No book has been printed in more languages and in more alphabets than the Bible. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. However, a Greek translation of the Old Testament – the so-called Septuaginta – was made as early as in the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C. Until the end of the Middle Ages, the Bible was in Western Europe almost exclusively known in the Latin Vulgate version that was translated by Jerome about A.D. 400. This Latin bible was printed in many editions soon after the invention of printing in the middle of the 15th century – indeed the first book printed in Europe was the famous Gutenberg Bible.

During the Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries the Bible was translated into many European languages. It was printed for the first time in Danish in 1550.
The interest of Renaissance scholars in the literature of antiquity also led them to studies of the Biblical texts in their original languages Hebrew and Greek. The first Hebrew Bibles were printed as early as in the 15th century, and the first edition in ancient Greek appeared in 1516.

The spread of printing in Europe coincided with the first European voyages of discovery to other continents. Colonies were established, and the Gospel disseminated through intensive – and often brutal – missionary work. The missionaries needed Bibles translated into the local languages – and often they were printed in local alphabets.