This article briefly looks at Robert Stephanus's fourth edition of the Greek New Testament published in 1551. Robert Estienne (known as Stephanus) (1503-1559) was a printer who edited and printed four editions of the Textus Receptus between 1546 and 1551 (1546, 1549, 1550, and 1551). The fourth edition of 1551 is rare.

The most noteworthy feature of this edition is that it is the first to contain the modern system of numbered verse divisions. The Scriptures had been divided into numbered chapters and paragraphs from the 13th century onwards, but until 1551 there was no convenient division into numbered verses. (Fuller information on the subject of verse divisions can be found in Quarterly Record No. 462, January 1978).

The 1551 edition (size 16°) is the fourth and last Greek New Testament printed by Robert Stephanus. His previous three editions had all been printed at Paris, in 1546, 1549, and 1550 (of which the third was the most famous and influential, by reason of the manuscript variants recorded in its margins). This fourth edition was published at Geneva, after Stephanus had fled from France to avoid persecution for his Protestant beliefs.

It is printed in three columns, the Greek in the middle, with the Latin Vulgate on one side and Erasmus' Latin translation on the other side. This format was taken over in Beza's editions of the New Testament from 1565 onwards, Beza's own translation replacing that of Erasmus. The use of verse divisions helped readers to cross-refer easily between the Greek text and the Latin translations, and according to Stephanus' preface this was what attracted him to adopt the new system.

The differences with previous editions involved matters of punctuation, capital letters, accents and breathings and small variations of spelling. There are also some readings which were later followed by Beza and the Authorised Version.

This edition of 1551 therefore holds a significant place in the history of the New Testament text and of the Authorised Version. The particular copy acquired by the Society also has a unique interest of its own, since it was once the property of H. C. Hoskier, who besides having outstanding ability as a collator of manuscripts, was one of the few textual critics to see the importance of the early printed editions.

First published in Quarterly Record 473. Edited for online publication in August 2023.