Biblia sacra: utriusque testamenti, 1539 & Colloquia, 1699

 

The authorial images prefacing these two books—a bible translation printed in 1539 and a religious dialogue printed in 1699—reveal the changing attitudes to authorship over the early modern period. One of the ways that the increasingly important author role was reflected in later early modern books was through the inclusion of authors’ images. Both texts shown here were prepared by Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536), a renown Dutch humanist and Catholic priest. When the 1539 bible translation was printed, it did not include Erasmus’s image; the image, now featured on the leaf facing the title page, was printed, cut, and pasted in at a much later date. The 1699 edition of Colloquia, however, features a similar image, located in the same position in the book. Unlike the former image, this latter one of a statue of Erasmus was included in the book’s initial printing.

Biblia sacra: utriusque testamenti et vetus quidem post omnes omnium hactenus aeditiones opera D. Sebast. Munsteri euulgatum & ad Hebraicam ueritatem quoad fieri potuit redditum, collatis ubiq[ue] uetustissimus & probatissimus eius linguae scriptoribus ; nouum uero non solum ad Graecam ueritatem, uerum etiam ad multorum utriusq[ue] linguae & interpretum & codicum fidem, opera D. Eras. Rot. ultimo recognitum & aeditum. Additi sunt è LXX uersione et apocryphi libri siue ecclesiastici qui habentur extra canonem. -- Biblia sacra: utriusque testamenti et vetus quidem post omnes omnium hactenus aeditiones opera D. Sebast. Munsteri euulgatum & ad Hebraicam ueritatem quoad fieri potuit redditum, collatis ubiq[ue] uetustissimus & probatissimus eius linguae scriptoribus ; nouum uero non solum ad Graecam ueritatem, uerum etiam ad multorum utriusq[ue] linguae & interpretum & codicum fidem, opera D. Eras. Rot. ultimo recognitum & aeditum. Additi sunt è LXX uersione et apocryphi libri siue ecclesiastici qui habentur extra canonem. -- Desid. Erasmi Roterod. Colloquia nunc emendatoria cum annotationibus Arnoldi Montani ; accedit Erasmi [Morias enkomion] s[ive] Stultitiae laus. Desid. Erasmi Roterod. Colloquia nunc emendatoria cum annotationibus Arnoldi Montani ; accedit Erasmi [Morias enkomion] s[ive] Stultitiae laus.
Biblia sacra: utriusque testamenti, 1539 & Colloquia, 1699