Thursday, November 17, 2016

A Review of Psalms and NT from Baronius Press

This review was posted today on the website New Liturgical Movement concerning the compact Psalms and New Testament (Douay-Rheims) from Baronius Press.  I've actually never seen one of these in person, but this review, and its pictures, has piqued my interest.  Although, to be honest, I could do without the condescending attitude of the reviewer to both the NAB or other more recent translations.

7 comments:

JDH said...

"I could do without the condescending attitude of the reviewer to both the NAB or other more recent translations."

Oh, how often I have that same thought.

Biblical Catholic said...

It's ironic that the NAB gets so many insults when the 1986 Revised NT is generally ranked by scholars with the NASB as one of the most accurate NT translations in print today. It is renowned for avoiding most of the problems that afflict other translations.





Anonymous said...

I have this NT/Psalms. The print is tiny. I assume they simply photocopied/printed the same pages as found in their pocket DRV. A pity. If they had freshly typeset the book, they might have produced a real treasure and they could have kept the book very small.

If you compare this NT/Psalms to the Ignatius RSV2CE NT/Psalms, you can see that the Ignatius book is only a quarter of an inch longer, a tiny bit wider and perhaps a 1/3 thicker. The Ignatius has no notes, however. I have a number of pocket NTs. My favorites are:

The New Testament and Following of Christ [this is a NT and Imitation of Christ in one compact volume!]. Published by Catholic Book Publishing in 1946/1960. Shorter, but twice as thick as the Baronius volume above. Illustrated with beautiful, traditional full color paintings as art in the book. Contains Devotions for Mass.

The Holy Gospel of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. With catechetical notes by Rev. John E. Robaldo, translated by Sister Joan Mary. St. Paul Editions, 3rd edition, 1963/1984. Terrific catechetical notes. Contains only the four gospels and notes. Has great traditional black and white illustration.

My Daily Reading from the New Testament. Confraternity of Precious Blood, 1941. This is a unified text meaning that the gospels, for instance, are one continuous story drawing from all four gospels at once. It's a great way to learn the story about Jesus. There are two dates at the beginning of each section so that you can read through the entire book twice a year in an organized way. Contains a treasury of prayers and the ordinary of the old Mass as well. Printed in black and red throughout the book. It's worth paying more to get a leather copy.

Another fascinating pocket NT is Christ in the Gospel which is a unified text like the one above. This is a true pocket book only slightly larger than my small iPhone. This was also published by the Confraternity of Precious Blood and contains the same, or similar, dated reading cycle as the volume above. It also contains 170 (yes, 170) original black and white illustrations. Very impressive. It also contains a neat Study Guide and Daily Practice section with differentiated text for every day of the year. It's compact but excellent. This was just republished a year ago: https://www.amazon.com/Christ-Gospel-Rev-Joseph-Frey/dp/1618908391/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479431839&sr=8-1&keywords=christ+in+the+gospel This new printing is still the Confraternity translation but it seems to be missing the verse references in the margins which are a real loss in my opinion. There are copies of the old version floating around: https://www.amazon.com/CHRIST-GOSPEL-LIFE-EVANGELIST/dp/B005WL53PO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1479432113&sr=1-1&keywords=Christ+in+the+Gospel+the+life+of+christ+by+the+four+evangelists

By the way, if someone is looking for a DRV New Testament in fairly large type there was one printed in 1933: New Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Printed by E.M. Lohmann in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I have large and even giant print Bibles and I swear this book's print is just as big of not bigger than all of them - hence, it's over 900 pages long. Still, it's much smaller than a hardback novel. As soon as I saw it I snatched it up because I knew this had to be a rare book. I have never seen another copy anywhere in any bookstore or online. There have to be other copies out there!

vladimir998

Jonny said...

For comparison, the NT is the same size as the Little Office from Baronius. The print is the same size as the compact DR Bible from Baronius, but the NT is smaller due to reduced margins. I really like it. It is small enough for a jacket pocket, so nice to take on a day trip or walk to the park! ;)

Leather Messenger Bags said...

Interesting article!!!

Kevin Daugherty said...

As a Protestant who often uses the KJV, I really appreciate what Baronius Press is doing with the Douay-Rheims Version. They are like Local Church Bible Publishers, but producing nice Catholic Bibles instead of Protestant ones. I have come close to buying one of their Bibles on a few occasions, so that I can have a nice Bible with Apocrypha as a companion to my Westminster Reference KJV.

Mark D. said...

True that the constant harping on the NABRE is getting old. The translation itself is solid. The notes and introductions could use work (they put a bit too much emphasis on speculative modern scholarship) but the translation itself is quite readable and is right now probably the best of the modern translations. The DRV is a great translation though, venerable, and of particular interest not just because of its history as the "Catholic KJV" but because it is a translation of the Vulgate -- thus incorporating into English the insights of that Latin translation. For those of us who don't know the biblical languages and/or Latin (and I'm guilty as charged on this point!), the two translations together make a great combination.

I would very much like to see a "large print" New Testament that would be reasonable portable while at the same time easy to read in regards to font size. The 1941 Confraternity NT was like that -- I had a copy many years ago that alas wore out.