H Hebrew

Hebrew

Following both Erasmus’ translation of the New Testament from Greek (1516) and Luther’s of the whole Bible from Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic (1534), there was a strong urge among Protestant theologians to read and understand scriptural texts in their original tongues, and many were particularly interested in Hebrew as the authentic language of the Old Testament.

The academic recognition of the importance of Hebrew as a true insight into biblical thought raised the language’s status and created a demand for high-quality Hebrew texts scholars could consult for themselves.

Ideally placed to meet this demand was the French-born publisher Christophe Plantin (1520–89), whose printing office at The Golden Compasses became the world’s largest publishing house in the second half of the 16th century, operating no fewer than 22 presses. He was based in Antwerp which was at that time a major centre of humanism and scholarship; but it was also a city where pro-Catholic civic fathers governed a citizenry that was largely Protestant. This created a climate of religious tension and intolerance, and Plantin found himself in trouble in 1562 when a Calvinist pamphlet was discovered during a raid on his print shop. In an attempt to appeal to the Spanish king, Philip II, Plantin devised a project whereby he would create an edition of the Bible in five languages in eight monumental volumes, the largest polyglot Bible of the 16th century. His plan met royal approval, and Philip provided financial support that enabled Plantin to embark on his colossal Biblia Polyglotta.

The College’s Hebrew Bible dates from 1566, just one year before the project commenced. It is a survivor from the original run of 7,800 copies Plantin printed, the largest single issue for any of his books. Published with the elegant Hebrew typeface Plantin inherited from the great Venetian printer Daniel Bomberg, his book was aimed principally at reformed divines who wanted to savour the urlanguage of the patriarchs and prophets. The College copy has beautiful manuscript annotations by an early, probably clerical owner. His notes testify to the excited interest in Judaic texts during the 16th century. In some parts of Europe, however, they were less valued: the Inquisition organised mass burnings of Bibles printed in Hebrew during the 1550s.

Aside from the success of his religious and biblical publications, Plantin published books on all areas of humanism, as well as on science, mathematics, botany and astronomy. His books were bought by scholars, teachers and private readers, and helped fuel healthy academic discussions across Europe and beyond. Conditions during the Dutch Revolt forced Plantin to move his base temporarily from Antwerp to the more northerly Leiden, but his printing operations resumed in Antwerp in 1585. His palatial premises on the Vrijdagmarkt survive in a remarkable state of preservation, so much so that the very type that made its impression on the pages of the College’s Bible over 450 years ago can still be found in serviceable condition in Bomberg’s original typecases.