of the Scriptures preceding the Reformation was the long series of notes and commentaries. Luther took the ground that the words of God in Holy Writ had been so overlaid and overweighted with the comments of men that their true purport was in danger of being lost sight of or not properly apprehended. In Luther’s Bible, therefore, the bold innovation was adopted of printing the text of the Scriptures without note or commentary. In the year 1483, the year in which Luther was born, Koberger published his German Bible. The text was translated from the Latin of the Vulgate, and was illustrated with woodcuts. I have not been able to ascertain what was the German idiom used for this version, but it was a form that never took any permanent place in the literature of the country. Luther, referring to the Nuremberg Bible, declared that “no one could speak German of this outlandish kind.”[76] Two German versions of the Bible had been published before this of Koberger, one in Strasburg and one in Cologne. They were both based on the Vulgate, and neither was complete. Some years after the death of Anthoni Koberger, his nephew Johannes issued the first Nuremberg editions of Luther’s version of the New Testament and of the Psalms. Both volumes were printed by Friedrich Peypus, and both were illustrated by woodcuts. The fonts of type were the same as those used in Anthoni’s Bible of 1483. The imperial edict and the ecclesiastical censure do not appear to have been effective in preventing the sale through South Germany, in the usual channels, of these Nuremberg editions. I have not been able to find record of any correspondence between Johannes Koberger and Luther in regard to these editions. In 1525, Luther made overtures to Melchior Koberger concerning publishing arrangements for the Lutheran books in South Germany, and suggested using his book-shop in Wittenberg as a depot for the Koberger publications. The negotiations came to nothing however. The activity of the House appears by that time to have been exhausted.[77]