Bibles

Bibles is the eighth book in the series that the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and Villegas Editores began in 2009 to publicize the rich artistic and bibliographic heritage of the Society of Jesus in Colombia.

The importance of this work is evident. It is an extraordinary display of bibles, which appeared between the first half of the 16th century and the end of the 18th century, in different editorial and idiomatic versions, accompanied by glosses and commentaries, written by fathers of the Church, as well as tools for their interpretation.

The editions illustrate the evolution of the artistic styles that have accompanied the editorial task since then —typefaces, borders, vignettes, heraldry, emblems—, while revealing a surprising collation of secular themes and a frequent irruption of the grotesque and erotic.

Produced by famous European publishers and illustrated by leading artists of the day —Rubens, Bernini, Poussin—, bibles in Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, Spanish and other languages parade here, most of them commissioned by important members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy.

The previous titles are:Old Engravings of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana; Book of Books I; Book of Books II; Books of emblems, image and word in the baroque; Santiago Páramo and the chapel of San José; Natural Sciences, images of flora and fauna and Thesaurus of Greek and Latin antiquities.