The story of the Bible in Maynooth mirrors the separate yet parallel development of the translation, publishing and dissemination of the Scriptures by the two main Christian denominations in the post-Reformation period. Before the middle of the fifteenth century manuscript bibles were for the exclusive use of the clergy and nobility. The Latin Vulgate version reigned supreme, well under Church control. Some hundred editions of the Vulgate were printed by the end of the fifteenth century. Many vernacular versions emerged in Europe from the mid-1450s onward. There were over 75 versions of Scripture in German,French, Dutch, Italian and Spanish before 1540. In the same period some 50 English versions were printed.2 The emergence of these vernacular versions in European languages represents another strand in bible production. For a short period there were many versions of the Vulgate and increasing numbers in the vernacular being produced simultaneously. The bible collections in Maynooth, some 2,500 volumes, reflect these two groups, with an overlap up to the early sixteenth century.