Bible of St. John of Ribera - 1540

As Archbishop and Viceroy of Valencia, Latin Patriarch of Antioch and Chancellor of the University of Valencia, Juan de Ribera (1532–1611) was one of the most influential figures in 16th and early 17th century Spain and had a direct connection to King Philip III (1578–1621) of Spain. In 1583, he founded a seminary in Valencia - the Real Colegio Seminario del Corpus Christi, where he is not only buried, but to which he also bequeathed the majority of his private library, which is still housed in the historic premises. Among them is the so-called Bible of St. John of Ribera – 1540, a Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh. The writings, which are significant for both Judaism and Christianity, are provided with numerous handwritten marginal notes by Ribera, which identify the book as his personal study copy. It was published in 1540 by the Paris printing house of Robert Estienne (1503–1559), who had just been appointed royal printer and was therefore one of the leading masters of this profession.