Ferrara Bible

Pedigree of Printed Hebrew Bible.

The basis of all the modern editions of the Bible is that of E.

van der Hooght (Amsterdam and Utrecht, 1705). It is practically a reprint of the Athias-Leusden edition; but at the end it has variants taken from a number of printed editions. It has been much prized because of its excellent and clear type; but no manuscripts were used in its preparation. This text was followed, even when variants were added, by Proops, Houbigant, Simon, Kennicott, Hahn, etc. The text of D. H. Opitz (Kiel, 1709) seems to be a mixed one; three manuscripts, a number of the earlier editions, and the polyglots having been laid under contribution. But still the Van der Hooght was considered to be a sort of "textus receptus," the edition of M. Letteris (Vienna, 1852) showing very few changes. This last edition was reprinted with clear-cut type by the British and Foreign Bible Society (Berlin, 1866, etc.), and in New York by Wiley & Son (1872-75). The first Hebrew Bible in America, published by William Fry at Philadelphia in 1814, was from the text of Van der Hooght, and it was reprinted in Philadelphia by Isaac Lesser in 1849.

Recent Editions.

No serious attempt was made to issue a text of the Bible after the best manuscripts and the Masorah until S. Baer commenced his publications with the help of Franz Delitzsch (1861 et seq.). His edition, unfortunately not completed, has become the standard. Based upon a much fuller comparison of manuscripts is the edition of the Masoretic Bible of Chr. D. Ginsburg (London, 1895), which may be considered to represent the truest Masoretic tradition. Of quite a different character is the polychrome edition of the Bible, now (1902) nearly completed, published by Paul Haupt (Leipsic and Baltimore, 1893 et seq.) with the aid of the foremost Biblical scholars. Under the title "The Sacred Books of the Old Testament," it endeavors to give a critical edition of the Hebrew text on the basis of the versions and the results of modern critical inquiry. The supposed sources are distinguished by various colors.

Bibliography:

Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. passim;
De Wette-Schrader, Lehrbuch der Hist.-Crit. Einleitung, p. 217, Berlin, 1869;
Dibdin, Introduction to Greek and Latin Classics, Together with an Account of Polyglot Bibles, etc., vol. , passim, London, 1827;
Buhl, Kanon und Text des A. T. p. 82;
B. Pick, Hist. of Printed Editions of the O. T. in Hebraica, 9:47 et seq.;
Ginsburg, Introduction to a Critical Edition of the Bible, London, 1895 (contains very full accounts of every edition).

Bibliography InformationSinger, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Ferrara Bible'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tje/f/ferrara-bible.html. 1901.

Recent Editions.

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

Group of Brands