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An Early Edition of the New Testament in Greek

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2011

William H. P. Hatch
William H. P. Hatch
Affiliation:
Episcopal Theological School
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Extract

In 1538 Melchior Sessa published at Venice an edition of the New Testament in Greek. It was printed by Ioannes Antonius de Sabio, and it consists of two volumes. About twelve years ago Dr. J. Rendel Harris of Birmingham gave the present writer the first volume of this work. He bought it of a dealer in old books, but he did not remember when or where he had acquired it. After many vain attempts to find Volume II I saw it listed in the catalogue of Bernhard Liebisch of Leipzig in the summer of 1939. I ordered it at once and received it before the outbreak of the war.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , January 1941 , pp. 69 - 78
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1941

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References

1 Melchiorre Sessa, known as il vecchio to distinguish him from a younger member of the same family, was a Venetian editor and printer of the sixteenth century. Many other works besides this edition of the New Testament were published by him. See T. F. Dibdin, The Bibliographical Decameron (London, 1817), II, pp. 229 ff.; and E. Pastorello, Tipografi, Editori, Librai a Venezia nel secolo XVI (Florence, 1924), pp. 82 f.

2 The de Sabios were a family of Italian printers whose members worked in Venice, Verona, and Rome. See M. Maittaire, Annales Typographici (Amsterdam and London, 1719–41), II, pp. 391 ff.; and T. F. Dibdin, op. cit., II, pp. 236 ff. In 1533 Ioannes Antonius de Sabio and his brothers printed at Venice an octavo volume containing the Pauline Epistles in Greek with three Latin versions, the Passio Sancti Pauli, the Epistle to the Laodiceans, and the Letters to Seneca. It was published at the expense of Ioannes Antonius Garupha, and it includes only writings attributed to St. Paul and an account of his passion. Copies of it are said to be scarce. See E. Reuss, Bibliotheca Novi Testamenti Graeci (Braunschweig, 1872), pp. 31 f.; T. H. Darlow and H. F. Moule, Historical Catalogue of the Printed Editions of Holy Scripture in the Library of the British and Foreign Bible Society (London, 1903–11), II, p. 581; and C. H. Turner, The Early Printed Editions of the Greek Testament (Oxford, 1924), p. 25, note 1. Melchior Sessa entrusted the printing of his New Testament to Ioannes Antonius de Sabio. It is misleading to apply the Roman numerals I and II to the earlier work and to Sessa's New Testament respectively, as Reuss does in his Index I. Editionum (op. cit., p. 289). These are not different editions of the same work, but two entirely distinct publications.

3 See J. Le Long, Bibliotheca Sacra (Paris, 1723), p. 206.

4 See M. Maittaire, op. cit., III, Pars I, p. 277.

5 See A. G. Masch, Bibliotheca Sacra (Halle, 1778–81), I, p. 204. Pettigrew also points out Le Long's error. See T. J. Pettigrew, A Descriptive Catalogue … of the Manuscripts and Printed Books contained in the Library of His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex (London, 1827–39), II, p. 455.

6 See E. Reuss, op. cit., p. 29.

7 See T. H. Darlow and H. F. Moule, op. cit., II, p. 583.

8 See C. H. Turner, op. cit., p. 25, note 1.

9 J. Mill, Novum Testamentum Graecum (ed. L. Küster, Amsterdam, 1710).

10 J. J. Wetstein, Novum Testamentum Graecum (Amsterdam, 1751–52).

11 J. G. Eichhorn, Einleitung in das Neue Testament (Leipzig, 1820–27).

12 J. I. Doedes, Verhandeling over de Tekstkritiek des Nieuwen Verbonds (Haarlem, 1844).

13 S. P. Tregelles, An Account of the Printed Text of the Greek New Testament (London, 1854).

14 F. H. A. Scrivener, A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament (fourth ed., London, 1894).

15 M. R. Vincent, A History of the Textual Criticism of the New Testament (New York, 1899).

16 C. R. Gregory, Textkritik des Neuen Testamentes (Leipzig, 1900–09).

17 E. Jacquier, Le Nouveau Testament dans l'église chrétienne (Paris, 1911–13).

18 A. Kolmodin, Inledning till Nya Testamentets Skrifter (Stockholm, 1915).

19 M. Goguel, Le texte et les éditions du Nouveau Testament grec (Paris, 1920).

20 E. Nestle, Einführung in das griechische Neue Testament (fourth ed., Göttingen, 1923).

21 Sir F. G. Kenyon, Handbook to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament (second ed., London, 1926).

22 R. Knopf, Einführung in das Neue Testament (third ed., Giessen, 1930).

23 L. Vaganay, Initiation à la critique textuelle néotestamentaire (Paris, 1934).

24 See E. Reuss, op. cit., p. 29. I should not describe the work as perelegans. It is legibly printed, but it is typographically inferior to several other early editions of the New Testament.

25 I learned about these two sets through a letter from the Prefect, Monsignore A. M. Albareda, dated June 19, 1940.

26 See C. H. Turner, op. cit., p. 25, note 1.

27 This set was bequeathed to the Museum by Mr. C. M. Cracherode, who died in 1799. He apparently acquired the books in 1783, for his monogram and the date 1783 are in the upper right-hand corner of the flyleaf of each volume. Where he obtained them is not known.

28 This copy formerly belonged to Professor Isaac H. Hall. The two volumes are bound together as one.

29 See E. Reuss, op. cit., p. 29.

30 See T. J. Pettigrew, op. cit., II, p. 455; and Catalogue of the Extensive and Valuable Library of His Royal Highness, the Late Duke of Sussex (London, 1844–45), Part I, p. 68.

31 The leaves of Volume I of my set are 10.2 cm. in height and 7.1 cm. in width. The leaves of Volume II, having been trimmed slightly at the top, measure 9.6 cm. x 7.1 cm. In the catalogue of the library of the Duke of Sussex Sessa's New Testament is described as a duodecimo. See T. J. Pettigrew, op. cit., II, p. 455. On the other hand Reuss calls it a 16mo in his text and an 8vo in Index I. Editionum at the end of his work. See E. Reuss, op. cit., pp. 29 and 289.

32 Eleven quires (OO ξξ and PP οο in Volume I and Y χ, Z ψ, & ω, a α, b β, c γ, d δ, e ε and f ζ in Volume II) have only twenty-two lines to the page.

33 Some of the chapters are wrongly numbered.

34 For a reproduction of this device see T. F. Dibdin, op. cit., II, p. 232. Several forms of the cat-and-mouse (or cat-and-rat) device were used by the Sessas. Sometimes the cat is standing with the mouse or rat in its mouth; and sometimes the printer's initials, M. S. (i.e. Melchiorre Sessa) or G. B. (i.e. Giovann Battista Sessa), appear. For reproductions of these see P. Kristeller, Die italienischen Buchdrucker- und Verlegerzeichen bis 1525 (Strassburg, 1893), p. 115 (Figs. II, III, and V) and p. 117 (Figs. II, III, IV, VI, and VII); F. Ongania, L' arte della stampa nel rinascimento italiano (Venice, 1894), II, pp. 61 and 105 (Figs. 62, 67, 68, and 72); M. J. Husung, Die Druckerund Verlegerzeichen Italiens im XV. Jahrhundert (Munich, 1929), p. 142 (Figs. 205 and 206); and H. W. Davies, Devices of the Early Printers (London, 1935), pp. 234 f. For these references to works on the early printers and their devices I am indebted to Professor W. A. Jackson of Harvard University.

35 When I acquired Volume II, it was bound in dark-colored linen. This cover, which was put on in Germany, has been removed; and Volume II has been bound in old Spanish vellum, so that it now matches Volume I.

36 The title of this memoir is ‘ϒπόμνημα εἰς τὸν ἅγιον Mατθαῖον τὸν εὐαγγελιστήν. In describing Valderus's edition of the New Testament, which also contains this work of Chrysostom, Reuss gives the title as ‘ϒπόμνημα εἰς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον.

37 The life of Matthew was written by Sophronius (∑οϕρόνιος sic); whereas those of Mark, Luke, and John are taken from the Synopsis of Dorotheus.

38 There are four verses on Matthew, six on Mark, five on Luke, and three on John.

39 On the position of Hebrews in the printed editions of the Greek New Testament see W. H. P. Hatch in The Harvard Theological Review, XXIX, pp. 149 ff.

40 See A. G. Masch, op. cit., I, p. 204.

41 See E. Reuss, op. cit., p. 29.

42 This incorrect and poorly attested form was adopted by Gerbelius in Luke 22: 12. In Mark 14: 15 he reads ἀνώγεον.

43 The percentages of agreement are as follows: for Gerbelius 64, for Cephalaeus 68, and for Colinaeus 68.

44 The percentages of agreement with Bebelius III and Valderus are respectively 82 and 84.

45 See E. Reuss, op. cit., p. 33.

46 See E. Reuss, op. cit., p. 33.

47 Cephalaeus and Valderus also read ἐπιλάβονται.

48 See E. Reuss, op. cit., p. 33.

49 See E. Reuss, op. cit., p. 34. The copy of Valderus which I have used belongs to the Harvard Theological School. It is bound in one thick volume and is complete. There is an incomplete copy in the library of Union Theological Seminary in New York.

50 See E. Reuss, op. cit., p. 34.

51 Cod. 61 (Cod. Montfortianus) of the sixteenth century and Cod. 629 of the fourteenth or fifteenth century.

52 Valderus reads Ἀποδημία instead of Ἀποδημίαί.

53 These readings are: ὅ in Matt. 27: 33 (with Gerbelius, Cephalaeus, and Colinaeus); ἀνώγεον in Luke 22: 12 (with Erasmus III and Erasmus V); πάντοτε in 2 Cor. 9: 8 (with Colinaeus); and ἀϕώριζεν in Gal. 2: 12 (with Colinaeus). Ὤϕελον in 2 Cor. 11: 1, which is not one of the fifty readings, is another case in point. Here Valderus has ὄϕελον, but Sessa reads ὤϕελον with Gerbelius and Cephalaeus.

54 These readings are: παραλελυμένῳ in Luke 5: 24; αὐτῶν in Luke 5: 30; εἴχετε in Luke 17: 6; and σαῦλος in Acts 12: 25.

55 Mετρηθήσετε for μετρηθήσεται in Matt. 7: 2; τῷ καὶ γένει for τῷ γένει in Mark 7: 26; and γαία for γαίῳ in 3 John 1. Valderus also has μετρηθήσετε in Matt. 7: 2.