6. Spreading the Word

fol. Rr2v-Rr3r, Proverbs

6.6
La Biblia, que es, los Sacros Libros del Vieio y Nuevo Testamento. [Basel: Thomas Guarinus? and Samuel Apiarius?], 1569.
Quarto. 1245 pages ([30] pages, 1438 columns, [1] page; 544; 508 [i.e., 506] columns, [3] pages), 9½ x 6¼ inches. Roman, italic headlines, double column. Title device, two woodcuts, ornamental initials. Bound in modern brown leather; edges gilt. § DM 8472. § CD-ROM: 6.6, title page.

This Bible, known as the "Biblia del Oso," or "Bear Bible," is the earliest printed edition of the complete Bible in Castilian Spanish. Its translator, Cassiodoro de Reina (ca. 1520–94) of Seville, fled the Spanish Inquisition in 1557 and preached to Spanish Protestants in London, Antwerp, and Frankfurt-am-Main. The publisher and printer of his Bible are not named within the book itself, but the copy that Reina presented to the University of Basel in 1569 was inscribed with the name of the printer Thomas Guarinus, and the frontispiece device is that which appeared in other books printed by the Apiarius family of Bern.

The format of this Bible is larger and more ambitious than that of Peréz’s small octavo New Testament of 1556 [6.5]. It seems that although vernacular Bibles remained illegal in Spain, Reina was emboldened by the authority of the Council of Trent (1545–63), which had endorsed vernacular translations of the Bible. In his preface he cited the Council’s authority and professed to be a true Catholic because of his desire to spread the word of God in the language of his countrymen. He also explained that the Old Testament translation from the Hebrew was based on that of the Dominican friar Santi Pagnini of Lucca (1470–1536) as well as the "Ferrara Bible" of 1553, while the New Testament was an original translation from various Greek sources. Reina’s translation was printed in an edition of 2600 copies, and, despite opposition from the Inquisition, was reprinted many times with revisions by Cyprian de Valera (1532–1602). It became the favorite version of the Spanish Reformation movement.

Reina’s "Bear Bible" derives its nickname from the famous and engaging woodcut on the title page, which shows a bear retrieving honey from a beehive. The bear was the emblem of Apiarius’s native city-state, Bern, and the bees are a reference to his family name. Other works printed by Apiarius with this device also include the legend from Psalm 119: "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" Here, one finds instead the Hebrew and Spanish versions of Isaiah 40:8, a passage so dear to Martin Luther: "The word of our God shall stand forever."