1546 French Bible

[Bible.  French. Olivétan-Calvin]. La Bible, qui est toute la saincte escriture, en laquelle sont contenuz, le vieil testament & le nouueau, translatez en Francois, & reueuz: le vieil selon l'Ebrieu, & le nouueau selon le Grec.
[Geneva: Jehan Girard], 1546. (BRB0162)

Bridwell Library recently acquired this rare variant of the first edition of Calvin’s first revision of the whole Bible.  Issued for surreptitious circulation in France, the Bible’s place of publication and name of printer do not appear on the title page and Calvin’s name is excluded from the title to his preface.  These omissions were considered prudent for copies of this Bible intended for use in France, although Calvin’s name is found in the text attached to a separate note to the reader found in the New Testament.  This variant is one of four known copies, and is the only recorded copy in the United States of either issue of Calvin’s 1546 Bible.

Calvin’s revisions for this edition primarily affected the Old Testament and the Apocrypha, while the New Testament followed the version he published in 1543.  This 1546 translation was never reprinted in its entirety, and was superseded by a French edition printed in Geneva in 1551.  Calvin’s translation of the New Testament was only reproduced twice more in editions printed in Geneva in 1546 and in London in 1551.

Purchased in memory of Elizabeth Perkins Prothro (1919–2009).