In 1528, while studying law at the university in Orleans, France, theologian and scholar Théodore de Bèze (1519-1605) was greatly influenced by Melchior Wolmar, a German scholar who had also mentored John Calvin. Thirty years later, in 1558, Bèze accepted an offer from Calvin to teach at the newly founded academy at Geneva. In 1559, he published his Confession de la foi chretienne, an exposition of Calvinist beliefs, which was translated into Latin in 1560. Upon the death of Calvin in 1564, Bèze succeeded him as head of the Genevan Church and leader of the Calvinist movement in Europe.

Bèze’s New Testament went through five editions during his lifetime. The work was intended to replace Erasmus’ Greek text, Latin translation, and annotations, which Bèze considered doctrinally and textually unsound.

Bèze’s Icones (1580) contains portraits and biographies of religious leaders who contributed to the Reformation of the church. View C.G. Goulard's facsimile of the full volume below.