Title page of Institutio Christianae Religionis, 1834 edition

What it is

This is the title page of a Latin book, Ioannis Calvini Institutio Christianae Religionis, which is the Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin. The 1834 edition was edited by A. Tholuck and published by Gustave Eichler. The title page is marked Pars Prior, meaning first part. Below the text is a ship with the motto Sidere Ventis Manibus and the initials GE. The image shows the title page only, not the text inside the book.

Why it matters

The Institutes was one of the most influential works of the Reformation. This nineteenth-century edition shows that Calvin's book was still being printed, edited and sold long after his death in 1564, and that scholars of that time valued it enough to publish a new version.

Look closer

• What does the publisher's ship and motto suggest about how the edition wanted to be seen?
• Why might an 1834 editor have chosen to publish a Latin edition of Calvin's book?
• What can a title page tell you about a book, and what can it not tell you about its contents?