The Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Bible Collection
at
Bridwell
Library
September 8 - December 12, 2009
French Translation of the Vulgate
La Sainte Bible en francoys, translatée selon la pure et entière traduction de Sainct Hierome. Translated by Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples. Antwerp: Martin Lempereur, 1534.
The first French version of the Vulgate Bible, translated by Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples (c. 1455–1536), was published in 1530. Prior to Lefèvre’s translation, the only French “Bibles” were abridgements of the Biblia historiale, a medieval paraphrase of the historical books of the Bible. In this second edition of 1534, Lefèvre included introductory material that revealed Protestant influences, which drew censure from the Catholic Church. The displayed opening includes a woodcut of the six days of Creation at the beginning of Genesis.