1583 BIBLA SACRA. The Latin Bible of the Reformation Issued by John Calvin's Publisher.

An important piece of Reformation scholarship in which the Latin Vulgate was corrected through the rigorous efforts of scholars against the Hebrew text and approved early manuscripts for the benefit of Reformation academics.

Although Calvin, and his successor Theodore Beza, championed vernacular translations for the general public, Latin remained the primary vehicle for international theology, scholarship, and debate. Rather than outright rejecting the historical Jerome Vulgate, Calvin and other reformers aimed to purge it of accumulated translation errors by emending it against original Hebrew and Greek sources.

The printer behind this volume, Pierre de Saint-André, was an active Protestant publisher in Geneva, with the New Testament being a reissue of the 1567 edition by François Estienne, whose father, Robert Estienne, had fled Catholic Paris to set up his influential Protestant press in Geneva. Estienne and Saint-André were also the primary publishers of Calvin's works.

Additionally, this printing incorporates the then-revolutionary system of standardized verse numbering invented by Robert Estienne in 1551, a practical tool that Calvin and other Reformed theologians relied on heavily for precise cross-referencing and textual analysis.

The volume is also unusual as an illustrated Reformation imprint. While Roman Catholic Bibles of the era often featured devotional art depicting Christ, God, or the saints, Calvin's Geneva strictly avoided such depictions to adhere to theological prohibitions against religious imagery. Instead, woodcuts in this volume serve educational and historical purposes, depicting  the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, the Temple of Solomon, and priestly vestments from Exodus and Ezekiel, alongside maps depicting locations such as the Garden of Eden or the journeys of the Apostles. 3 maps and 22 illustrations in the text in total [complete]. 

Ex library  late 18th or early 19th century, W. P. Gordon of the Royal Engineers, and an earlier inscription of a presumed relative, John Gordon.

Biblia Sacra Veteris et Novi Testamenti. Iuxta Vulgatam Editionem Maiori Quam Antehac Unquam Doctorum Studio, ad Veritatem Hebraicam & Probatisimorum Exemplarium Fidem Emendata. Geneva. Apud Petrum Santandreanum. M. D. LXXXIII. 435 leaves, i.e. 870pp. 

[With]

Iesu Christi Nouum Testamentum Siue Foedus. Ex Officina Francisci Stephanj. M. D. LXVII. 131 leaves, i.e. 262pp.

A very nicely preserved example in early reverse calf octavo binding with marbled endpapers, likely 17th or early 18th century. Textually very good with only minor handling and usage soil to text. All maps present and exceptionally crisp.