From Reformation Wittenberg to Civil War Oxford: A Humanist Bible in the Fellows’ Library of Jesus College, Oxford

Abstract

A Greek folio bible published in 1545, containing both Old and New Testaments, is testimony to the collaboration of two important figures: Philipp Melanchthon, author of the preface, and the Basel printer Johannes Herwagen. The volume’s interest for the historian of the book is enhanced by inscriptions on its endpapers from Melanchthon and other humanists and reformers (Georg Major, Joachim Camerarius, Caspar Cruciger, Johannes Stigel, Georg Sabinus, Paul Eber, and Hubert Languet). This article traces the history of the volume from its origins in Basel through its stay in Wittenberg to its current resting place in Jesus College Fellows’ Library, Oxford. It places it in the context of the upheavals of both the Schmalkaldic Wars and the English Civil Wars, considering the various networks in which the volume participates, and reproduces for the first time the inscriptions with translations.