IllumiNations
Bible of the Bear (La Biblia, que es, los Sacros Libros del Vieio y Nueuo Testamento)
Bible of the Bear (La Biblia, que es, los Sacros Libros del Vieio y Nueuo Testamento)






- Collection ID
- BIB.001153
- Type
- Bible - Printed Book
- Date
- 1569
- Geography
- Basel, (Switzerland)
- Language
- Spanish
- Medium
- Printed on Paper
- Dimensions
- 10.5 × 8.2 × 3.1 in. (26.7 × 20.9 × 8 cm)
- Exhibit Location
- On View in History of the Bible, The King James Bible
In 1569, printer Thomas Guarinus published the first complete Spanish Bible in Basel, Switzerland. It’s often called the Biblia del Oso, or “Bible of the Bear,” because of the printer’s emblem on the title page, which shows a bear grasping for honey in the trunk of a tree. It was translated by the Spanish Reformer Casiodoro de Reina (1520–1594). For the Old Testament, he may have used earlier translations, but he compared them against Hebrew and Latin editions. The New Testament is based on Erasmus’s editions of the Greek texts. De Reina’s Bible was eventually revised by another Protestant Reformer, Cipriano de Valera, and published in 1602.
In 1569, printer Thomas Guarinus published the first complete Spanish Bible in Basel, Switzerland. It’s often called the Biblia del Oso, or “Bible of the Bear,” because of the printer’s emblem on the title page, which shows a bear grasping for honey in the trunk of a tree. It was translated by the Spanish Reformer Casiodoro de Reina (1520–1594). For the Old Testament, he may have used earlier translations, but he compared them against Hebrew and Latin editions. The New Testament is based on Erasmus’s editions of the Greek texts. De Reina’s Bible was eventually revised by another Protestant Reformer, Cipriano de Valera, and published in 1602.
Questions about our Collections?
To acquire permission to use this image, please visit our Rights and Reproduction page .