In this episode of “Liana’s Favorite Books,” Dr. Liana Lupas takes you on a tour of La Biblia del Cántaro, a 1602 Spanish revision of the first Spanish Bible printed in a single volume known as “the Bear Bible.”

The Bear Bible was translated by Casiodoro de Reina and published in 1569. Twenty years later, Cipriano de Valera began revising the edition. The revision, which took him the last 20 years of his life to complete, was finally printed in 1602, after de Valera’s death. Like the Bear Bible, this edition also earned a nickname. “Cántaro” means “pitcher,” a reference to an intricate woodcut illustration you’ll see on the Bible’s first page.

De Valera’s most significant change was collecting the apocryphal books from the Old Testament and combining them into a special section between the Old Testament and the New Testament. This had first been done by German reformer Martin Luther in 1524.

In 1960, American Bible Society completed a modern revision of the Reina-Valera Bible that remains the most popular Spanish Bible to this day.

We hope you enjoy exploring this treasure from history!