The Tyndale New Testament - 1525 A.D.

To help stamp out the influence of John Wycliffe and his translation of the New Testament from Latin into English, a law was passed in 1408 AD making it punishable by death to translate the Bible into English. In defiance, William Tyndale stated “I defy the Pope and all his laws; of God spares my life ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the Scripture than thou doest.”  With a price on his head, he left England and completed his translating work in 1525, becoming the first man to translate the New Testament directly from the Greek into English.. He began the dangerous task of smuggling them into England in every possible way. The New Testaments soon reached the eager hands of the people and aroused the anger of the clergy. Now the common people could read the truth of God’s Word for themselves.

Tyndale was constantly revising his work on the New Testament (with his 1534 edition considered his finest) while translating the Old Testament as well.  In 1530, he completed the Pentateuch and in 1531, the book of Jonah.  All of  this while in hiding, constantly evading the host of spies and bounty hunters sent by Rome and Henry VIII.   Finally, he was betrayed by a friend, imprisoned, and tried for heresy by Rome.  After 18 months of imprisonment he was strangled and then burned at the stake on Oct.6, 1536 A.D.  Granted a final word, William Tyndale prayed “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes”, a prayer that would be answered in 1537 when King Henry VIII granted his approval for an English Bible, The Coverdale Bible second edition, to be distributed. Little did Henry know that over 70% of that Bible was Tyndale’s work. 

We owe much to William Tyndale.  Tyndale’s translations were so correct and so smooth in word flow that more than 90% of his wordings appear in the King James Version published almost 100 years later and 75% of his wordings appear in the Revised Standard Version of 1952.  He is rightfully called the father of the English Bible.

Tyndale New Testament

           1538 A.D.

          Limited pages available

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Tyndale New Testament - 1552  A.D.

                  14 x 18 size

At almost the same time that the flames were consuming William Tyndale for the heresy of translating the Bible into English, a friend of Tyndale‘s, Myles Coverdale was publishing the first complete English Bible in 1535 A.D. Henry VIII’s Secretary of State, Cromwell, asked Coverdale to prepare an new translation since Henry would never sanction Tyndale’s New Testament.  Coverdale was not the scholar that Tyndale was but the demand and need for the Bible was great and Coverdale was willing to assume both the task and the risk.  He was a careful editor and complier and had a natural ability to select and use whatever materials he had on hand.  He used Tyndale’s New Testament and those portions of the Old Testament that Tyndale had translated and filled in the other areas with either the Latin Vulgate or the German translations. Although far from a perfect or scholarly work, the Coverdale Bible holds the distinction of being the first complete English Bible printed and we are indebted to Miles Coverdale for his courage in printing the Bible.

The Matthews Bible - 1537 A.D.

                    Henry VIII had split with the Catholic Church for the Pope’s refusal to grant him a divorce to marry Anne Boleyn.  The winds of the Reformation suited Henry’s needs to enlarge the gulf  between his people and the Pope as Henry had set himself up as supreme head of the church.  But the fires still licked at the heels of men daring to give the people a Bible they could read and understand, so caution was still the word of the day.  John Rogers, entrusted by Tyndale with most of his manuscripts, prepared an edition of Tyndale’s New Testament and his translation  of the Old Testament as far as 2 Chronicles.  But fearful that Henry might discover the connection between the two Bibles, he printed under the pseudonym of Thomas Matthews.  In 1537, a copy of the Bible was passed to high  officials  friendly to the Reformation who submitted  it to Henry VIII for approval and permission.  The king scanned the book, thinking it might be a useful instrument to weaken the grip of Rome on England and declared his permission without seeing the large initials “W.T.” at the end of the Old Testament.  As far as he could see, the Bible had no connection with the hated Tyndale and on the title page it read “printed with the king’s most gracious license.”  A mile-stone in the history of the English Bible had been achieved as it was no longer forced to be sold on the black market and smuggled into England.

The marginal notes on the Matthew Bible were strongly offensive to the clergy of the day and Cromwell was fearful that its close association with Tyndale might still be discovered, so he asked his friend Coverdale to prepare another version without the offensive notes.  With the king’s permission, in 1539 Cromwell arranged for the Bible to be printed in France where they had a superior printing press and much finer paper.  But the Inquisition was very powerful in France,  and the press and the completed pages were smuggled out of France by the ambassador.  The large size of the pages, 9x15, and beautiful lettering caused the name “The Great Bible” but it was also called the “Chain Bible” because it was frequently chained to the pulpits.   It had no footnotes and within 2 years over 20,000 copies had been sold. Every church in England was required to buy one and it remained the English Bible for 20 years.  It was the last Bible printed in the reign of Henry VIII and was authorized by the king.  What irony that Henry at first burned and persecuted the English Bible (Tyndale), then tolerated it (Coverdale Bible), then permitted it (Matthew Bible) and finally commanded it (Great Bible).

The Great Bible - 1539 A.D.

The Geneva Bible - 1560 A.D.

In 1553, after more than 20 years of Protestant domination, the English throne was in the hands of Mary Tudor, the Catholic daughter of Henry VIII who quickly brought back  the old religion with a vengeance earning her the name of “Bloody Mary”.  She married Phillip II of Spain, a powerful Catholic monarch who aided her plans to return England to the fold of the Catholic Church.

A flood of migration to Europe began as many reformers left all behind for a safer climate and soon Geneva became filled with the deans and bishops of England and Scotland.  Men like John Knox, Miles Coverdale, John Calvin and others.  While waiting, these great reformers “could think of nothing which could be more acceptable to God and as comfortable to His Church, than in the translating of the Scriptures into our native tongue.”   These men, along with others like Theordore Beza and William Whittingham and many others less known, began pouring over every detail of the texts available as they painstakingly produced a Bible of such quality that it never needed to be revised. Their method of translation worked so well that it was later adopted by the translators of the King James Bible. 

The Geneva Bible was printed in 1560 A.D. and became immediately popular with the common people.  It had more than 160 editions being printed as late as 1644 .  It was the first Bible to be divided into verses and contained marginal notes largely Calvinistic as well as anti-papal. This was the Bible of men like William Shakespeare, John Bunyan and the Puritans.  The Geneva Bible was the first bible brought to America, landing with the Pilgrims even though the King James Bible had been printed earlier.

The Bishop’s Bible - 1568 A.D.

                                 First Edition

With the early providential death of Bloody Mary Tudor in 1558, the final hope of the Pope and the Catholic Church died with her.  Over 300 men, women, and children had been burned at the stake for refusing to deny their faith and return to the Catholic Church.  Mary’s half-sister, Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, had been raised Prostestant and she quietly returned England back to the Protestant fold. Although their were disputes between the Puritans and the Anglican Church, the years under Elizabeth, 1558-1603, firmly established the Reformation in England and forever broke the papal authority over the people.  The common people had a Bible in their own language that lifted them from the dark depths of ignorance into the light of the truth of God’s Word.  They would never be the same.

The Great Bible was still the official Bible of England and the popularity of the Geneva Bible was undermining its prestige. So Matthew Parker, Archbishop of  Canterbury, organized a committee of bishops to undertake a new translation of the Bible that would not undermine their authority as the Geneva did – therefore, the name “The Bishop’s Bible”.  It was large in size, had numerous wood-cuts and was cumbersome as well as costly.  Although it followed the Great Bible for the most part it showed marked passages of the Geneva Bible, the one it was supposed to replace.  It was not suitable for private use and was not even satisfying to the scholars. The title page had a wood-cut of Elizabeth but she never gave it any public recognition or sanction.  On the whole, it is the weakest of all the Reformation Bibles.

The King James Bible - 1611 A.D.

                                       First Edition

James I followed Elizabeth on the English throne and in 1604 he called a conference at Hampton Court. In the course of the proceedings, the Puritan, John Rainolds, made a suggestion that a new translation of the Holy Scriptures be made. The King is willing so he chose 54 pious and brilliant men who were empowered to communicate with “all our principal learned men within this our kingdom.” Thus, the scholarship of the country was consecrated to the noblest of work.The translating was chaired by Bishop Andrewes, who besides possessing an intimate knowledge of Chaldee, Hebrew, Greek, and Syriac, was familiar with 15 other languages. The translating team was divided into 6 divisions; 2 at Westminister, 2 at Cambridge, and 2 at Oxford. As each group completed their particular assigned part, it was then subjected to the other 5 sets of men so that each part of the Bible came from all the learned men. When they had completed their work, it was carefully reviewed  by a final committee of 6 members in London.

The superintending hand of God was apparent as the result was an edition of the Word of God unrivaled for its simplicity, for its force, and for it vigor of language. It was, and still is, a compendium of literary excellencies, and much better, has proved itself to be a faithful and accurate translation of the very word of God. It is the premier of all English translations and was printed in 1611.

When Bloody Mary came to the throne and restored the Catholic religion, the first martyr to be burned at the stake was John Rogers.  His crime  – printing the Bible in the English language.

Many wonderful leaves available. Please

go to the “King James Bible” page on this website for options and pricing or email us with questions by clicking on the scribe. Prices start at $699.

King James Bible - 1611 A.D.

               First Edition

    Price Group B  22 x 28 size

The Great Bible

     1541 A.D.

    22 x 28 size

Geneva Bible - Folio

        1583 A.D.

The Matthews Bible

       1537 A.D.

Geneva Bible - 1583 A. D.

           22 x 28 size

Bishop’s Bible - 1568 A.D.

           First Edition

Bishop’s Bible - 1568 A.D.

           First Edition

           22 x 28 size

King James Bible - 1611 A.D.

             First Edition

   Price Group A - 22x28 size

King James Bible - 1611 A.D.

               First Edition

               22 x 28 size

Coverdale Bible

    1538 A.D.

           Limited pages available

Please email for questions and pricing by clicking on the scribe

           Limited pages available

Please email for questions and pricing by clicking on the scribe

           Limited pages available

Please email for questions and pricing by clicking on the scribe

The Great Bible

     1541 A.D.

The Matthews Bible - 1537 A.D.

              18 x 24  size

Coverdale Bible - 1538 A.D.

         14 x 18 size

Geneva Bible - 1589 A.D.                        

  Group A   14 x 18 size

Both folio and quarto sizes available. Check the “Geneva Bible Leaves” page on the website for options and pricing or email with questions by clicking on the scribe.

King James Bible - 1611 A.D.

             First Edition

   Price Group A - 22x28 size

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The Great Bible - 1539 A.D.

              22 x 28  size