Published in two volumes in 1842 and 1850, this is the second edition of Lachmann's New Testament in Greek and Latin. His first edition of a Greek New Testament and Latin Vulgate was published in 1831 and was heavily criticised for relying on a narrow range of sources. The second edition takes into account later Latin manuscripts. By comparing the Greek and Latin texts side by side, Lachmann was trying to highlight the shortcomings of the Latin Vulgate translation, considered the authoritative version of the New Testament by the Catholic Church. Lachmann argued that the Gospel of Mark, not that of Matthew, was written first and should take priority. The annotations to the Greek text were supplied by another German philologist, Philip Buttmann. This first volume contains a Latin preface outlining Lachmann's method for evaluating the authority of biblical texts, and the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.