This rare work of Pérez de Pineda—the first Protestant translation of the New Testament into Spanish from the original Greek—had to be published with a false imprint. Both the place of printing and printer’s name were fictitious, and the translator’s name appears nowhere in the volume, most notably missing from the title page.
El Testamento Nuevo de nuestro Señor y Salvador Jesu Christo. Juan Pérez de Pineda. En Venecia: En casa de Juan Philadelpho, 1556. [The New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Juan Pérez de Pineda. In Venice (actually Geneva): In the (publishing) house of Juan Philadelpho (actually Jean Crespin), 1556.] Small 8vo. [2] ff., 746 [i.e., 802], [2] pp.
Juan Pérez de Pineda was educated at Alcalá de Henares and received a doctorate from one of the universities there. In the early 1540s he resided in Seville. He taught at the Casa de la Doct- rina there and was a member of the inner circle that included
Juan Gil, Constantino Ponce de la Fuente, Casiodoro de Reina, and Cipriano de Valera.
Pérez de Pineda left Spain in 1549 and began a peripatetic existence, living at times in Paris, London, Frankfurt, Antwerp, and Geneva. He died in Paris in 1567.
Translating directly from the Greek, Pineda laid the founda- tion on which Casiodoro de Reina built his translation of the complete Bible into Spanish.
A small octavo volume, this New Testament is printed chiefly in Roman type with chapter summaries in italic, a sprinkling of woodcut initials, and notable
side-notes and shoulder-notes. It begins with a fascinating woodcut title—a vignette contrast- ing the narrowness of the “right road” with the wide path leading to perdition.
This exceptional copy was twice showcased in exhibitions of rare Scriptures in Cuba, first at the Catedral Nacional in Havana, then at the Catedral Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in Santiago. Both exhibitions were coordinated under auspices of the Vatican.
Only six listed copies worldwide. Adams B1795 & B1796; Darlow & Moule 8468; Gilmont 56/1; Toda 690; Palau 29076; Salva 4016, Penney p. 63.