Biblia Hebraica

1611

Shoults Lb 1611 B

[Leiden: Officina Plantiniana Raphelengii]

In the early years of printing, Italy reigned supreme when it came to the printing of Hebrew. In 1475, the first dated Hebrew book was completed in Reggio di Calabria; on 26 January 1482, the first edition of the Pentateuch (often called the Five Books of Moses or the Torah) appeared at Bologna; and on 22 April 1488, the first complete Hebrew Bible appeared at Soncino. Leiden also featured. This Latin-Hebrew Bible was printed in 1611 by Franciscus Raphelengius, a pioneer of Hebrew typography in the Netherlands. The interlinear Latin translation is by Santes Pagninus (1470-1536), whose Latin version of the Hebrew Bible greatly aided future scriptural translators and scholars. Here is an early portion of the Book of Genesis.