The Sequence of the Hagiographa in Printed Hebrew Bibles

This post continues a prominent theme on this blog of late (see here, here, here, here, and here). The information below comes from the following book.

Christian D. Ginsburg, Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible (London: Trinitarian Bible Society, 1897), reprinted with a prolegomenon by Harry M. Orlinsky (New York: Ktav, 1966).

Editio Princeps of the Hagiographa (Naples 1486-87)

The first edition of the Hagiographa (Ginsburg 807-14) followed editions of the Psalter (Bologna?, 1477; Ginsburg 780-94), the Pentateuch (Bologna, 1482; Ginsburg 794-802), and the Prophets (Soncino, 1485-86; Ginsburg 803-7). 


The Hagiographa were printed in three volumes. The sequence of books is as follows (Ginsburg 811). 


vol. 1: Psalms
vol. 2: Proverbs
vol. 3: Job, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Ruth, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles. 

Editio Princeps of the Entire Hebrew Bible (Soncino, 1488)

See Ginsburg 820-31

The sequence of the hagiographa is different in two respects from the editio princeps of the hagiographa (Ginsburg 822). First, the Five Megilloth are extracted from the Hagiographa and placed as a unit immediately after the Pentateuch (cf. Ginsburg 847). Second, three of the Megilloth are rearranged into the order Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes.

Second Edition of the Entire Hebrew Bible (Naples, 1491-93) 

See Ginsburg 847-55

The sequence of the Hagiographa is exactly the same as in the editio princeps of the Bible (Ginsburg 847-48).

Third Edition of the Entire Hebrew Bible (Brescia, 1494) 

See Ginsburg 871-80

The sequence of the Hagiographa is exactly the same as in the first two editions of the Bible (Ginsburg 872; cf. p. 868). 

Fourth Edition of the Entire Hebrew Bible (Pesaro, 1511-17) 

See Ginsburg 895-906


The sequence of the Hagiographa is exactly the same as in the first two editions of the Bible (Ginsburg 897).


Complutensian Polyglot (Alcalá, 1514-17)


See Ginsburg 906-25


This Christian edition of the Old Testament and New Testament, undertaken by Cardinal Ximenes, Archbishop of Toledo, consists of six volumes and is responsible for several significant innovations in the text of the Hebrew Bible. Volumes 5 (New Testament) and 6 (Grammatical and Critical Apparatus) are beyond the purview of this post, as also of Ginsburg's treatment. 


The sequence of the Hebrew Bible is as follows (Ginsburg 908-10). Each volume prints the books in Hebrew, Greek (LXX), and Latin (Vulgate). The first volume also contains Aramaic (Targum Onkelos). The LXX column is supplied with a Latin interlinear translation.


Vol. 1: Pentateuch. 
Vol. 2: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Prayer of Manasseh.
Vol. 3: Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther with deuterocanonical additions, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus.
Vol. 4: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel with deuterocanonical additions, Minor Prophets, 1-3 Maccabees. 


The books absent from the Hebrew Bible are given only in the Vulgate and LXX, while 3 Maccabees (absent from the Vulgate) is given only in the LXX version. 


Ginsburg (912) remarks on some of the features of the Hebrew text in this edition. 

This unbounded veneration for the Vulgate naturally influenced the redactors of the Hebrew text. Hence they assimilated it in form to the central Latin Version. They made the folios of the Hebrew text go from left to right; they divided Samuel, Kings, Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles respectively into two books, and named the first two books thus divided into four, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 3 Kings and 4 Kings; they inserted the deutero-canoncial Additions into the text; they discarded the Massoretic division of the text into sections and adopted the Christian chapters; they re-arranged the Hebrew order of the books and made them follow the sequence of the Vulgate; they discarded the accents and though they retained the vowel-points, they in many instances altered them into forms which are rightly rejected by grammarians as inadmissible.

First Edition of the Rabbinic Bible (Venice, 1516-17)

See Ginsburg 925-48

This edition, printed by Daniel Bomberg and edited by Felix Pratensis, contains several rabbinic commentaries alongside the Hebrew text and targum. It was issued in four volumes.

Vol. 1: Pentateuch.
Vol. 2: Former Prophets.
Vol. 3: Latter Prophets.
Vol. 4: Hagiographa, according to the order of the first four editions of the Hebrew Bible, with the Megilloth in their proper place among the Hagiographa. Thus, the order is: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles.

First Edition of the Bible in Quarto (Venice, 1516-17)

See Ginsburg 948-52

This is a cheaper version of the above, reprinting the same text in the same sequence. 

Second Edition of the Bible in Quarto (Venice, 1521) 


See Ginsburg 952-56

This follow-up to the above was apparently designed to make an inexpensive Bible palatable to Jews. The Jewish-Christian editor Felix Pratensis is replaced by Jewish editors, and instead of dedicating the work to the Pope, as the First Rabbinic Bible is (Ginsburg 927), this edition is explicitly for the synagogue (Ginsburg 953). 


The sequence of the Hagiographa is exactly the same as in the first four editions of the Hebrew Bible, complete with the removal of the Five Megilloth from the Hagiographa to a position immediately following the Pentateuch (Ginsburg 953).


Second Edition of the Rabbinic Bible (Venice, 1524-25)
a.k.a the editio princeps of the Ben Chayim text


See Ginsburg 956-74


Ginsburg (956) on the significance of this edition: 

[...] the enthusiastic Massorite [Jacob ben Chayim] persuaded Bomberg in the course of a few years to undertake the publication of the justly celebrated Bible with the Massorah which finally settled the Massoretic text as it is now exhibited in the present recension of the Hebrew Scriptures.

This edition was printed by Daniel Bomberg in four volumes (Ginsburg 958-63).

Vol. 1: Pentateuch.
Vol. 2: Former Prophets.
Vol. 3: Latter Prophets.
Vol. 4: Hagiographa, in the same order as the First Rabbinic Bible.

This is more-or-less where Ginsburg concludes his survey of printed Hebrew Bibles; he does briefly report on one more quarto edition by Bomberg, which he says contains, in his personal copy, marginal notes in the handwriting of Luther (Ginsburg 974-76).

Perhaps in a later post I can bring this discussion up to the time of BHS.