Bible of Brest or Radziwiłł (Biblia swięta, tho iest Księgi Stárego y Nowego Zakonu wlasnie z Zydowskiego, Greckiego y Łáćińskiego nowo ná Polski ięzyk z pilnośćia y wiernie wylożone)

This bible, printed at the Protestant press in Brest Litovsk in 1563 at the expense of Mikołaj ‘The Black’ Radziwiłł, the Voivode of Vilnius and Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, is also called the Brest Bible or the Radziwiłł Bible, after its origin and the name of the sponsor of the printing press. It was the first full edition of the text of the Holy Scriptures in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Brest Bible was prepared by a dozen Protestant theologians, writers and editors, and published by Bernard Wojewodka. A total of 500 copies of the book were printed, a large number for those times. Unfortunately, the Brest Bible met a tragic end. Mikołaj Krzysztof ‘The Orphan’ Radziwiłł renounced the faith of his father and became a zealous supporter of the Counter-Reformation. He ordered all the copies of the Brest Bible and other Protestant books to be located and bought (having allocated 5,000 gold groschen for the purpose), and arranged for them to be publicly burnt in the square in front of Vilnius’ Town Hall. There are two copies of the Brest Bible in the Ellex Valiunas collection, one of which reemerged in the library of Jurgis Štreitėnas (Štraitas, Štreitas, 1908–1944), a Lithuanian partisan leader and employee of the Biržai Museum. It is likely that it found its way there from the Radziwiłł estate in Biržai.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album ARS LIBRI (2022). Compiler Algimantas Muzikevičius, text authors Algimantas Muzikevičius, Rolandas Gustaitis

This bible, printed at the Protestant press in Brest Litovsk in 1563 at the expense of Mikołaj ‘The Black’ Radziwiłł, the Voivode of Vilnius and Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, is also called the Brest Bible or the Radziwiłł Bible, after its origin and the name of the sponsor of the printing press. It was the first full edition of the text of the Holy Scriptures in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Brest Bible was prepared by a dozen Protestant theologians, writers and editors, and published by Bernard Wojewodka. A total of 500 copies of the book were printed, a large number for those times. Unfortunately, the Brest Bible met a tragic end. Mikołaj Krzysztof ‘The Orphan’ Radziwiłł renounced the faith of his father and became a zealous supporter of the Counter-Reformation. He ordered all the copies of the Brest Bible and other Protestant books to be located and bought (having allocated 5,000 gold groschen for the purpose), and arranged for them to be publicly burnt in the square in front of Vilnius’ Town Hall. There are two copies of the Brest Bible in the Ellex Valiunas collection, one of which reemerged in the library of Jurgis Štreitėnas (Štraitas, Štreitas, 1908–1944), a Lithuanian partisan leader and employee of the Biržai Museum. It is likely that it found its way there from the Radziwiłł estate in Biržai.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album ARS LIBRI (2022). Compiler Algimantas Muzikevičius, text authors Algimantas Muzikevičius, Rolandas Gustaitis