The Great Polyglot Bibles: including a Leaf from the Complutensian of Acalá, 1514-17

1966

Special Collections BS1 1966 H344

San Francisco: Book Club of California

Rome’s adoption of Christianity led to its spread and proliferation throughout the empire, and as H. E. Barnes states ‘Rome brought to Christianity its genius for organisation and administration’. In fact, would Christianity have been so wide-spread today without the initial help of the Roman Empire? The Bible, one of the most published books in history, has had an enormous influence on literature and historical texts and on art, music and philosophy. On display is a page of Leviticus from the Complutensian Polyglot Bible. Work began on the six-volume Bible in 1502 at Complutense University in Acalá de Henares (35 kilometres NE of Madrid, Spain) and each page has the Hebrew, Latin and Greek versions. The complete set, a masterpiece in printing, was finished in 1517. Of 600 printed, 123 full sets survive today.