The most beautiful and traditional Catholic Bible in English! The first ever digitally typeset edition with newly redrawn colour maps, beautifully bound in leather with gilt edges. This edition brings together the very best of three Douay-Rheims Editions:
The Old and New Testaments - from the 1899 edition published by John Murphy Company, Baltimore, Maryland. Imprimatur: James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore (the whole revised and diligently compared with the latin Vulgate by the Servant of God Bishop Richard Challoner). The Old and New Testaments and Historical and Chronological Index have been beautifully retypeset, faithfully to reproduce the original 1899 Gibbons edition. The text is set in the classic Century Expanded font, which was originally used in the 1899 edition, and has been lovingly typed line by line to represent exactly the original edition. The Family Register pages have also been digitally typeset and redrawn. The text is set in CenturyExpandedBT font, size 6pt.
Maps - from the 1911 edition published by Wm. Aleiter Co., Catholic Supply House, Indianapolis. Imprimatur: John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York. Eleven coloured maps digitally redrawn by hand and fully coloured.
Engravings - from the 1941 edition published by The Douay Bible House, New York. Imprimatur: Francis J. Spellman, D.D., Archbishop of New York. These thirty-two beautiful engravings recreate key moments in Biblical History. In our edition, they have been scanned, carefully remastered and enhanced, and their captions have been retypeset and corrected to match the appropriate verses in the Bible text. Size: 4 x 6 In 1546, the Council of Trent declared the Latin Vulgate Bible as authentic, and declared that "No one (may) dare or presume under any pretext whatsoever to reject it" (4th Session, April 8, 1546). The Douay-Rheims Bible is an English translation of the Latin Vulgate Bible, a version universally used in the Church for over 1500 years, itself meticulously translated from the original Hebrew and Greek by St. Jerome (A.D. 340-420). The Douay-Rheims was completed in 1609, and is therefore older than the King James Version, the oldest Protestant translation still in use, which was published in 1611. The Rheims New Testament was published nearly thirty years earlier, in 1582. Further, the translators of the KJV make specific reference to the Douay version in their translators' preface. It is commonly acknowledged that, in preparing the KJV, the translators made use of the Rheims New Testament and adopted many of its readings in preference to those of other English editions. Since it was translated quite literally and with great reverence for each individual word from the Vulgate, which in turn reflects the structure of the original languages very clearly, the Douay-Rheims Bible can give great insight into the minds of the sacred authors. In 1749-1752, Bishop Challoner, knowing that many English Catholics were reading distorted Protestant versions of the Bible such as the King James Version (KJV), made major revisions to the Douay-Rheims version, to improve its readability without diminishing its accuracy. The notes, written by Bishop Challoner are entirely faithful to the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church. The revised Douay-Rheims Bible has been approved by the Church many times over, including the approbation of Cardinal Gibbons for the 1899 edition that Baronius Press is publishing. For over 300 years, the Douay Rheims Bible was the only Catholic English translation of Scripture used. It continues to be used officially in Catholic churches today.
Everything else about this volume has the feel and look of a well-crafted Bible that will last a lifetime. As their website state, Baronius Press strives to raise the quality of traditional Catholic books in order to make them more appealing to a wider audience. In an age of mass production and cost cutting overriding aesthetic beauty, Baronius Press is re-typesetting (rather than producing facsimiles) classic Catholic books, to obtain clear text which is easy to read. These are then published in high quality bindings that are beautiful and durable. I hope they continue to produce high quality Bibles, and I would love to see them produce a pocket edition of their Knox Bible in the future. --Timothy McCormick, Catholic Bibles Blog, April 24, 2013
The Baronius Douay-Rheims pocket Bible is a fantastic tribute to the Catholic response to Protestantism.... The leather-bound Baronius Douay-Rheims is incredibly beautiful in its simplicity. Pocket sized, the Bible is complete with gold-edged pages andDouay Rheims two ribbons. The illustrations inside are wonderfully done; neoclassic and awe-inspiring. I have never been a fan of realist religious art. I simply do not care what a Biblical scene actually looked like because it is more important to focus on what is going on beyond the mere physical appearances of those present. The Douay-Rheims illustrations communicate the sense that there is something important, and even earth-changing, in each etching. --Michael Reer, The Whiskey Catholic, May 2013
