Latin Versions Bibliography

General Works

Samuel Berger, Histoire de Latin Vulgate Pedants les Premiers Siecles du Moyen Age. New York: Burt Franklin, 1958. Reprint of 1893 Paris edition.

Pierre-Maurice Bogaeret, "Versions, Ancient (Latin)," in The Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York: Doubleday, 1992. Vol. VI, pp. 799-803.

Philip Burton, The Old Latin Gospels: A Study of their Texts and Language. Oxford Early Christian Studies. Ed. Gillian Clark and Andrew Louth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-19-826988-9. Traces the history of the Old Latin text, provides a catalogue of manuscripts, and discusses aspects of the translation and the linguistic nature of the Latin. Included is an appendix on Jerome's translation technique. See a review of this book from Bryn Mawr Classical Review here.

Raphael Loewe, "The Medieval History of the Latin Vulgate," in The Cambridge History of the Bible, ed. by H. W. F. Lampe, vol. II, pp. 102-154; bibliography, pp. 514-518.

John McClintock and James Strong, ed., "Vulgate", in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981 reprint of Harper and Bros. edition, 1867-1887; vol. X, pp. 824-839.

Bruce M. Metzger, The Early Versions of the New Testament. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977. Chapter VII, "The Latin Versions," pp. 285-374.

Eberhard Nestle, "Bible Versions, II. Latin Versions," in The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, ed. by Samuel M. Jackson. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1963 reprint. Vol. II, pp. 121-127.

Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, reprint. Vol. III, pp. 972-976.

F. H. A. Scrivener, Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament. Cambridge: Deighton, Bell & Co., 1883. 3rd ed. Pp. 338-365.

Gene Stratton-Porter, "Vulgate," in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. by James Orr. Chicago: Howard-Severance Co., 1929. Vol. V, pp. 3058-3063.

B.F. Westcott, "The Vulgate," in William Smith, ed., Dictionary of the Bible, rev. and ed. by Horatio B. Hackett. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1981 reprint. Vol. IV, pp. 3451-3482.

H.J. White, "Vulgate," in James Hastings, ed., A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1902. Vol. IV, pp. 873-890.

Texts and Editions

John Wordsworth, Henry J. White, and H.F.D. Sparks, Nouum Testamentum Domini nostri Iesu Christi latine secundum editionem Sancti Hieronymi ad codicum manuscriptorum fidem recensuit Iohannes Wordsworth in operis societatem adsumto Henrico Iuliano White Oxonii: E. Typographeo Clarendoniano, 1889-1954. 3 volumes. Contents: v. 1 (publ. in 5 fascicles, 1889-1898), Gospels, together with "praefatio editorum" (p. vii-xxxviii) and "Epilogus" (p. 651-779: mainly a discussion of the MSS., followed by "Indices uerborum et nominum"); v. 2 (publ. 1913-1941), Pauline epistles; v. 3, Acts (publ. 1905), Catholic epistles (publ. 1949), and Revelation (publ. 1954). "This recension of the Vulgate text of the New Testament is an attempt to restore Jerome's original version by means of a careful collation of ancient manuscripts ... The new recension of the Vulgate is printed in the upper part of the page, in double columns, and divided into sections and lines of varying length according to the arrangement found in Codex Amiatinus. Below this, in the Gospels, is placed the Old Latin text of Codex Brixianus [as being akin to the text on which Jerome based his work] ... At the bottom of the page is the critical apparatus." (Darlow and Moule) Vol. 2: "...ad codicum manuscriptorum fidem recenuerunt Iohannes Wordsworth et Henricus Iulianus White ; in operis societatem adsumtis Alexandro Ramsbotham, Hedley Friderico Davis Sparks, et Claudio Jenkins"; v. 3 similar, but names "Arturo White Adams" in place of Ramsbotham and Jenkins.

John Wordsworth and Henry J. White, Novum Testamentum Latine secundum Editionem Sancti Hieronymi ad Codicum Manuscriptorum fidem Recensuerunt Iohannes Wordsworth ... et Henricus Iulianus White ... Editio Minor, curante Henrico I. White (Oxford, 1911).

Biblia Sacra iuxta latinam vulgatam versionem ad codicum fidem, iussu Pii PP. XI, Pii PP. XII, Ioannis XXIII, Pauli VI, Ioannis Pauli PP. II, cura et studio monachorum Abbatiae Pontificiae Sancti Hieronymi in Urbe Ordinis Sancti Benedicti edita. Textus ex interpretatione Sancti Hieronymi. Romae: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1926-1995. 18 vols. This is a major critical edition of the Vulgate Old Testament and Apocrypha prepared by Benedictine monks in Rome.

Robert Weber, ed., Biblia sacra: Iuxta Vulgatam versionem, Rec. et brevi apparatu instruxit Robertus Weber. Stuttgart: Württembergische Bibelanstalt, 1969. 2 volumes. Volume 1, Genesis-Psalms; volume 2, Proverbs-Revelation, Appendix (containing Prayer of Manasses, 3-4 Esdras, Psalm 151, Epistle to the Laodiceans). This is a minor critical edition, with marginal references and a select apparatus of variants. The preface states, "Our text is a new text, established from ... the manuscripts with the help of the two big modern critical editions -- for the Old Testament, the edition of the Benedictines of St. Jerome's monastery in Rome ... and, for the New Testament, the Oxford edition of J. Wordsworth and H.J. White." (p. xxii). A second edition, also edited by Weber and his assistants, was published in 1975. After Weber's death a third edition was brought out by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft in 1983, with Bonifatius Fischer succeeding Weber as Chief Editor. A "corrected" third edition was published in 1985, and a fourth edition appeared in 1994.

For other editions of the Vulgate see T.H. Darlow and H.F. Moule, Historical Catalogue of the Printed Editions of Holy Scripture in the Library of the British and Foreign Bible Society. London: British and Foreign Bible Society, 1903-1911. Vol. II, Part II, pp. 903-1003.

Grammars and Dictionaries

George C. Richards, A Concise Dictionary to the Vulgate New Testament. London: Samuel Bagster & Sons, 1934.

J.M. Harden, Dictionary of the Vulgate New Testament. London: S. P. C. K., 1921. xvi+126 pp.

J.E. Lowe, Church Latin for Beginners. London: Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., 1933. Fourth edition.

H. P. V. Nunn, An Introduction to Ecclesiastical Latin. Eton: Alden & Blackwell Ltd., 1952. Third edition reprint.

W. E. Plater and H. J. White, A Grammar of the Vulgate. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1926.