The influences paratextual elements can exert on reading behaviour are manifold and dynamic, preceding, concluding, and ingrained within the reading experience. The current chapter explores paratext in premodern Bibles as a constructive force that shaped readers’ perspectives, behaviour, and practices before and after they immerged themselves in the Scriptures. The types of paratext considered here are varied: blank spaces, title pages, prologues, calendars and almanacs, and ‘terminal’ paratextual elements, such as the colophon.1 These elements are generally located in the front or back of the book, or at the beginning or end of a textual section, for instance between the Old and the New Testament. These elements may grab a reader’s attention before and after their reading of the main text. However, this assumption does not necessarily hold true for every interaction between the book and its readers. Peter Stallybrass has accurately pointed out that, above all, ‘the codex form enables random access. There is no reason why a reader should read the preface to a book first, or even at all.’2 As Daniel Pennac’s list of the ‘rights of the reader’ emphasises, all readers hold the inalienable right to skip certain elements, to not finish a book, and to ‘sample and steal’.3 Paratextual elements at the beginning and the end of the book could be passed over easily. The linear way in which paratexts are listed, described, and analysed in the subsequent chapters is therefore inevitably artificial. The aim of this chapter is not to reconstruct an all-encompassing blueprint of how readers would have approached the book and its texts, but rather to provide insight in what opportunities, directions, and paths were created and facilitated by paratextual devices.
1 Blank Space: Flyleaves, Margins, and Indentations
Is blank space paratext? If so, it is by default of an unusual kind, as it does not contain any printed text or image. In addition, full blank pages, such as endleaves and flyleaves, were usually inserted during the binding process, and hence related primarily to the agency of the binder rather than that of the printer.4 Nevertheless, the blanks in a book are deeply significant in the message a book conveys. In medieval manuscripts, the presence of elaborate white space around the text and images raised a book’s value, as precious parchment or paper was deliberately left ‘unused’. Moving into the early modern period, paper remained a valuable element in the production of the printed book. Book makers continued to use blank space with consideration, in all awareness of its properties as a rhetorical tool, its protective material features, and its costs.
The Bibles by Liesvelt and Peetersen van Middelburch contain blank space at various places in the book. The first blank spaces a reader encounters when opening the book are the endpapers, consisting of the pastedowns and one or more loose endleaves, that can be found between the binding and the title page.5 Whereas endpapers were always included by binders (or, for that matter, by later restorers of the book and its binding), flyleaves could be inserted at various points in the process of creating a book.6 Endpapers and flyleaves served important material functions within these Bibles by protecting the book block from water damage or other types of destructive forces, and by reinforcing the connection between the book block and binding.7 However, these leaves were also often subject to change or adaptation, as they could be removed or replaced when they lost their protective function through heavy damage. Moreover, the removal of endpapers and flyleaves could also serve as a way to intentionally discard traces of previous owners and readers. The blank leaves in various copies of Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bibles indeed prove to have been replaced or included in later stages of the book’s life.
In addition to these blank leaves, Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bibles contain ample blank space in broad margins, between columns, and across the page in order to distinguish various textual parts. In Liesvelt’s complete Bible of 1526 in particular, chapters were regularly separated in different sections by white spaces. Genesis 40, for instance, is divided into six parts, distinguished by blank lines. The separation of these sections underlines the structure of the narrative. In later editions, these blank lines were replaced with indentations. Furthermore, the printers experimented with the use of blank space at the endings of Bible books. As will be discussed more extensively in section 2.5 (on terminal paratext), Liesvelt and Peetersen van Middelburch implemented certain types of lay-out, such as chalice-shaped endings, to define where chapters ended, hence playing with the border between text and empty space. In these cases, rather than merely being the absence of text, blank space functions as a device to define and mark textual entities. Laurie Maguire has compared the blank space in early modern printed books with John Cage’s famous composition 4′33″, which consists of a full four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence. The silence, according to Cage, should make listeners aware of any other sounds in their environment. Similarly, the textual blank ‘is never truly empty’ but always defined by and defining its textual surroundings.8
The empty and white spaces in Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bibles enabled users to fill this open and liminal space with their own thoughts and ideas.9 In Michel de Certeau’s words, the blank page could function as ‘a space of its own [which] delimits a place of production for the subject. … An autonomous surface is put before the eye of the subject who thus accords himself the field for an operation of his own.’10 Using blank spaces to leave annotations and traces was encouraged by early modern writers and theologians as an important element of active reading. ‘You will write some brief but pithy sayings such as aphorisms, proverbs, and maxims at the beginning and at the end of your books,’ Erasmus prescribed.11 Indeed, the blankness of the white spaces in Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bibles appears to have prompted readers to leave their marks (fig. 4).
Genealogical annotations on an endleaf of a 1526 complete Jacob van Liesvelt Bible. Utrecht University Library, THO RAR 11–31
As spaces that ultimately reminded a user of the ‘paperness’ and openness of the book, places such as flyleaves, endleaves, and margins were commonly occupied by readers’ thoughts and considerations.
2 Title Pages
After turning the blank page at the beginning of the Bible, the reader encounters the title page. This paratextual element has sparked ample book historical interest. Some historians of printing have claimed that the title page is the primary, most important feature of the early printed book, as it was introduced with the development of print – the incipit in manuscripts was usually not presented on a separate page – and often provides a typographical indication of a printer’s style.12 Furthermore, as ‘the site of a book’s self-presentation to its potential audience,’ the title page played the role that the front and back covers of modern books have now partially taken: it attracted readers, framed the book (for instance with regard to its genre), and positioned it in the book market through a combination of text, lay-out, images, and material.13 The title page, in other words, was crucial in selling the book. Choices with regard to the typographical characteristics and lay out of early modern title pages were therefore always connected to economic motives. Innovation would always have been balanced with recognisability and custom in order ‘not [to] jeopardize sales’.14
The characteristics of the title page, however, did not only impact advertisement and sale. Choices concerning the contents and lay out of the title page would continue to influence readers and users after the initial stage of acquiring the book. As Bonnie Mak has noted, title pages ‘visually and verbally fabricate a context [for the book], even if the pages are only leafed through or skimmed.’15 During the first few decades of the sixteenth century, the amount of information on the title page grew rapidly, hence providing the reader with increasingly detailed knowledge about the books they were about to read.
2.1 Stability and Adjustment on the Title Page
The recognisability of a title page was of crucial importance for ensuring the commercial value of a book. As Andie Silva explains, print agents could ‘frame new texts as part of their existing, already-thriving markets’ by creating recognisable title pages, and hence appeal to returning potential buyers.16 In addition, a recognisable lay out and the recurrence of specific elements on the title page would play a role in directing and shaping reading practices. Recurring characteristics of title pages could ignite readers’ ‘horizons of expectation’ by reviving their recollections of books that looked similar.17
With regard to the title pages of Jacob van Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bible editions, the recognisability of the title page and the recurrence of various elements are evident. The title pages of the complete Bible editions by Jacob van Liesvelt (published in 1526, 1532, 1534, and 1542) are all based upon one format, first established in the 1526 edition (fig. 2).18 The title pages depict an architectural space with Moses at the top of the page in an alcove-like space, holding the tablets and pointing towards them. On both sides of the space, four figures are placed: two on pillars, two on the ground. These figures are Mark, John, Joshua, and David, and each of them holds onto a plate with a quotation from his Bible book. These four quotations all relate to reading, teaching, or contemplating the Word of God. The quotation from Mark, in particular, creates a Reformation-minded atmosphere, as it implies an aspiration for direct access to the Scriptures for every individual: ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.’19 Each of the Bible editions between 1522 and 1545 that carried this inscription was eventually forbidden by the various Indices in the second half of the sixteenth century.20
The text box containing the title of the edition is positioned in the centre of the space. Underneath the title of all of Liesvelt’s Bible editions from 1532 onwards, a Cum Gratia et Privilegio approval is printed, often in larger script and (partially) rubricated, and at the bottom of the page, Jacob van Liesvelt’s printer’s mark is placed on a shield presented by two putti. A striking recurring element of Liesvelt’s title pages from 1532 onwards is the goblet- or chalice-like typographical shaping of the title.21 The consistency with which Liesvelt arranged his title in the goblet shape enhanced the uniformity and recognisability of his title pages.
Peetersen van Middelburch’s two complete Bible editions similarly present uniform title pages. Both depict an illustrated frame which encloses the title space (fig. 3). The woodcut Peetersen used in his complete Bibles is copied after the title page of Willem Vorsterman’s complete Bible of 1531.22 It depicts the four evangelists to the left and right of the title, and Peter and Paul on both sides at the top of the page, with a depiction of the nativity in the centre.23 The title in the middle of this frame is printed in red and black ink, underneath which Peetersen van Middelburch mentions his printing privilege. At the bottom of the title block, the printer placed a few lines of text, including a colophon in the 1535 edition and a reference to the added topical register in the 1541 edition.24
Despite the recognisability and relative stability of the content and construction of the title page, the folio-sized editions of Liesvelt and Peetersen van Middelburch show developments and slight changes between each edition, in text and lay-out. One of the elements clearly subject to change is the actual title. With regard to Liesvelt’s complete Bible editions, the title is extended with increasingly detailed information on the book’s contents. In the 1526 edition, the text box contains the simple title ‘The old and the new testament’ (Dat oude ende dat nieuwe testament) and two Bible quotations from Deuteronomy 4 and Deuteronomy 6. In the editions from 1532 onwards, however, these quotations disappear and the title is adapted to a more extensive one, which includes information on the presence, origin, and function of the marginal glosses added in these editions.25 From Hansken van Liesvelt’s editions in 1538 onwards, another adjustment to the title is made, stating that the glosses were meticulously corrected on the basis of trustworthy sources.26 Furthermore, it mentions the short summaries that were placed above each chapter in both the Old and New Testament.27 Liesvelt’s editions from 1542, then, also refer to newly added explanatory glosses.28
In Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bibles, the title of the 1535 complete edition is almost identical to Jacob van Liesvelt’s complete Bibles of 1532 and onwards, although Peetersen added a few lines – which were later copied by Hansken van Liesvelt in 1538 – justifying the quality of his glosses.29 The title of the 1541 edition of Peetersen van Middelburch follows the example of Vorsterman’s editions of 1534 onwards, hence corresponding with the textual content of this edition.
Compared to the folio-sized, complete Bibles, the title pages of Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s separately printed New Testament editions are not as lavishly decorated and usually provide less information on the content of the book. Not only does the small octavo size simply allow for less extensive titles, the chosen lay-out is also considerably simpler. Many title pages of New Testaments provide only the title and a decorative border. Interestingly, the title pages of the New Testaments seem to be slightly less consistent and recognisable in both layout and content of the title page than the complete editions. The title page of Jacob van Liesvelt’s first New Testament, printed in 1534, consists only of red and black text (fig. 5).
Title page of Jacob van Liesvelt’s New Testament of 1534. Brussels, Royal Library, LP 586 A
Underneath the title, at the top of the page, Liesvelt placed Bible quotations from Mark 16:15–16 and John 18:23, and, in a slightly larger font, colophon-like information about the place of printing.30 In subsequent New Testament editions by Liesvelt, the Bible quotations disappeared and a Cum Gratia et Privilegio was added, echoing the same development in his complete Bibles. These developments display how Liesvelt, at least outwardly, adhered to the regulations concerning book production in the first half of the sixteenth century, which prescribed that title pages should present information on the identity and location of the printer, as well as a printing privilege.31
The title pages of Liesvelt’s New Testaments from 1535 onwards become slightly more elaborate, featuring a decorative border surrounding the title block. For the 1535a edition, Liesvelt chose an architectonical frame depicting two Old Testament figures (fig. 6).32
Title page of Jacob van Liesvelt’s New Testament (a) of 1535. Ghent University Library, BIB.ACC.033490
In the editions of 1540 (fig. 7) and 1544a, the decorative frame depicts the four symbols of the evangelists in each corner, as well as four separate illustrations, displaying Christ standing near a tomb after his resurrection on the top, the apostles Peter and Paul on both sides, and the crucifixion on the bottom of the page.
Title page of Jacob van Liesvelt’s New Testament of 1540. Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Bb niederländ 154001
Title page of Jacob van Liesvelt’s New Testament of 1541. University of Groningen Library, A g 82
Liesvelt used a different woodcut for the title page frame in his 1541 (fig. 8) and 1544b New Testaments, although the depicted scenes are similar to the 1540 and 1544a editions.
Although Liesvelt alternated between those various frames and woodcuts, the overall impression of the title pages in his editions from 1540, 1541, and 1544 remains similar and recognisable.
With regard to Peetersen van Middelburch’s New Testaments, there also appears to be an aim for coherency, although this is interrupted by two editions. Peetersen’s 1540, 1541a (fig. 9), 1543, 1544, and 1546 editions are all relatively similar, depicting a simple floral frame surrounding the title, the quotation of Mark 16:15–16 (the same as on Liesvelt’s New Testament of 1534), and a colophon.33
Title page of Henrick Peetersen van Middelburch’s New Testament (a) of 1541. Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Bb niederländ 154101
Title page of Henrick Peetersen van Middelburch’s New Testament (b) of 1541. Dat gheheele nyeuwe Testament ons Heeren Jesu Christi. Intiaer ons Heeren, 1541. The New York Public Library, KB 1541 Bible NT Dutch. Rare Book Division
Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations
Title page of Henrick Peetersen van Middelburch’s New Testament of (likely) 1542. Gouda, Library Mastenbroek
Image: Wilco Mastenbroek
For his editions of 1541b (fig. 10) and 1542 (fig. 11), however, Peetersen used a different decorative frame and discarded the Mark quotation as well as, in the 1541b edition, the information on the place and date of printing.34
The information Peetersen van Middelburch provides in the titles of his New Testaments remains largely the same, although the 1542 edition is the exception. All other editions feature a title very similar to that of Peetersen’s New Testament of 1540:
The New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ, written down through inspiration by the Holy Spirit, by the Holy Apostles and Evangelists, following the St. Jerome translation that is followed in the Holy Church throughout the entire Christian world, corrected with great precision.35
The title in Peetersen van Middelburch’s 1542 New Testament is slightly shorter: ‘The entire New Testament corrected with great precision, based on the oldest and most approved copies that have been printed.’36 This title is the same as that of Liesvelt’s New Testaments from 1540 onwards, which underlines the close proximity between those two printers and their editions.
2.2 The Impact of the Title Page
The developing features of the title pages in Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bibles seem, in general, to rely upon two main principles: recognisability and innovation. Both printers appear to strive for some consistency in ‘branding’ their Bibles. Yet, when new paratextual elements, such as the summaries above chapters, indexes, or marginalia, were introduced, or when the printer wanted to claim the innovative or trustworthy character of a new edition, slight adjustments to the title page were made.37 Both strains of stability and adjustment are understandable with regard to the marketing function of the title page.38
The combination of various visual and textual elements on Liesvelt’s and Peetersen’s title pages will have impacted reading behaviour and readers’ experiences in several ways. Firstly, the four Bible quotations presented by the figures on both sides of the architectonical background in Liesvelt’s complete Bibles stimulate the reader to participate in a way of reading the Bible that is active, continuous, and studious. Readers ought to ‘preach the Gospel to all creation’ (Mark 16:15) and welcome exclusively those guests open to that teaching (2 John 1:10). Furthermore, they should keep the biblical word ‘always on [their] lips’ and ‘reflect upon it day and night’ (Joshua 1:8), so the Lord’s commands may ‘enlighten [their] eyes’ (Psalm 19:8).39 The reader is assigned a personal responsibility to continuously and actively study the Scriptures, a responsibility which, in general, would become increasingly confessionalised over the course of the sixteenth century.40
The quotation from Mark 16:15 is also present on the title pages of the majority of New Testaments by Peetersen van Middelburch and Liesvelt’s 1534 New Testament edition.41 The presence of this quotation on these various title pages not only emphasises the importance of reading the Gospel but also invites the reader to actively join the ‘evangelising’ activities for which Christ called them. Readers should not passively read the biblical text, but actively respond to it by spreading its knowledge to other people. Moreover, this invitation to the reader is expressed by the highest authority: Christ himself. This is emphasised by the fact that the words ‘Christ says’ have been printed in red ink in Peetersen van Middelburch’s editions, whereas the quotation itself is in black. Furthermore, the various quotations may not only refer to the biblical text in general, but also to the actual, material book that carries these words. The reader is physically holding the book to which these quotations apply, which brings new layers of meaning to these biblical verses. It is this book, the very book whose weight readers feel in their hands, with which they should constantly be involved with and actively study.
The emphasis on active study is echoed in the titles, especially in the complete Bibles. The titles of Liesvelt’s complete Bibles from 1532 onwards and Peetersen’s 1535 Bible encourage the reader to use the marginal glosses added to the book to ‘gain a better understanding of the biblical histories and of chronology.’42 In Peetersen’s complete Bible of 1541, the title also introduces the various ‘multilingual’, historical, and geographical marginal commentaries placed along the text. These references further underline how the book could be viewed as an object of study, entangled with historical, chronological, geographical, and linguistic knowledge.
The fact that the title pages of multiple Liesvelt editions are decorated and constructed as architectural frames supports the idea of the book as a library of knowledge, a learned space. This is a recurrent theme in early modern title pages: the book becomes a building into which the reader is invited to enter through the architectural entryway. Although, as noted by William Sherman, ‘architectural frames for pages are not new in the age of printing,’ they became particularly popular throughout the sixteenth century.43 Liesvelt’s architectural title pages invite readers to enter the Bible by way of a monumental archway with evident classical characteristics. These visual references present the book as a learned, ‘humanist’, and temple-like space.
The title pages also commonly emphasise the presence and relevance of paratextual elements to support readers’ navigation through the text. The title page of Peetersen’s complete Bible of 1541, for instance, comments on the appearance of a topical register: ‘In addition [there is] also a beautiful, very useful table, in order to find in the holy Scriptures, what one is looking for, which has never been printed before.’44 The title page thus not only denotes the presence of this ‘navigational aid’ – a term coined by Peter Stallybrass to refer to the paratextual elements in a book that enable a non-linear reading of the text – but also stresses its usage and benefits: one can search and navigate freely to find the preferred biblical section through consultation of this register.45 Similarly, the title pages of Liesvelt’s complete Bibles from 1538 and 1542 (both editions), all of his New Testaments, and Peetersen van Middelburch’s 1542 New Testament mention that ‘the content of each chapter [is] placed above that same chapter.’46 These chapter summaries, as will be discussed further in this chapter, not only framed a reader’s interpretation of the chapter, but also had a navigational function: they allowed readers to flip through the Bible and more easily locate specific sections.
The title pages, in particular those of the complete Bibles, but also, to a lesser extent, those of the smaller editions, imply and encourage an ideal reader who is engaged, critical, and wishes to actively shape their own reading practice. However, such a critical reader might also question the reliability of the translation and paratextual elements. The title pages of Liesvelt and Peetersen van Middelburch feature elements that in a way anticipate possible criticisms – from authorities, by including the Cum Gratia et Privilegio, as well as from readers, for instance by providing information on the reliable and trustworthy sources of their marginal notes and of the precision with which these have been corrected. Furthermore, Peetersen van Middelburch explicitly adds that he has indeed received permission to print his 1541b New Testament edition, and he emphasises in the majority of his New Testaments (except from the 1542 edition) that his translation follows St. Jerome’s Vulgate translation, ‘which is used throughout the Christian world in the Holy Church’.47 Peetersen ceases to mention that the translations of his New Testament’s are not mere Vulgate translations, but are ‘Vulgatised’ versions of existing translation that go back to Erasmus- and Luther-based texts. However, by focussing exclusively on the connection between the Dutch translation and the Latin Vulgate, Peetersen emphasises the traditional, and therefore trustworthy, character of his editions.
3 Prologues
Printed on the verso side of the title page, Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s complete Bibles present a prologue. Prologues are regularly considered to serve as the textual embodiment of the voice of the author, translator, or printer; a place in which the book producer has a verbal space to convince readers of certain interpretations of the text, often dressed with rhetorical tropes on humility and authority.48 Early modern prologues were a genre that strongly relied upon the use of topoi and models that were considered appropriate for the specific type of text the book carried. Rather than being an original reflection of the author or printer’s concerns, the structure and content of the prologues generally followed a rather predictable scheme. Moreover, prologues and prefaces were often copies, translations, or adjustments of existing prologues.49 Prologues were intrinsically dialectic and rhetoric devices, rather than texts that described the historical truth of the book-making processes or of the intentions of the author, translator, or printer. These facts, however, do not undermine the function of the prologue in directing the reader and framing their reading experience.
3.1 The Prologues in Complete Bible Editions
The fact that many early modern prologues were not composed specifically for the editions they introduce, is demonstrated by the prologues in Lievelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bibles: all Liesvelt’s complete Bibles from 1532 onwards, as well as Peetersen van Middelburch’s 1535 complete Bible edition, contain the same prologue (fig. 12).50
Prologue in Jacob van Liesvelt’s complete Bible edition of 1534. Antwerp, Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library, F 46902
The text usually covers the main part of the page and, in Liesvelt’s Bibles, echoes in its typographical design the goblet-like shape of the title on the recto side, underlining the coherence between the title page, the prologue, and the book. The text, with the incipit ‘Because of the inlearnedness and simplicity of many people’ (Aenghesien dat die ongheleertheyt ende simpelheyt van veel menschen), is a Dutch adaptation of the preface first published in Martin Luther’s Pentateuch edition of 1523.51 In his ‘Preface to the Old Testament’ (Vorrede auff das Alte Testament), Luther discusses how the Old and New Testament are connected and how both should be deemed relevant for Christian readers.52
The Dutch version of Luther’s Vorrede is a summarising adaptation. The Dutch prologue is much shorter than its German example, but retains Luther’s main point regarding the relevance of the Old Testament.53 The prologue states that the Old Testament is a preparation for the New Testament, serving as the ‘swaddling clothes in which Christ laid.’54 It also adopts Luther’s depiction of Bible readers as unlearned and ignorant people, who have often diminished the relevance of the Old Testament.55 The presence of this prologue in Liesvelt’s complet Bibles and Peetersen van Middelburch’s 1535 Bible underscores the Reformation-minded character of these editions.
Prologue in Henrick Peetersen van Middelburch’s complete Bible edition of 1541. Allard Pierson, University of Amsterdam Library, 1150 A 14
Peetersen van Middelburch’s complete Bible of 1541 features a different prologue. Titled ‘The declaration and ways to read this book’ (Dye verclaringhe ende maniere om dit boeck te lesen), this prologue previously featured in Vorsterman’s complete Bible editions. Similar to Vorsterman, Peetersen printed the prologue in a rectangular shape covering the main part of the page (fig. 13).
Underneath the prologue, Peetersen placed the number of months, weeks, and days in a year, and the length of a day. The empty space at the bottom of the page has been decorated with a woodcut depicting a bird on a thistle branch.
This prologue is mainly concerned with the origins of the presented translation, arguing that the translators used trustworthy sources and created a reliable, new translation that complied with the requirements of the Holy Church. Furthermore, the prologue explains how the reader, by using the typographical signs and marginal commentary placed along the text, may find the Hebrew variant of certain words. This would enable ‘anyone who is diligent in [studying] the Holy Scripture’ to learn ‘what the Hebrew text encompasses.’56 However, the prologue points out, the language-related marginalia are explicitly not meant for ‘generating any new opinions’but rather serve as a verification of the reliable sources approved by Roman authorities that laid at the basis of the Bible translation.57
‘Lives of the Evangelists’ in Henrick Peetersen van Middelburch’s complete Bible edition of 1535. University of Groningen Library, uklu Ag-3
In addition, in both Hendrick Peetersen van Middelburch’s complete Bible editions, four short ‘Lives of the Evangelists’ (dat leuen van dye vier Euangelisten) have been inserted at the beginning of the New Testament (fig. 14). Contrary to the prefaces to the Gospels by Hieronymus that are included in various early modern Vulgate editions (e.g. the Biblia cum pleno apparatu summariorum, printed by Jacques Sacon in Lyon), these Lives are not prologues in the strictest sense of the word. However, similarly to Hieronymus’ prefaces, they provided a rhetorical framework to lead readers into the New Testament, and the Gospels in particular.58 The addition of these Lives marks how Peetersen van Middelburch adapted and adjusted the Bible editions of his colleagues Liesvelt and Vorsterman. Although the main text of Peetersen’s 1535 edition mostly draws upon Liesvelt’s Bibles, the Lives are absent in Liesvelt’s versions. Peetersen most likely adopted the text from the Bible editions by Vorsterman, who included the Lives of the Evangelists in his complete Bibles as well as in his New Testament editions.
The Lives as published by Peetersen van Middelburch consist of four introductions on Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John: about the texts they wrote, in what parts of the world they worked, how they spread Christ’s message, and how they eventually died. The lives are all about twohundred words in length. The life of St. Mark, for instance, is described as follows:
Mark, a disciple and interpreter of St. Peter, has written a short Gospel, as the believers in Rome wished, following what he had heard St. Peter preach. Which the apostle Peter approved when he heard it, and has commanded it to the Holy Church to be read and preached in his name. [After] which Mark took the Gospel he himself wrote [and] travelled to Egypt. And he has firstly preached about Christ in Alexandria, with such teachings and virtues that he made all Christian people his followers. And he was so humble that he cut off his own thumb in order that he would not become a priest. When he had for long governed the Holy Church, had read, written and preached, he was thus once on an Easter Day captured by unbelievers and they threw a cord around his neck and drew him through the city as such, until he gave up his holy spirit.59
The Lives of the Evangelists included in Peetersen’s Bibles appear to have been loosely based on the lives of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the highly popular Legenda Aurea.60 By including these lives, Peetersen van Middelburch positions his Bible editions in a religious tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages.
3.2 Reading a Prologue and Shaping a Reader
The prologues in Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bibles each focus on a specific characteristic of the Bible edition they introduce. The Luther-based prologue emphasises the fact that the editions contain both the New and Old Testaments, stating that the Old Testament should be fully appreciated as a preparation to Christ and the New Testament. The prologue in Peetersen van Middelburch’s 1541 edition mainly stresses the presence and use of the ‘multilingual’ glosses that provide Hebrew variants to the biblical text. Moreover, whereas the first of these two prologues clearly conveys a Reformation-minded character, the second affirms that the Bible edition aims ‘to turn away the deceptions in the hearts [of the Christian people]’ and refers to the authority of the Church and the Vulgate.61 The difference in the confessional colour of these prologues hence accords with those of the presented Bible translations.
In addition to these differences, however, both prologues sketch an idealised readership, whether explicitly or in a more implicit manner, that echoes the reading behaviour constructed by the title pages. In the Lutheran prologue, the verb ‘to study’ (ondersoecken) is repeatedly used. The prologue recalls: ‘as Christ himself proclaims, saying, in John 5: study the scriptures, because they testify about me.’62 In doing so, devotees would follow the example of the people of Thessaloniki: ‘and in his seventeenth chapter, the evangelist Luke writes that the people of Thessaloniki studied the scripture daily.’63 Indeed, it continues: ‘Paul commands Timothy not to omit it but to study and to read the scriptures daily.’64 The combination of the words ‘studying’ (ondersoecken) and ‘reading’ (lesen) in this reference is particularly interesting, as the use of both concepts alongside each other implies that they would have two different connotations, encompassing different types of use that were not interchangeable and that did not necessarily take place simultaneously. This combination of verbs is also included in the final instruction posed in the last few lines of the prologue: ‘And this is also the principal and necessary reason for reading this book and for studying it with an obedient heart.’65 This sentence is an original Dutch addition to the German prologue, as is the use of the verb ‘study’ in the 1 Timotheus reference.66 The repetitive use of ‘studying’, as well as the distinction from ‘reading’, frames a reading practice shaped around an intellectual, focussed, and active engagement with the book.
The prologue to Peetersen van Middelburch’s 1541 Bible issues a similar studious approach. The prologue explains that, in order to prevent the reader from wandering around in an uncontrolled manner, the use of the Hebrew marginal glosses is systemised by the inclusion of asterisks and brackets to support the reader’s navigation between text and paratext, from the centre of the page to its borders and back.67 As the prologue states, the user of the book should carefully follow these directions:
Hence we have, because of the previously described reasons, printed the Dutch text in the Latin way in the middle [of the page], and next to that the afore-mentioned variant in Hebrew from the afore-mentioned trustworthy sources, indicated in the text of the book as follows: *, marked with a star where the Hebrew alternative starts. And where it ends, [marked with] a parentisi or small moon (as one says) to close it as follows:). These will be drawn as such [and] placed in the margin next to that. And because one ought not to wander around, hence we have developed this method: start at the star at the beginning of the same chapter in which you are reading, and count the [times] ‘the’ [i.e. the Hebrew] appears in the margin, in order to get to the right [passage] to which the star refers. [Applying this technique] is not necessary that often, as [the Hebrew alternative] is usually placed just next to the star, in the margin … One should keep this practice throughout the entire Bible.68
The elaborate explanation of this system stresses an approach to the Bible that centres around an essentially technical, critical, and ‘biblical-humanist’ view of the Scriptures and their translation. Furthermore, the prologue describes the intertextual context in which the edition ought to be understood, as it extensively explains what source was used to create the Hebrew paratextual elements. According to the text, the glosses are taken from the Complutensian Polyglot Bible, which was ordered and financed by Cardinal Franciscus Ximenes de Cisneros and printed from 1517 onwards, containing texts in Hebrew, Aramaic (“Chaldean”), Greek, and Latin – as anyone would verify ‘in whose hands … the before mentioned books came’.69 The prologue underlines how the Bible edition does not function as an individual entity, but rather will, in the process of reading and using the navigational tools provided, be part of an intertextual structure of trustworthy books. In the glosses, the authority of its sources becomes part of the readers’ experience.
Whereas the prologues at the beginnings of the Bibles stimulate a studious approach to the entire book, the Lives of the Evangelists in Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bibles confirm the importance of the Gospels in particular. They stress the authority and trustworthiness of the texts by emphasising the laudable and honourable lives and activities of their writers, and simultaneously connect the Bible editions to a long textual tradition of hagiographical writings and their use in religious life and devotion.
Although the Lives of the Evangelists serve, in a way, as a prologue to the New Testaments in these complete Bibles, none of the separately printed New Testament editions by either Liesvelt or Peetersen van Middelburch contain a prologue preceding the main text. Moreover, in Liesvelt’s New Testament editions of 1541 and 1544b, the colophon even explicitly states this absence: ‘This New Testament … is printed without glosses and prologues.’70 This addition would have assured possible buyers, readers, and censors that the edition complied toj the prescriptions in the imperial edicts and indices. Furthermore, the absence of a prologue may imply that Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s New Testaments were directed towards a different reading public and in anticipation of different reading practices. As will become clear in the following section of this chapter, the reading behaviours and techniques enabled and prompted by the paratexts at the beginning of the New Testaments focussed more explicitly on the application of the Bible texts in daily, liturgical devotion than on the scholarly approach as presented in the prologues.
4 Calendars and Almanacs
Whilst omitting a prologue, the New Testament editions printed by Liesvelt and Peetersen van Middelburch do contain preliminary paratextual material consisting of a calendar or almanac. The presence of this aid connects to a larger tradition: from the Middle Ages onwards, calendars were included in missals, books for private devotion (such as Books of Hours), and non- religious books (such as husbandry books and medical literature). In some cases, the calendars in Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bibles were extended with varied informative material that can also be found in contemporary printed almanacs.71 Such books were highly popular, as a proper understanding of the rhythm of the seasons and of the impact of astronomy was crucial for the management of daily life.72 In Pettegree’s words, calendars were ‘fundamental to every working regime: they determined the rhythm of work and worship.’73 Seasons and their varying hours of lightness during the day would determine the length of a working day, and trustworthy predictions of the lunar phases and the tide could save a fisherman’s life. According to Rhodes, early modern almanacs may be understood as ‘Renaissance computers’. They not only enabled users to make computations regarding dates and time, but also provided them with an extensive amount of information on various subjects, such as the positions of the moon, announcements of political anniversaries, festivities and local fairs, husbandry advice, the travel distance between various towns, astrological information, and a zodiac man. The almanac, either as a separate publication or included in another book, functioned as ‘a portable compendium of universal knowledge for the man in the cobbled lane.’74
4.1 Liturgical Calendars and Extensive Almanacs
As far as can be determined, every New Testament printed by Jacob van Liesvelt and Henrick Peetersen van Middelburch contained a liturgical calendar, sometimes embedded in a more elaborate almanac.75 Similarly to how prologues are found solely in complete Bible editions, the presence of calendars proves to be connected in particular to the format of the New Testament. Only Liesvelt’s 1532 complete Bible and the Vorsterman-based complete Bible by Peetersen van Middelburch of 1541 contain a calendar (fig. 15). The other complete editions lack this paratextual aid.
Furthermore, whilst the calendars in these two complete editions are relatively simple, the calendars and almanacs in Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s New Testaments are more exstensive, including notes on the length of days and nights, at what zodiac signs the sun rises and sets, and the starting dates of the four seasons.
Liturgical calendar in Jacob van Liesvelt’s complete Bible edition of 1532. Antwerp, Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library, F 83534
Contrary to the calendars and almanacs that were annually printed, Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s New Testaments offered their readers a calendar that could be used for at least twenty years, and in many cases even perpetually. In the latter case, it allowed readers to use it year after year by applying a calculating system of dominical letters and golden numbers, as will be discussed in more detail further in this paragraph.76 Because the almanacs in these editions accommodated multiannual use, they only list festivities and days that return on the same date every year (pars de sanctis or proprium sanctorum), such as saints’ days. The changeable dates of feasts that depend on the moon cycle (pars de tempore or proprium de tempore), such as the feasts depending on Easter, are not included. The user could personally utilise the devices offered in the almanac to determine the dates of these changeable feasts.77
In several of Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bibles – more specifically, in Peetersen’s complete Bible of 1541, his New Testament of 1541b, and Liesvelt’s 1535a New Testament – the overview of feast and saints’ days is accompanied by illustrations depicting the labours of each month and, in case of the New Testaments, each month’s zodiac sign (fig. 16).
Liturgical calendar in Jacob van Liesvelt’s New Testament (a) of 1535. Ghent University Library, BIB.ACC.033490
The combination of those twenty-four images was a typical illustrative programme in calendars from the Middle Ages onwards.78 The cycles of twelve images formed a unity that underscored the deep-rooted connection and relatedness of the dynamics on earth and the dynamics in the sky, of the mundane and the heavenly movements. The labours (or occupations) of the month presented earthly, usually agricultural activities, and the zodiac signs marked heavenly motion.
The illustrated New Testament calendars also include a moralising poem, presented in four rhyming verses that are printed underneath the images of the months.79 Similar verses were included in separately printed Dutch almanacs and were often of a moralistic character.80 The poem in Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s New Testaments consists of twelve stanzas of four verses in an ABAB rhyme scheme, following the months of the year. The verses connected to January, February, and April describe what biblical events took place that month, such as the circumcision of Christ and the Epiphany in January. The other verses are differently structured, as the first two lines of the stanza focus on the dynamics in nature and the last two provide a moral and religious lesson. In its juxtaposition of earthly and heavenly circumstances, these verses echo the connections between the labours of the month and the zodiac signs.
The calendars in Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s New Testaments are followed by suplementary material. In its simplest form, the almanac consists of a table that provides the year, its date of Easter, golden number, and dominical letter. Three of Peetersen’s New Testaments (of 1540, 1543, and 1546) also include the date of Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday and hence the last day before Lent. The table’s heading announces how many years are covered by the almanac, for instance ‘Almanac covering until the year 64’ or ‘Almanac of twenty years’.81 Several New Testament do not contain this table, but rather provide a perpetual calculating system that allowed users to personally determine the golden number and dominical letter of a certain year, and calculate the dates of Easter and other feasts. This system consists of two woodcuts and an explanation on their use. The first image depicts the sun surrounded by a double circle in which thirty-five letters are placed (seven in the inner circle, twenty-eight in the outer) (fig. 17).
Woodcuts for the calculation of the golden number and dominical letter in Henrick Peetersen van Middelburch’s New Testament (a) of 1541. Antwerp, Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library, F 215118
As the accompanying text clarifies, this circle can be applied in order to determine the dominical letter of a specific year:82
If you want to know the dominical letter of any year, count in this figure and start at the cross on letter C, and say: M [thousand], D [five hundred], 1, and count on: 2, 3, 4, 5, etc., and keep counting around and around until you get to the year you aim for. And the letter that you reach with that year of our Lord, that is the dominical letter.83
The inner circle, then, is used to determine the second dominical letter of a leap year. Because an extra day is included between St. Peter’s Day (22 February) and St. Matthias’ Day (24 February), the first dominical letter needs to be used before this leap day and the second in the rest of the year.
The second woodcut then depicts a full moon surrounded by a circle with numbers. Similar to how the dominical letters could be determined, this circle functioned as a device to discover what golden number belongs to a specific year.84 Again, the user ought to start at the top of the circle and count from the year 1501 to the year they aim to calculate. This golden number, as the text explains, can be found in the calendar, through which one can then easily find the day on the new moon, the first lunar phase.85 The calendar can also be used in combination with the acquired information of the dominical letters and golden numbers to figure out the dates of important liturgical high days. To find Septuagesima Sunday, for instance, one should ‘search for the first golden number from the year you desire in January or February, printed in red, and the first Sunday after this golden number is always Septuagesima.’86 Even more important, of course, would be to find the correct date of Easter:
If you want to find easily and without any failure [the date of] Easter, then search for the golden number that is first placed here and printed in red between the 21st day of March until the 18th of April. And the first Sunday after that golden number of the year you desire will always be [the day of] Easter, even if the golden number and the dominical letter happen to be on the same day.87
In a similar manner, the golden numbers and dominical letters allowed users to determine the dates of various other changeable feasts. An extensive list is included in Liesvelt’s New Testaments of 1540 and 1544a. In addition to Septuagesima Sunday and Easter, the almanac instructs the reader on how to calculate the dates of Ash Wednesday, the procession of St. Mark’s Day, the Rogatian Days, the Feast of the Ascension, Pentecost, the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Ember Days, and the first day of the Advent. Using the perpetual calculation system of the almanac, the user could thus personally create a liturgical calendar for whatever year they preferred.
The two editions by Liesvelt in which such a long list of feasts can be found, also provide supplementary information that is included in any of the other editions under scrutiny here. They inform readers about the movements of the tides in several towns in Brabant, Holland, Zeeland, and Friesland, for instance:
When the moon is waxing or full and in the East or West, it is high tide at the Gouwe, in Dordrecht, Oudenbosch, Antwerpen, [and] Sparendam when the clock has struck 6, in the evening or morning, and [it is] low tide at the same places at 12 O’clock during the day or at night.88
The inclusion of this element – commonly found in separately printed almanacs – corresponds with the aforementioned interconnectivity of the heavens and the earth, of which the impact of the lunar phases on the tide might be considered the most obvious.
Table for the determination of the relationships between zodiac signs, moon phases, and golden numbers, as well as the zodiac man in Henrick Peetersen van Middelburch’s New Testament (a) of 1541. Antwerp, Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library, F 215118
Several of Peetersen van Middelburch’s New Testaments contain a table for the determination of the mutual relationships between zodiac signs, moon phases, and the golden numbers (fig. 18).89 The table presents a square filled with twenty-seven different signs (the letters of the alphabet and two additional signs), which indicate the days of the moon cycle. At the left side of the square, one finds the zodiac signs; at the upper side of the square the golden numbers are positioned. By combining the golden number with the sign of a specific moment in the moon cycle, the user may reconstruct to which zodiac sign these connect. Contrary to other elements of the almanac, this table is not accompanied by any explanatory text; apparently, Peetersen van Middelburch expected his readers to be acquainted with the features of this informative device.
Underneath the table, the connections between certain zodiac signs and specific body parts are listed, stating, for instance, that Aries (Ram) ‘rules in the head’ and Pisces (Fishes) ‘[rule] in the feet.’90 ‘These are the twelve signs by their names’ is concluded in larger script at the bottom of the page.91 The connections between the constellations and the human body are further illustrated by the woodcut printed on the page opposite the table: the zodiac man (fig. 18).
A human figure is surrounded by ten circles, depicting ten of the zodiac signs – Fishes and Ram are placed underneath and above the figure – that are connected with indicator lines to the parts of the body they influence. On each side of the woodcut, the connection is verbalised, e.g. ‘Aries in the head’.92 Moreover, the value of the impact is added: whether it is ‘bad’, ‘good’, or ‘average’: ‘Leo in the heart. Bad’, ‘Aquarius in the legs. Good’, ‘Scorpion in the bladder. Average’.93 Underneath the zodiac man, its functionality is explained:
In this figure here, one may notice how the twelve signs rule the human body. And one should not touch a body part with iron nor with steel nor let blood, when the Moon or the Sun is in that [constellation], because that would result in great misery.94
As these phrases underline, knowledge of the star constellations was not only relevant to astrologists, but also for any person who would consider receiving medical treatments.
4.2 Collecting and Creating Knowledge
The presence of such elaborate almanacs in the New Testaments is a remarkable paratextual feature, one which does not refer directly to the interpretation of the biblical text. However, the inclusion of this paratextual element undoubtedly influenced the reading experience and use of the book. Firstly, its presence relates the Bible edition to a larger textual, visual, and practical tradition, which readers may have associated with the public sphere, daily life, and a broader book culture. The calendars and almanacs in the Bibles are similar to the separately printed almanacs, as well as those printed in other, non-biblical books.95 These paratextual intersections emphasise the resemblances in use and function between these various books and genres and mark the Bible’s daily relevance as a carrier of practical information. The New Testaments of Liesvelt and Peetersen van Middelburch are, by the inclusion of these elements, framed as approachable, practical, and performative objects that are in close proximity with the larger world.
The fact that these calendars and almanacs provide information about astrology, the zodiac, and the tides, emphasises the close and crucial connectivity between divinity and nature. In an early modern worldview, as Jorink noted, ‘everything in nature, from biblical to natural wonders, was attributable solely to God’s almightiness.’96 It was for him and with him and in him that celestial bodies moved – or could miraculously remain unmoved, as in Joshua 10:13: ‘So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.’97 In the preliminary paratext of Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bibles, elements from the ‘book of Nature’ found their textual place within that other major book of God.
The calendars and almanacs in these Bibles not only provide information, but most importantly, enable and invite users to engage in the construction and ‘performance’ of knowledge. By combining the several elements available, users could create and appropriate information that was not directly offered by the printed material. As announced in the almanac itself, users could, for instance, connect their calculation of the golden number to the included calendar in order to find the dates of specific feasts. Similarly, they could combine the calendar with the overview of the tides to ensure a certain time would be appropriate for setting sail, or use the calculation of golden numbers to find the appropriate zodiac sign and conclude whether or not they should postpone a certain medical treatment. In other words: readers were stimulated and expected to, through their active involvement, gain knowledge that would suit their personal situations, interests, and practices.
Moreover, in the construction of knowledge, users were not necessarily restricted to the calendar and almanac. The informative items of this paratextual element were also applicable to ensure the proper and effective use of other paratextual and textual parts of Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s editions. The determination of the dates of certain feasts, for instance, would provide beneficial knowledge for the use of the liturgical reading schedule, which is included in each of Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bibles (see section 3.5). How and to what extent this application of paratextual elements was efficiently performed, however, lay in the hands of the reader. Both printer-publishers seem to have expected their readers to master a range of techniques, not only concerning the use of the text but also with regard to their ability to interpret, apply, and combine multiple images, tables, and texts. These skills would require a certain level of competence in both literacy and numeracy, and a considerable familiarity with the genre of the almanac and its workings.98
5 Terminal Paratext
The paratextual elements discussed thus far would shape a reader’s entrance into the main text. In a similar vein, paratexts were used to shape a reader’s departure. However, in his highly influential discussion of paratext, Gerard Genette barely takes notice of the paratextual elements at the closings of books. Although his Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation itself contains a conclusion, reference list, and index at the end of the book, he does not discuss these elements in his work.99 William Sherman has coined the concept of ‘terminal paratext’ to describe paratextual elements that mark the end of the book or of sections of the book, such as epilogues, afterwords, conclusions, or colophons.100 Two types of terminal paratext in the Bibles by Liesvelt and Peetersen van Middelburch will be discussed here: explicits and colophons. Although the liturgical reading schedule and the topical register are also often positioned at the end of the book, their position is less stable. Moreover, whereas schedules and registers are essentially purposed to aid readers’ movements within the text, explicits and colophons are ultimately paratextual forms that note the end of a textual space and that direct readers out of a certain textual section.
The term ‘explicit’, which originates from the Latin verb ‘plico’ – to fold or roll, referring to the unrolling of scrolls – was used in Latin medieval manuscripts in order to mark the closure of a book or textual part. In vernacular manuscripts, the word is sometimes translated to ‘here ends.’101 The colophon served as another marker of the termination of a textual unity. The medieval or early modern colophon contained information that modern readers would expect as ‘front matter’ to their books: the name of an author, translator, or editor, the place of printing, the date, et cetera.102 Early modern printers adopted these medieval conventions and often closed their books with a colophon – and so did Liesvelt and Peetersen van Middelburch.
5.1 Explicits and Colophons
The end of a Bible book in Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bible editions is usually marked with a Dutch explicit. For instance, at the end of the Gospel of Mark in Jacob van Liesvelt’s first complete Bible of 1526, the explicit states that ‘here ends the Gospel of Mark.’103 At the end of the book 2 Maccabees, the explicit clarifies that the Old Testament closes: ‘The end of the Old Testament. Hereafter follows the New Testament.’104 Moreover, in Peetersen van Middelburch’s complete Bible of 1541, this explicit at the end of the Old Testament is extended with notes on the Bible’s content that mirror the information and wording of the title page (fig. 19):
Here ends the entire Old Testament after the Latin text, and in the margins of the book the Hebrew and Greek text, and variants after the Hebrew truth. And also placed in the margins of the books of Histories, the origins and developments of cities, kingdoms, and to it some judges or kings of the time of Israel, who have ruled some pagan kingdoms, [and] philosophers, and also prophets.105
Explicits are also placed at the end of various tables, in particular in the complete Bibles. For example, at the end of the topical register in Peetersen van Middelburch’s 1541 edition, which presents an alphabetic list of themes, people, and events from the Scriptures, the explicit announces that ‘here ends the table, diligently collected from the entire Holy Scripture, and beneficial for all Christian readers. Look at it and then judge it.’106
Explicit at the end of 2 Maccabees 15 in Henrick Peetersen van Middelburch’s complete Bible edition of 1541. Allard Pierson, University of Amsterdam Library, 1150 A 14
The explicits in Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bibles are generally accompanied by another element that marks the conclusion of a textual unity: defining lay out. As in many early modern printed books, typography and lay out were used to convey a certain meaning.107 In the Bibles studied here, the final sentences of a Bible book are usually arranged into a triangle (I), hourglass (II), berkemeyer (III), or rummer-shape (IV), as distinguished by Goran Proot (fig. 20). These visual devices signal the approaching conclusion of a text and anticipate the ‘here ends’ that follows at the bottom of the shape.108
Early modern text arrangements (based on Proot, ‘Converging Design Paradigms’)
The colophon, which concludes the book in its entirety, is printed by Liesvelt and Peetersen van Middelburch on the verso side of the last folio or underneath the last (para)textual element of their editions. In its simplest form, the colophon in these Bibles consists of the place of printing, the name of the printer, and the date of printing. The colophon of Liesvelt’s 1535 complete Bible, for instance, is: ‘Printed in Antwerp on the Camerpoort bridge at the Artois arms. By me, Jacob van Liesvelt. In the year of our LORD 1535, the eighteenth day of April.’109 In Liesvelt’s first complete Bible, the colophon is extended with the words: ‘With God on our sides, whoever could harm us? Fortitudo mea Deus.’110 Fortitudo mea Deus (God is my strength) is Jacob van Liesvelt’s printing device, which can also be found in his printer’s mark, depicted on a banner. Liesvelt placed his printer’s mark alongside the colophon in his complete Bibles of 1534 and 1535, as well as his 1544b New Testament (fig. 21).
Colophon and printer’s mark in Jacob van Liesvelt’s complete Bible edition of 1534. Allard Pierson, University of Amsterdam Library, OG 65-31
The printer’s mark echoes the lay out of the title page of Liesvelt’s complete Bibles: it depicts an architectural space, with an arch, an alcove, and two pillars on both sides. Readers may also recognise the two little angels holding the shield with the printer’s initials.
In some editions, the colophon is also used to underscore the admirability and trustworthiness of the book. In Liesvelt’s 1541 and 1544b New Testaments, the colophon begins as follows: ‘The New Testament, which surpasses all books (as gold surpasses all metals), is printed without glosses and prologues.’111 The colophon thus reassures readers or future buyers that the edition is trustworthy and in accordance with contemporary print regulations. Similarly, the colophons of Peetersen van Middelburch’s New Testaments guarantee the reader that ‘this New Testament is printed after the most appropriate copies, that have been printed with Permission and Privilege.’112
5.2 Defining the End and Creating a Unity
Markers of terminality, such as explicits and colophons, denote the boundaries of a text by ‘telling its readers that it is a discrete and in some sense complete unit.’113 By defining the end of a section, explicits and colophons announce that the part which it concludes indeed has to be understood as a coherent, meaningful entity. Moreover, the structuralising powers of the terminal paratext allow readers to get a better sense of ‘where they are’. Explicits and striking lay outs define transitions from one coherent section to the next, displaying to the reader in both a verbal and a visual way that they are indeed situated upon a threshold, about to depart from one part of the book and dive into another.
As shortly mentioned above, several explicits, colophons, and printer’s marks, echo textual or visual characteristics of the beginning of the book, in particular the title page. In particular the inclusion of Liesvelt’s printer’s mark may remind readers of the title page of their book. The content of the book is, as it were, ‘sandwiched’ between two clearly defining and similar paratextual elements that mark its beginning and end. Through these mirrored elements, the Bible is even more distinctly presented as a sound and completed unity.
6 Conclusion
The aim of this chapter has been to reconstruct what impact the constructive paratextual elements in the Bibles of Jacob van Liesvelt and Henrick Peetersen van Middelburch may have had on their potential readers, before and after these readers engaged with the main, biblical text. The book opens with prefatory paratext (i.e. title pages, prologues, and calendars) and the entire book as well as single sections are brought to a meaningful close with terminal paratext (i.e. the explicits and colophon). Through these elements, the reader is prepared in their understanding of the entity of the book as such. The very beginning and end of the biblical unities are defined and readers are taken by the hand, advised, and shaped whilst they step across the thresholds of the book.
When comparing the readership that is constructed by the prefatory and terminal paratext in the complete Bibles to that of the New Testaments, some variation can be detected. Firstly, the complete Bibles stimulate a readership that is particularly engaged with a studious approach to the book. Encouraged by the title pages and prologues and prepared for the application of various printed marginalia, readers are invited and enabled to study the biblical text as part of the all-encompassing history of salvation. In this scholarly approach, as the prologue to Liesvelt’s Bibles stresses, readers should understand the Old and New Testament as an ultimate unity, one in which the Old Testament is a divine preparation for the New Testament, and the New Testament fulfils the Old. The togetherness and connectivity are illustrated on Liesvelt’s title page: the figures of Mark and John are aligned symmetrically with the Old Testament characters of Joshua and David.
On the other hand, the paratextual elements in the New Testaments enable and construct a readership that incorporates the Bible in the concerns and considerations of everyday life. The addition of the calendar and almanac, as well as the absence of a scholarly prologue, invites readers to use their New Testaments as a space of knowledge creation that holds immense relevance to both metaphysical and practical aspects of daily life and devotion. Overall, however, both types of editions and both printers shape a reader that is inherently active, involved, and performative. The reader is invited to take up an engaged and dynamic stance in their approach to the Bible, which includes the use and integration of various paratextual elements. They are prepared by the title pages, prologues, and almanacs to be more than solely a passive recipient of the content of the book, but rather to be vividly engaged in the preparation of their reading practices.
See: Sherman, ‘The Beginning’, p. 66.
Peter Stallybrass, ‘Afterword’, in Helen Smith and Louise Wilson (eds.), Renaissance Paratexts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), pp. 204–219, p. 219.
Daniel Pennac, Comme un Roman (Paris: Gallimard, 1992), p. 145.
However, previous research has shown that, in some cases, early modern printers already added empty pages in the printing phase. Placing a blank at the beginning of a book in this phase required forethought and planning, as space had to be reserved within the quire. These blank pages were probably inserted as a form of protection of the book for the time passing between the printing and binding phases. As most books were stored by printers unbound, these pages could cover the outside of the text blocks against external forces. Strikingly, however, the presence of this blank page inserted by the printer declined steeply after 1485, around the same time that title pages start to develop. According to Margaret Smith, the title page seems to take up the role of the blank page. This sheds some new light on the assumed protective role of the blank page. See: Margaret M. Smith, The Title-Page: Its Early Development, 1460–1510 (London/New Castle: The British Library/Oak Knoll Press, 2000), pp. 52–53.
Among book historical studies, various terms are used to describe the blank pages and spaces at the beginning and the end of the book. These include endleaves, end sheets, and flyleaves. I follow the terminology as used and explained by Sidney E. Berger, ‘Endleaves’, in Dennis Duncan and Adam Smyth (eds.), Book Parts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), pp. 275–286.
A common early modern strategy for providing more space for annotation and reader response was the practice of interleaving the book with blank pages. This was particularly common with almanacs, see: Adam Smyth, ‘Almanacs, Annotators, and Life-Writing in Early Modern England’, English Literary Renaissance, 38:2 (2008), pp. 200–244, p. 204. The practice occurred in early modern Bibles as well. An example is a Dutch Bible from 1688 at Utrecht University (Hs. 19 A 17), known as the ‘Nahuys Bible’, named after its owner and annotator Gerard Johan Nahuys. The copy was interleaved with blank pages between each two printed pages. The blank pages contain extensive annotations by Nahuys and others, and the copy includes various other letters and documents that are placed loosely between the pages of the book. See: Bart Jaski, ‘Netwerken in een doorschoten Bijbel: Gerard Johan Nahuys en zijn kring in de achttiende eeuw’, Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse kerkgeschiedenis, 20:4 (2017), pp. 131–135. There are no interleaved copies among the Bibles in the research corpus of this study.
W. K. Gnirrep et al., Kneep en binding: Een terminologie voor de beschrijving van de constructies van oude boekbanden (The Hague: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1992), p. 31.
Maguire, The Rhetoric of the Page, p. 85.
Sharpe and Zwicker 2009, 7. See also: Katherine Acheson, ‘Introduction’, in Katherine Acheson (ed.), Early Modern English Marginalia (New York: Routledge, 2018), pp. 1–12, pp. 6–7; Jason Scott-Warren, ‘Reading Graffiti in the Early Modern Book’, Huntington Library Quarterly, 73:3 (2010), pp. 363–381, p. 378.
De Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life, p. 134.
Item si quaedam breuiter sed insigniter dicta, velut apophthegmata, prouerbia, sententias, in frontibus atque in calcibus singulorum codicum inscribes (Jean-Claude Margolin (ed.), ‘De Ratione Stvdii’, in Opera Omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterdodami – Ordinis Primi Tomvs Secvndvs (Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company, 1971), pp. 79–152, p. 119, verses 1–3). In translation by: Craig R. Thompson (ed.), Brian McGregor (transl.), Collected Works of Erasmus: Literary and Educational Writings, volume 24 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978), p. 671. On the importance of note-taking in early modern humanist (and Jesuit) pedagogy, see also: Ann Blair, ‘The Rise of Note-Taking in Early Modern Europe’, Intellectual History Review, 20:3 (2010), pp. 303–316.
See: Pettegree, The Book in the Renaissance, p. 11; Whitney Trettien, ‘Title Pages’, in Dennis Duncan and Adam Smyth (eds.), Book Parts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), pp. 39–50, p. 41.
Trettien, ‘Title Pages’, p. 41. See also: Jean-François Gilmont and Alexandre Vanautgaerden (eds.), La Page de Titre a La Renaissance (Turnhout: Brepols, 2008); Silva, The Brand of Print, pp. 9–10, pp. 67–68, pp. 103–104.
Proot, ‘Converging Design Paradigms’, pp. 301–302.
Mak, How the Page Matters, p. 34.
Silva, The Brand of Print, p. 15, pp. 103–104.
The concept of a ‘horizon of expectations’ was developed within Jauss’ reception theory. See: Hans Robert Jauss, Toward an Aesthetic of Reception (Minneapolis: University of Minnesoata Press, 1982); Michael Keanns, ‘The Material Melville: Shaping Readers’ Horizons’, in Michele Moylan and Lane Stiles (eds.), Reading Books: Essays on the Material Text and Literature in America (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1996), pp. 52–74.
Many characteristics of the Bible printed by Hansken van Liesvelt in 1538 are comparable to Jacob van Liesvelt’s previous editions. However, the illustration on the title page, and hence the entire impression of this page to a reader, differs. Hansken van Liesvelt’s title page depicts the contradiction between Law and Grace, sometimes also understood as an allegory on the Old and New Testament. The woodcut used by Hansken was copied after Erhard Altdorfer’s woodcut border, which was developed for a German Luther Bible printed in 1533 by Ludwig Dietz in Lübeck. Similar pictural scenes, moreover, also appeared in Catholic Bibles, such as Hans de Laet’s 1560 and 1565 complete Bibles, and Plantin’s Bible of 1566. Furthermore, the concept was already developed and explained in illustrations by Lucas Cranach the Elder in 1529, and in a painting by Hans Holbein the Younger from around the same year. See: Rosier, De Nederlandse Bijbelillustratie, pp. 73–75. The two complete Bible editions from 1542 return to the typical Liesvelt title page lay out.
In JvL CB 1542a, the four quotations that the figures on both sides of the title page hold are the following: Mark 16:15: ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation’ (Gaet in alle dye werelt / ende predict dat Evangelium allen creatueren); 2 John 1:10: ‘If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them’ (Ist dat yemant tot u comet / ende dese leeringe niet mee en brenct / dien en neemt in uwen huyse niet / en gevet hem ooc niet); Joshua 1:8: ‘Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; reflect upon it day and night’ (En laet dit boec van dese wet uut uwen monde niet comen / mer peist daerom dach ende nacht); Psalm 19:8 ‘The commands of the Lord are pure, enlightening the eyes’ (Die gheboden die HEEREN sijn suver / ende si verlichten dye oogen).
See: Den Hollander, Verboden Bijbels, p. 21.
It is unclear whether Liesvelt made new requests for a Cum Gratia et Privilegio approval for each of his subsequent editions and thus renewed the privilege, or if he simply copied the privilege which he requested and received for his 1532 edition. The explanatory text of the granted privilege, which was often added to books in order to verify the approval, is not included in any of Liesvelt’s Bible editions. Fraud with regard to these privileges was relatively common and Liesvelt was accused by the local government of misuse of the Cum Gratia et Privilegio in 1536. See: Den Hollander, De Nederlandse Bijbelvertalingen, pp. 31–32. On typographical spacing on title pages, see: Goran Proot, ‘Designing the Word of God: Layout and Typography of Flemish 16th-century Folio Bibles Published in the Vernacular’, De Gulden Passer, 90:2 (2012), pp. 143–179, p. 156; Proot, ‘Converging Design Paradigms’, pp. 284–293.
See: Den Hollander, De Nederlandse Bijbelvertalingen, p. 437.
Vorsterman copied the frame to Martinus de Keyser’s La saincte Bible en Francoys (1530). However, he substituted the bottom part of the frame, replacing the depiction of Law and Grace with a woodcut of four putti. See: Rosier, De Nederlandse Bijbelillustratie, p. 72.
HPvM CB 1535, colophon on title page: ‘Printed in Antwerp in the Mol, within the Camerpoorte. By me, Henrick Peetersen van Middelburch. In the year of our Lord 1535, 24 March’ (Gheprint Tantwerpen inden Mol, binnen die Camerpoorte. By mi Henrick Peetersen van Middelburch. Int Iaer ons Heeren. M.CCCCC. ende .XXXv. xxiiij Meerte.) HPvM CB 1541, reference to the topical register in the title block: ‘In addition [there is] also a beautiful, very useful table, in order to find in the holy Scriptures, what one is looking for, which has never been printed before’ (Item oock een schone seer profitelijcke Tafele, om te vinden in der heyliger schrift, wat men hebben wil, dye welcke noyt ghedruct en is gheweest.)
JvL CB 1532, title page: ‘The Bible corrected with great precision, and placed in the margins [are] the age of the world, and how long before the birth of Christ each of the histories and stories of the Bible occurred, and collected with that, from the Fasciculus Temporum, and from the chronicles of the entire world, the important histories of the most powerful, pagan kingdoms, that the Holy Scripture often mentions as well, in order to gain a better understanding of the biblical histories, and of chronology’ (Den Bibel met grooter neersticehty gecorrigeert / ende op die canten gheset den ouderdom der werelt / ende hoe lange die gheschiedenissen ende historien der Bibelen elck int zijn voor Christus gheboorte gheweest zijn / ende daer bi vergadert uut Fasciculus Temporum / ende uut dye cronike inden alder werelt / die principael historien der machtiger heydenscher conincrijcken / daer die heylige scrift oock dickwils af vermaent / tot een claerder verstant der Bibelscher historien / ende oock een onderscheyt der tijden te hebben.)
HvL CB 1538, title page: ‘Now also these [glosses] corrected with great precision, based on the oldest and most approved copies, that have been printed’ (Nu ooc laetswerf met groter neersticheit ghecorrigeert / uut die alder oudtste ende gheapprobeertste Copien / die welcke ghedruct sijn.)
HvL CB 1538, title page: ‘And the content above each chapter of that same chapter, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament’ (Ende dat inhout boven elcken capittel des selven Capittels / soo wel des ouden Testaments als des nieuwen Testaments.)
JvL CB 1542a, title page: ‘With some great explanations in the margins, that have not been there in the others’ (Met noch sommighe schoone verclaringen op dye canten / dye op dander noyt geweest en sijn.)
HPvM CB 1535, title page: ‘Now these [glosses] corrected with great precision, based on the oldest and most approved copies that have been printed’ (Nu laetswerf met groter naersticheit gecorrigeert uut die alder Outste ende geapprobeertste Copien, de welcke ghedruct sijn). Den Hollander states that the title of Peetersen van Middelburch’s 1535 complete edition is copied to Vorsterman’s editions of 1528 and onwards. However, although the start of the title ‘Den Bibel. Tgeheele Oude ende Nyeuwe Testament’ is indeed identical to the start of Vorsterman’s titles, the rest of the title is copied to Liesvelt’s bibles of 1535 and later. See: Den Hollander, De Nederlandse Bijbelvertalingen, p. 437.
JvL CB 1534, title page, references to Mark 16:15–16 and John 18:23: Marci. xvi. D. Gaet in alle die werelt / ende predict dat Euangelium allen creatueren / Wie daer ghelooft / ende gedoopt is / die sal salich wesen Maer wie nyet en gelooft / die sal verdoemt wesen. Johannis. xviii. D. Hebbe ick qualic ghesproken / so geeft getuychnis van tquaet / maer heb ick wel ghesproken waer om slaet ghi mi.
See also: Den Hollander, Verboden Bijbels, p. 9.
Liesvelt printed two editions of the New Testament in 1535. However, in the discussion of the title page as well as in the following discussion of other paratextual materials preceding the text, only the first edition of 1535 will be taken into account, as the only known extant copy of the 1535b edition (VU Amsterdam, signature: XC.05542-) misses its first few folios.
Peetersen van Middelburch also printed a New Testament in 1538, but the only extant copy of this edition (VU Amsterdam, signature: XC.06338-) is missing its title page. Therefore, this copy will not be mentioned in this description. For his 1544 edition, the previously unknown edition of which a copy is housed by Rolduc Seminary Kerkrade, Peetersen van Middelburch used partially the same woodcuts as for his 1542 title page, but rearranged their order.
The fact that the title page of the 1542 edition is so different from previous and later editions helped in easily reaching the conclusion that the one extant copy of this Peetersen van Middelburch New Testament, which is currently in private ownership, is indeed a different edition than any of the already known.
HPvM NT 1540, title page: Dat nyeuwe Testament ons Heeren Jesu Christi / Beschreuen door ingheuen des heylighen gheests / vanden heylighen Apostolen ende Euangelisten / Na sint Hieronimus Translatie / diemen ouer al Kerstenrijck houdt inder heiliger kercken / Met groter naersticheyt ghecorrigeert.
HPvM NT 1542, title page: Dat geheele nyeuwe Testament met grooter neersticheyt ghecorrigeert / wt die alder oudste ende geapprobeerste copien die welcke gedruct zijn Cum Gratia et Priuilegio. Ende dat inhoudt van elcken Capittel so wel vanden Epistolen der Apostolen als der Euangelien.
On the mentioning of paratextual elements on the title page as an advertising strategy, see: Silva, The Brand of Print, pp. 70–78.
See also: Proot, ‘Converging Design Paradigms’, pp. 301–302.
See note 148.
Earlier studies have considered this title page to be an example of one of the central tenets of the Reformation, as it invites the reader to an active and individual study of God’s Word. See Rosier, De Nederlandse Bijbelillustratie, p. 71.
HPvM NT 1540, title page: Christus spreect / Marci int .xvi. Capittel. Gaet in alle dye werelt / ende predict dat Euangelium alle creatueren / Wye dat ghelooft ende ghedoopt is / sal salich zijn. Liesvelt’s New Testament of 1534 adds to that: Maer wie nyet en ghelooft / die sal verdoemt wesen.
JvL CB 1532, title page: tot een claerder verstant der Bibelscher historien / ende oock een onderscheyt der tijden te hebben.
Sherman, ‘On the Threshold’, p. 80. See also: Margery Corbett and Ronald Lightbrown, The Comely Frontispiece: The Emblematic Title-Page in England, 1550–1660 (Boston/London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979); Helen Wilcox, ‘Early Modern Sacred Space: Writing the Temple’, in Joseph Sterrett and Peter Thomas (eds.), Sacred Text – Sacred Space: Architectural, Spiritual and Literary Convergences in England and Wales (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2011), pp. 141–162, p. 148. On the trope of the book as building, see also: Katherine Acheson, ‘The Occupation of the Margins: Writing, Space, and Early Modern Women’, in Katherine Acheson (ed.), Early Modern English Marginalia (New York: Routledge, 2018), pp. 70–89, p. 72.
HPvM CB 1541, title page: Item oock een schone seer profitelijcke Tafele / om te vinden inder heyliger schrift / watmen hebben wil / dye welcke noyt ghedruct en is gheweest. Although this subject index had indeed ‘never been printed before’ in a complete Bible by Peetersen van Middelburch, it had been part of Bible editions of other printers, such as Liesvelt’s complete Bibles from 1534 onwards.
See: Stallybrass, ‘Books and Scrolls’, p. 51.
JvL CB 1542b, title page: Ende dat inhout bouen elcken capittel des seluen Capittels.
HPvM NT 1541b: Die welcke toeghelaten is te drucken. Cum Gratia et Priuilgio. HPvM NT 1540, title page: Na sint Hieronimus Translatie / diemen ouer al Kerstenrijck houdt inder heiliger kercken.
See, for instance: McKenzie, Bibliography, p. 24; Genette, Paratexts, p. 197.
See: Brian W. Schneider, The Framing Text in Early Modern English Drama: ‘Whining’ Prologues and ‘Armed’ Epilogues (London/New York: Routledge, 2016), p. 6; Elizabeth Dearnley, Translators and their Prologues in Medieval England (Cambridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2016), p. 3.
See: De Bruin, De Statenbijbel en zijn voorgangers, p. 98.
E.g. USTC No. 626766. See: Den Hollander, De Nederlandse Bijbelvertalingen, p. 34.
WA, DB 8:10. See also: William M. Marsh, Martin Luther on Reading the Bible as Christian Scripture: The Messiah in Luther’s Biblical Hermeneutic and Theology (Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications, 2017), pp. 53–59. The argument concerning the relevance of the Old Testament had been emphasised by Luther before in the 21 prefaces found in his September Testament of 1522. Recalling this statement it in the preface to his Old Testament allowed Luther to bring his statement into practice by presenting readers with the text he claims the importance of.
Morrall has pointed out that the didactic emphasis laid upon reading the Old Testament in Luther’s and Liesvelt’s prologues departs from traditional manners of understanding the Old Testament solely for typological purposes. See: Morrall, ‘Domestic Decoration’, p. 579.
JvL CB 1542b, prologue: … dat oude Testament is ons als dye wendeldoecken daer Cristus in ghewonden leyt. In Luther’s Vorrede: ‘Here you will find the swaddling cloths and the manger in which Christ lies, and to which the angel points the shepherds’ (Hier wirstu die windeln und die krippen finden, da Christus ynnen ligt, dahyn auch der engel die hirtten weysset) (see: Marsh, Martin Luther on Reading the Bible, p. 55).
JvL CB 1542b, prologue: … die ongheleertheyt ende simpleheyt van veel menschen; … meynende dat alsulcken scriftuere alleen den Ioden ghegheven si, onde ons nyet aen en ghae.
HPvM CB 1541, prologue: hieromme / op dat een yeghelick / dye in die heylighe scrift naerstich is / ende dye begheert te weten / wat den hebreeuschen tekst in heeft.
HPvM CB 1541, prologue: ende nyet om eenighe nyeuwe opinien / te genereren.
USTC No. 143749. As argued by Vermeulen, this Bible by Jacques Sacon was likely used by Willem Vorsterman in the publication of his Bible editions. See: Louis Vermeulen, ‘Die alder beste maniere van ouer te setten: Een andere visie op het gebruik van bronnen in het Oude Testament van de Vorstermanbijbel’, Trajecta, 27:1 (2018), pp. 57–126, p. 65.
HPvM CB 1535, life of Mark: Marcus een discipel ende beduyder van sinte Peeter / als op hem te Roomen vanden gelouigen menscen begeert werde / soo heet hi haer gescreuen een cort Euangelium / na het gene dat hi van sint Peeter had hooren preken / welck als Peeter apostel hoorde heeft geapprobeert / ende heeft die heilighe kercke ghegeuen in sinen naem te lesen ende te prediken / welc Marcus nemende dat Euangelium dat hi selue hadden gescreuen / is gereist na Egipten / ende heeft aldaer eerst Christum in Alexandrien gepredict / met alsodaniger leeringen ende duechden / dat hi alle die Christem menschen bracht tot zijnder nauolginhe: Ende was also ootmoedich / also dat hij sinen duym seluer afhieu / om dat hi geen priester en soude werden / Als hi lange die heylige kercke hadde geregeert / lesende / scriuende / ende prekende / so wert hi eens op eenen paeschdach / van die ongelouighe gheuanghen / ende wierpen hem een seel om den hals ende togen hem also door die stadt / tot dat hi sinen heylighen gheest gaf.
Compared to the life of Mark in the Legenda Aurea (Jacobus de Voragine (transl. William Granger Ryan), The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints (Princeton/Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2012), pp. 242–260).
HPvM CB 1541, prologue: … der ghemeynder christenen menschen / om dye dwalinghe wter herten te keeren.
JvL CB 1542b, prologue: also ons Cristus ooc selue betuycht, Ioannis int .v. seggende. Ondersoect die scriftuere, want die selue gefet getuygenisse van mi. The italics are mine.
JvL CB 1542b, prologue: ende int .xvij. des seluen scrijt die Euangelist sinte Lucas, dat dye van Thessalonica daghelicx ondersochten die scriftuere.
JvL CB 1542b, prologue: Paulus gebiet Timotheum, dat hy niet en soude laten, mer dagelicx die scriftuere ondersoecken ende lesen.
JvL CB 1542b, prologue: Ende dit is oock die principael ende nootlijcke sake, waerom dit boeck te lesen ende met ootmoedigher herten te ondersoecken is.
Moreover, the translations of these biblical passages do not correspond exactly to the biblical text in the main text of the Bible. See for a more elaborate explanation: Renske A. Hoff, ‘Framing Biblical Reading Practices: The Impact of the Paratext of Jacob van Liesvelt’s Bibles (1522–1545)’, Journal of Early Modern Christianity, 6:2 (2019), pp. 223–250, p. 238.
On the use of asterisks in early modern books, see: Maguire, The Rhetoric of the Page, pp. 171–235. See also: Laurie Maguire’s Panizzi Lectures 2018: The Rhetoric of the Page. Reading Asterisks. The lecture is integrally available at https://soundcloud.com/the-british-library/the-rhetoric-of-the-page-reading-blank-space-laurie-maguire.
Quoted from Peetersen van Middelburch’s complete Bible of 1541, copy University of Amsterdam (signature: 1150 A 14), prologue: So hebben wij nu dan om der voorscreven saecken wille / den duytschen text na den Latijnschen sin / int middel doen drucken / ende daer bi die voorseyde alteracie hebreeusche veranderinge / uuten voorseyden geapprobeerden boecken / laten setten inden text des boecx aldus * met een sterre gheteekent / daer die hebreeusche veranderinghe beghint / Ende soo verre als si duert / met een parentisi oft maencken (so men seyt) besloten aldus) dat welcke aldus gheteckende / suldy opten cant daer tegen over staen / Ende om datmen daer in niet dwalen en soude / so setten wij dese maniere. Neemt dye sterren van voren aan tselve Capittel / daer ghi in leest / ende the. opten cant by een tellet / dat ghi dat selve moecht raken / daer die sterre op teekent / dwelcke nyet dicke van noode en is / want dat coemt ghemeynlijck recht teghen zijn sterre op dye canten … Dit salmen onderhouden alle den Bibel dore.
HPvM CB 1541, prologue: Als weten mach / tot wiens handen … die voorghenoemde boecken ghecomen zijn. In 1975, Cornelis Augustijn stated that Willem Vorsterman’s Bible translation, which was adopted by Peetersen van Middelburch in his 1541 edition, was based in particular on Liesvelt’s Bible and that the Complutensian Polyglot Bible was not used (see: Augustijn, ‘De Vorstermanbijbel’, p. 80). Recently, however, Louis Vermeulen’s extensive philological study of Vorsterman’s edition of 1528 has shown that it is likely that the Polyglot Bible was indeed used for the marginal glosses in Vorsterman’s Bibles. See: Vermeulen, ‘Die alder beste maniere’, pp. 103–110.
JvL NT 1541, colophon: Dat Nieuwe Testament … geprent sonder glosen ende Prologen.
Calendars and almanacs appeared in print from the late fifteenth century onwards, and they remained popular throughout the early modern period, both as separately printed leaflets and as paratextual elements in a variety of books. As most calendars and almanacs only provided information for the coming year, leaflets and pamphlets with almanacs were annually sold in the last months of the year. For printer-publishers, the printing of almanacs was a lucrative investment, one that paid itself back quickly. Not only were they used by individuals of virtually every socio-economic class (especially in urban environments), institutions such as convents, universities, and the government were also reliable purchasers (see: Jeroen Salman, Populair drukwerk in de Gouden Eeuw: De almanak als lectuur en handelswaar (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 1999), p. 291). In the time period between 1476 and 1570, at least thirty-one Antwerp printer-booksellers were actively involved in the production and dissemination of almanacs and various printers published new almanacs year after year. Jacob van Liesvelt and his widow were responsible for the annual printing of almanacs from ca. 1520 until 1564. Books like these created financial backup for the risky investments Liesvelt would have made to publish his large Bible publications. According to Jeroen Salman, the development of the printed almanac comprised three stages. Firstly, the medieval calendar started to gain additional information on time, astronomy and medical topics from the end of the fifteenth century onwards. During the sixteenth century, astrological predictions (prognostica) were included. In the seventeenth century, the contents of almanacs expanded even further as they started to cover extensive practical information as well as light-hearted texts and rhymes (see: Jeroen Salman, ‘“Van sodanige almanacken, die gevult zijn met ergelijcke bijvoegselen en oncuyse en onstigtelijcke grillen”. Populaire leesstof in zeventiende-eeuwse almanakken’, Literatuur, 10 (1993), pp. 74–80, p. 75; Salman, Populair drukwerk, p. 16). Almanacs would also provide space for personal responses and notes by users, not in the least because some almanacs (mainly during the seventeenth century) were interleaved with blank pages (see: Salman, Populair drukwerk, p. 168; Rhodes, ‘Articulate Networks’, p. 182; Smyth, ‘Alamancas, Annotators’, p. 201; Sarah Lindenbaum, ‘Memorializing the Everyday: The Evidence of the Final Decade of Frances Wolfreston’s Life’, The Seventeenth Century, 37:3 (2021), pp. 449–476). Despite the popularity and large print runs of separately printed almanacs and calendars, the survival rate of copies is very low. As with most smaller books and pamphlets of the sixteenth century, if they would not have been used to destruction, the paper would have been recycled. The fact that most annual almanacs would have been considered worthless after the year they dealt with probably catalysed this destruction. Salman notes the strikingly low survival of seventeenth-century almanacs: of about 10,000 copies each year, sometimes only one copy per edition survived (see: Salman, Pupulair drukwerk, 29).
The fact that the explorers Willem Barentsz and Jacob van Heemskerck brought an almanac on their artic expedition in 1596 – the expediation that resulted in their famous stay on Nova Zembla – is, in that sense, not surprising. Their small Deventer almanac (about 7 to 9 cm) was retrieved in rather good condition on Nova Zembla in 1876. Fifteen of the originally twenty-four folia are in the possession of the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam. Various pages of the almanac are digitally accessible via the ‘Rijksstudio’ of the Rijksmuseum: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/zoeken/objecten?q=almanak&s=chronologic&v=list&p=2&ps=10&st=Objects&ii=0#/NG-NM-7741-2,10. See also: Salman, Populair drukwerk, p. 15.
Pettegree, The Book in the Renaissance, p. 335.
Neil Rhodes, ‘Articulate Networks: The Self, the Book and the World’, in Neil Rhodes and Jonathan Sawday (eds.), The Renaissance Computer: Knowledge Technology in the First Age of Print (London: Routledge, 2000), pp. 181–194, p. 182.
In some cases, the only surviving copy of a New Testament edition does not contain a calendar because the first few folios are absent. Furthermore, as mentioned in the introduction to this book, the editions Jacob van Liesvelt published in 1542 and 1543 are only known to us by a reference in the Louvain Index, as no surviving copies are known. It is unknown if these copies contained calendars. However, it is reasonable to assume they did, as any of the editions of which complete copies have survived do contain a calendar or almanac.
On the use of perpetual calendars, see: Bridget Ann Henisch, The Medieval Calendar Year (Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), pp. 215–220.
See also: Salman, Populair drukwerk, pp. 136–137.
See also: Henisch, The Medieval Calendar Year, pp. 1–2. The earliest surviving examples of the labours and the zodiac signs date from the ninth century and the image cycles were already formulaic from the twelfth century onwards. See: Colum Hourihane, ‘Introduction’, in Colum Hourihane (ed.), Time in the Medieval World: Occupations of the Monts and Signs of the Zodiac in the Index of Christian Art (Princeton/Pennsylvania: Princeton University/Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006), pp. xlvii–lxiv, p. lii. Furthermore, the illustrations, and the zodiac signs in particular, were also found in non-manuscript contexts, for instance carved onto church facades. On zodiac motives in twelfth- and thirteenth-century churches, see: Shelly Morwenna Williams, ‘The Zodiac on Church Portals: Astrology and the Medieval Cosmos’, Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture, 7:3 (2021), pp. 59–115.
This poem can also be found in a Middle Dutch psalter manuscript of the University of Pennsylvania (Ms 739, olim Dutch 1). See: Youri Desplenter, ‘Vroegmoderne Nederlandse Bijbelvertalingen middeleeuwser dan vermoed: vondst van een vijftiende-eeuwse getuige van het Vorstermanpsalter (1528)’, Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde, 123 (2007), pp. 185–205.
See: Salman, Populair drukwerk, p. 154.
HPvM NT 1540, heading of the almanac: Almanach gheduerende tot .lxiiij. Jaren. The same heading is included in Peetersen van Middelburch’s New Testaments of 1541a, 1542, 1543, 1544, and 1546. JvL NT 1535a, heading of the almanac: Almanack van .xx. iaren. A similar heading can be found in Liesvelt’s New Testament of 1534: ‘Almanac of twenty-three years’ (Almanack van .xxiij. Jaren). The fact that these almanacs cover approximately twenty years provides insight into the expectations of the printer-publisher concerning the period in which the book would be used. Apparently, the practical functionality is estimated upon around two decades. As the surviving copies of Liesvelt’s and Peetersen van Middelburch’s Bibles illustrate, however, these books were regularly used across a considerably longer period of time.
The dominical letter is the hebdomadal letter (weekly letter that represents the day of the week) that indicates Sunday. Hence, as Henisch explains, the code works as follows: ‘If January 1 happens to fall on a Sunday, then the letter A will represent Sunday in the calendar throughout that particular year. If, on the other hand, the first Sunday comes on January 7, its letter will be G. Every other day of the week is fitted into the same alphabetical scheme, depending on the place of Sunday in the first week of the year. … Whatever letter is assigned to Sunday becomes as well the letter by which the year is identified.’ See: Henisch, The Medieval Calendar Year, pp. 218–219.
JvL NT 1541, almanac: Wilt ghi eewelijc die sondaechsche letter weten / so telt in dese figuere / ende begint aent cruys op die letter C / ende segt. M. d. een / telt voort ij. iij. iiij. v. Etc / ende telt ront om ende weder ront om / tot dat ghi coemt aent iaer dat ghi begheert / ende die letter daer het iaer ons Heeren op valt / dat is die sondaechsche letter.
There are 19 golden numbers, as the lunar cycle consists of 19 solar years. Hence, the new moon will be present at the same day and same time every 19 years. The golden number indicates the year within this cycle. See also: Henisch, The Medieval Calendar Year, pp. 219–220.
JvL NT 1541, almanac: ende het beteekent die nieu mane / ende op dien dach / daert tegen staet hebdi altijt die nieu mane / sonder opwaert oft nederwaert te tellen / ende hier bi als ghi tgulden getal hebt / so hebdi ooc eewelic nieu mane. This and the following explanation are not part of Peetersen van Middelburch’s New Testament of 1540.
JvL NT 1541, almanac: Den sondach Septuagesima / diemen ghemeenlic noemt den besloten tijt / die coemt altijt .ix. weken voor Paesschen. Ende om den seluen lichtelijc te vinden / so soect tgulden getal in Januario ende in Februario alder vorst gheset / ende root ghedruct / vanden iaren dat ghi begeert Ende den eerste sondach na dat gulden ghetal ist altijt Septuagesima / oft besloten tijt. The Septuagesima is the first high day in the year depending on the dating of Easter. It is the ninth Sunday before Easter and marks the beginning of the Pre-Lenten period.
JvL NT 1541, almanac: Wilt ghi lichtelic sonder faelgieren altijt Paesschen vinden so soect tgulden getal hier buten eerst geset ende root gedruct / vanden .xxi. sten dach Meert aen tot den .xviii. van April toe. Ende den eersten sondach na tgulden getal vanden iare dat ghi begeert ist altijt Paesschen / al quaem oock tgulden ghetal ende die sondaechsche letter op eenen dach.
JvL NT 1544a, almanac: Als die mane ontfangt oft vol is / ende Oost oft West is / soo ist hooch water ter Gouwe / Dort / Oudenbossche / Antwerpen / Sparendam / als die clock .vi. heeft geslagen tsauonts of smorgens / ende leech water op die selue plaetsen te .xij. uren sdaechs of snachts.
This is the case in Peetersen van Middelburch’s New Testaments of 1540, 1541a, and 1541b.
HPvM NT 1540, almanac: Die ram regeert int hooft. HPvM NT 1540, almanac: Die vissche [regeert] in die voeten.
HPvM NT 1540, almanac: Dit zijn die .xij. teekenen met haren namen.
HPvM NT 1540, almanac: Aries int hooft.
HPvM NT 1540, almanac: Leo in herte. Quaet; Aquarius inde beenen. Goet; Scorpius in de blase. Middel.
HPvM NT 1540, almanac: In dese tegenwoordige figuere machmen mercken hoe de xij. teekenen des menschen lichaem regeren. Ende men en behoort gheen lidt te roeren met ysere / noch met stale / noch oock bloet te laten daer dye Mane of dye Sonne in is / Want daer groot perikel af comen mocht.
Cf. the almanacs in Liesvelt’s Fasciculus Myrre of 1543 (USTC No. 408327) and his Gulden ghebedeboecxken of 1532 (USTC No. 437610).
Eric Jorink, Reading the Book of Nature in the Dutch Golden Age, 1575–1715 (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2010), p. 8.
See also: Jorink, Reading the Book of Nature, p. 7.
On numeracy in the early modern Low Countries, see: Tine de Moor and Jaco Zuijderduijn, ‘The Art of Counting: Reconstructing Numeracy of the Middle and Upper Classes on the Basis of Portraits in the Early Modern Low Countries’, Historical Methods, 46:1 (2013), pp. 41–56; Tine de Moor and Jan Luiten van Zanden, ‘“Every Woman Counts”: A Gender-Analysis of Numeracy in the Low Countries during the Early Modern Period’, The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 41:2 (2010), pp. 179–208.
See also: Sherman, ‘The Beginning’, pp. 65–66.
See: Sherman, ‘The Beginning’, p. 66.
For instance, the so-called ‘Bible of 1360’ contains the phrase: here ends the first part of the Bible … (‘hier eyndet dierste stuck der bibelen …’). See: Jan Paul Albert Deschamps, Middelnederlandsen handschriften uit Europese en Amerikaanse bibliotheken (Leiden: Brill, 1972), p. 152. An otherwise common way to mark the end of a book or section was the use of ‘amen.’ See: Sherman, ‘The Beginning’, p. 68.
See: Sherman, ‘The Beginning’, p. 66; Smith, The Title-Page, p. 30.
JvL CB 1526, end of Mark 16: Hier voleynt dat euangelion Marci.
For example, JvL CB 1534, end of 2 Maccabees 15: Eynde des ouden testaments / Hier nae volghet dat nieuwe Testaments. In Jacob van Liesvelt’s Bible of 1526, the explicit ‘Here ends the Old Testament’ is included twice. Next to its proper place at the end of 2 Maccabees, it has, probably by accident, also been printed at the end of 1 Maccabees.
HPvM CB 1541, end of 2 Maccabees 15: Hier eyndet dat gheheele oude Testmanet / nae den Latijnschen Text / ende opten cant des boecs dye Hebreeusche ende Griecsche Text / ende veranderinghe / naerder Hebreeuscher waerheyt / Ende oock in dye boecken der Hystorien op die cant ghestelt / die oorspronghen ende opganghen van steden / conincrijcken / Ende bi wat Rechters ot Conincs van Israels tijden / dat geregneert hebben sommighe heydensche coninghen / philosophen / ende oock Propheten. Peetersen follows Vorsterman’s Bibles in the addition of this lengthened explicit.
HPvM CB 1541, end of topical register: Hier eyndet die Tafel / op geheel dye heylige scrift seer naerstelijck vergadert / ende profitelick voor allen Christen lesers / besiet / ende dan oordeelt.
See: Proot, ‘Designing the Word of God’; Proot, ‘Converging Design Paradigms’.
See also: Sherman, ‘The Beginning’, p. 73. The use of this visual device proves to be less consistent in the New Testament editions than in the complete Bibles. This probably relates to the fact that such an arrangement of text takes up more space than square text blocks. In order to keep the New Testaments small and feasible, proper space management was crucial.
JvL CB 1535, colophon: Gheprent Thantwerpen op die Camerpoort brugghe inden Schilt van Artoys By my Jacob van Liesvelt. Int Jaere ons HEREN M. CCCCC. ende xxxv. Den .xviij. dach van April.
JvL NT 1526, colophon: Is God met ons / wie mach ons letten / Fortitudo mea Deus.
JvL NT 1541, colophon: Dat Nieuwe Testament / dwelc (alst gout alle Metalen te bouen gaet) alle boecken te bouen gaet / Is geprent sonder glosen ende Prologen.
HPvM NT 1538, colophon: Dit nieuwe Testament is Gheprent na dye alder correcxste Exemplaren / die met Gracie ende Privilegie gedruct zijn.
Sherman, ‘The Beginning’, p. 66.