Biblia Latina
[Basel, Johann Amerlach, 1481]
University of Manitoba, Dysart 47

Printed by one of the earliest and most important printers of Basel, Johann Amerbach. This Bible is printed in Gothic type and has hand-illuminated capitals (the capital F on the first page is blue on gold with border decorations in red, green, blue, and gold). In this Bible, the Old Testament text stands relatively cleanly on the page: it has no marginal notation. The New Testament, in contrast, has margins that invite the reader to turn the pages, often back to the Old Testament. The New Testament employs the then common system of dividing chapters with letters A through G, and it provides cross-references to other texts. Note, then, that the references to the Old Testament are to book and chapter, while the references to the New Testament are to book, chapter and letter. One may note also the readerly activity of making marginal comments that is evident on the first page of Genesis.

This Bible includes an alphabetical table of the meanings of Hebrew names (e.g. Abba: pater), and into this copy, someone has pasted a handwritten table of contents.