Leaf from Hebrew Old Testament

Printer Christopher Plantin (1514 - 1589)

Place of OriginFlanders

Date1584

Dimensions13 1/2 x 8 9/16 in.

MediumLetterpress on paper

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineWinthrop H. Perry Fund

Object number

1939.36

Not on View

Label TextPlantin, who learned the printing trade in his native France, settled in Antwerp, where in 1555 he established his own press which became the largest publishing establishment in Europe. During this period of widespread religious persecution (when Spain's army and its Inquisition victimized the low countries), Plantin, who professed to be a devote Catholic, was suspected of heretical activities. Perhaps in an effort to convince the authorities of his orthodoxy, Plantin undertook the ambitious printing of the Polyglot Bible for Philip ll of Spain. The plan was to print the Bible's text in Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Aramaic and Chaldean (all side by side ). After five years work, and near financial ruin on this project, Plantin managed to bring this huge 8-volume to completion in 1572. This leaf from the Hebrew Old Testament, with interlinear Latin translation, is a reprint from the second half of Volume 7 of the Antwerp Polyglot Bible.