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The Plantin Polyglot (also called the Antwerp Polyglot, the Biblia Regia or "King's Bible") was printed by Christopher Plantin in Antwerp (Belgium) between 1568 and 1573.
Plantin was suspected of Calvinist sympathies, although Antwerp at that time was firmly Catholic. He developed a plan to prove his loyalty to the Catholic king Philip II of Spain by producing a polyglot version of the Bible, in five languages. The king promised to finance the project — completing it nearly bankrupted Plantin — and sent the Spanish theologian Benito Arias Montano to Antwerp to watch over the production of this eight-volume of printing, which was printed in 1,200 copies on paper and 12 copies on parchment.
Printing the Bible required thirteen printing presses and fifty-five men to run them, as well as expert linguists who acted as proofreaders.
The first four volumes contain the Old Testament. The left page has two columns with the Hebrew original and the Latin translation, the right page has same text in Greek with its own Latin translation. Underneath these columns there is an Aramaic version on the left-hand page and a Latin translation of this on the right-hand side. The Francis Trigge Chained Library St Wulfram's Church, Grantham Lincolnshire
IMG_0521
The Plantin Polyglot (also called the Antwerp Polyglot, the Biblia Regia or "King's Bible") was printed by Christopher Plantin in Antwerp (Belgium) between 1568 and 1573.
Plantin was suspected of Calvinist sympathies, although Antwerp at that time was firmly Catholic. He developed a plan to prove his loyalty to the Catholic king Philip II of Spain by producing a polyglot version of the Bible, in five languages. The king promised to finance the project — completing it nearly bankrupted Plantin — and sent the Spanish theologian Benito Arias Montano to Antwerp to watch over the production of this eight-volume of printing, which was printed in 1,200 copies on paper and 12 copies on parchment.
Printing the Bible required thirteen printing presses and fifty-five men to run them, as well as expert linguists who acted as proofreaders.
The first four volumes contain the Old Testament. The left page has two columns with the Hebrew original and the Latin translation, the right page has same text in Greek with its own Latin translation. Underneath these columns there is an Aramaic version on the left-hand page and a Latin translation of this on the right-hand side. The Francis Trigge Chained Library St Wulfram's Church, Grantham Lincolnshire