The founders of our diocese brought books for the training of clergy. The Luck Room in Bishop’s House holds many volumes printed before 1840. When returning a book, a small volume on the top shelf caught my eye. On the spine was N. TESTAM. GR. R. STEPH. 1568.
Much to my surprise, when I opened the book I was confronted by the legendary “basilisk” that appeared in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. For those not familiar with the book or movie, a basilisk is a legendary reptile reputed to be a serpent king, who causes death to those who look into its eyes.
Why would such a mythical creature be on the title page of a Greek New Testament printed in 1568?
Online research provided some answers to why this monster was on the page. The picture is described as a basilisk device of the King’s printer - a play on the Greek “basileus” meaning King.
The support and protection of the French king during that period was vital, particularly when it came to printing the Bible in Greek. Printing a bible in any language other than Latin was regarded with extreme suspicion by the Catholic censors at the Sorbonne. Fortunately for the printer, the King himself initiated a programme of printing in Greek in order to display French scholarly and technical expertise, and the device of the King’s printer in Greek on the title page was a powerful shield.
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