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The Bible is not only the foundation of Christianity but also a crucial part of global culture. Its Old Testament was written in ancient Hebrew. These texts, created from the 15th to the 1st century BC, were carefully preserved in writing, and by the 10th century AD, thanks to the efforts of Jewish scholars—the Masoretes—working with ancient manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures, they took on a firmly established form. The Old Testament, translated in the 3rd–1st centuries BC in Alexandria into ancient Greek, became known as the Septuagint, meaning "the translation of the seventy elders." The New Testament of the Bible was also written in ancient Greek. In the late 4th century AD, the Vulgate appeared—a Latin translation of the Bible, and this "Latin Bible" was first printed in 1450 by Johannes Gutenberg.
In the 9th century, Cyril and Methodius translated the Bible into Old Church Slavonic. With the advent of printing in Russia, the Bible began to be published in Church Slavonic; these texts were used in both church and home settings. In 1751, by the order of Empress Elizabeth, they were compared to the Septuagint; however, by that time, very few Russians understood Church Slavonic, so by the decree of Alexander I, the Bible began to be published in the Russian language. The translation was carried out by the Synod— the highest state authority of church administration—thus it became known as the synodal translation. The translation of the 39 canonical books of the Old Testament was made from Hebrew (Masoretic text); ten of its non-canonical books were translated from Greek, and one—from the Latin Vulgate. The New Testament translation was made from the Greek original.

This edition publishes for the first time in Russia images of 230 original drawings by Gustave Doré. The talented French artist worked on them for two years while preparing for the publication of the Bible translated into German by writer and rabbi Ludwig Philippson. The Bible with Doré's illustrations was first published in 1866, and it included engravings made from the master's drawings. This edition became so popular that in 1867, the original drawings by Gustave Doré were published as a separate three-volume set. It is these drawings, rather than the engravings made from them, that are reproduced in this edition.