Religion
This particular edition of the Geneva New Testament is printed in a rather unusual format: it is only 1.5 x 2.5 inches in size, approximately. It is clear that this edition was meant to be carried on the person. This decision on the part of the publisher is especially interesting when one considers that this book, having been published in 1591, was seated squarely in the middle of post-Reformation England. During this period, the question of whether or not the Bible was something an individual should read and interpret for themselves was extremely momentous. Printing a Bible which so clearly was meant for individual use could have been seen by many as a highly seditious act.
This New Testament is formatted to have the same passages appear side-by-side in three different languages, in three different columns, all on one page. The languages go from French to Dutch to English, with the Dutch translation in a gothic type and the other two translations being in a more standard roman type. This difference in type seems to be present in order for an easier reading experience. With the differing type being in the middle column, it makes it more difficult to accidently read either from left to right or to finish one column and go directly to the next.
This page jumped out at me at first simply because of the printed music. It looks very different from modern printed music. All of the notes are open, meaning half the beat of a common time signature (this tune is in common or 4/4 time). This allows for the tune to be easily set to different lyrics. By using a simple or beginner’s structure Henry Lawes makes these tunes accessible to the everyday reader. You don’t need to be a master of music in order to play the tunes. This makes sense when we look back at the titlepage's encouragement to use this book for private devotion. A reader could sing the hymn in tune without the help of a musician, or even any accompaniment. The treble and bass lines of music are also labled in the right margin as “cantus” and “ballus.” This is another type of instructional or informational marginalia instead of interpretive marginalia. The “cantus” line being the fixed line that does not change and keeps the tune the same for all psalms is complimented by the “ballus” line which can sometimes change to accommodate a base tone (voice or instrument).
This book is meant to instruct and aid the reader in their devotions. Today there is a large market for bible study and bible study materials that perhaps began with books just like this one. The printed marginalia highlights unchanging facts, places and music rather than ideology. This book was meant to empower believers to be privately devotional without the help of the church or teacher.
El camino del cielo en lengua mexicana, or “The Path to Heaven in the Mexican Language” is exactly what its title claims to be: a book in both Spanish and Nahuatl which has translated Catholic doctrine into Nahuatl. The cover page of this book contains a very large coat of arms that belonged to ‘Señor Don Fray Garcia Guerra’. Guerra, the archbishop of Mexico and Viceroy of ‘New Spain’ in 1611, directed the compilation and printing of this book of Catholic texts in Nahuatl. The printing information at the bottom declares that the printer Diego López Dávalos printed it in Mexico in 1611, paid for by a Diego Perez de los Ríos. This is early for the Americas, as the “first printing press of the Americas was established in Mexico City in 1539” (Roldán Vera). Furthermore, as made evident by this book’s subject, “Mexican publishing in the 16th century was largely dominated by material used for the religious conversion of the Indians” (Roldán Vera). El camino is the product of only 72 years of printing in the Americas, and the need for Religious texts to convert the native Aztecan population was still in demand in 1611.
citation: Vera, Eugenia Roldán. "46 The History of the Book in Latin America (including Incas, Aztecs, and the Caribbean)." The Oxford Companion to the Book. : Oxford University Press, 2010. Oxford Reference. 2010. Web. 2 Dec 2015.
The cover page and preface to this copy of this 1600 reprint of the Douai – Rhemes New Testament of 1582 is a work of historical and literary criticism. For the book to justify itself, texts in the cover page and preface explain how the bible was made (or rather, translated) by detailing the history of bible translation, and in doing so, criticizes the fallibilities of previous translations, while at the same time highlighting its own merits – such as its own revisions, and the fact that it is a work translated from two different languages instead of one. With criticism that almost borders on religious and moral, rather than literary criticism, the introductory texts also give us clues about religious-historical background.
“The New Testament of Jesus Christ faithfully translated into English out of the authentical Latin, diligently conferred with Greek, and other Editions in diverse languages: With arguments of books and chapters: Annotations, and other helps, for the better understanding of the text, and specially for the discourse of corruptions in diverse languages: and for clearing controversies in religion of these days: By the English College then Resident in Rhemes.”