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1572 Bishops', Item # B1003

1572 Bishops' Bible

Second Folio Edition of the Bishops’ Bible

[Bible in English.] The . holie . Bible . … London: Jugge, 1572.

Folio signed in eights. Leaf size: 390 x 260 mm

“A reprint of the 1568 Bible (No 125), so far as the Old Testament is concerned; but the New Testament has undergone further careful revision since the quarto edition of 1569 (see No 126)… All later issues … generally adopt the text of this Bible of 1572 in the New Testament” – Herbert, p. 75.

TEXT: A-O8: Pentatuech; inserted double-spread map (by Humfray Cole), “The moste auncient name of this lande was called Canaan…” (light repair); title-page: “The seconde part of the Bible…” = [P1]; continuous P-Z8; Aa-Kk8; Ll6; title-page: “The thirde part of the Bible…” = [Aaa1]; Aaa-Zzz8; &&&6; (end of OT); title-page: “The volume of the books called Apocrypha…” = [Aaaa1]; Aaaa-Mmmm8; Nnnn10 (Apocrypha ends on Nnnn9r; Nnnn9v has map: “The description of the holy lande…”; Nnnn10 is blank recto and verso with: “A Table to make plaine the difficultie that is founde in S. Matthew and S, Luke, touchyng the generation of Iesus Christe…”; New Testament title-page = [A1]; A-R8; S2 (Revelation ends on S2v); Biblical text complete. Lacks S3 and S4 of back matter.

Preliminaries: In short, 20 of 26 leaves. Both Herbert and Wilson give inadequate collations and descriptions of the very complicated order and signing of the preliminary leaves of the 1568 first folio and 1572 second folio printings of the Bishops’ Bible. “The order of the preliminary leaves is somewhat uncertain” – Herbert, p. 76. The copy at hand has 20 of the 26 leaves called for, as follows: (1) The correct engraved title-page for the 1572 edition; (2, 3, and 4) the final three unsigned leaves of the Genealogy of Christ with the verso of the final leaf of the Genealogy bearing “The whole scripture of the Bible is diuided into two…”; (5) unsigned “The order of the books of…” on recto with verso blank; (6) signed *i, “The newe Testament in lyke manner” on recto with blank verso; (7) signed *ij, “A Preface to the Byble / folowyng” pages [1] and [2]; (8) signed *iij, Preface continues pages [3] and [4]; (9) signed *iiij, Preface concludes (page [5]) on recto with verso headlined “The Preface” but containing a prayer beginning “O God of my fathers” (cited Sapi. ix.); (10) unsigned “A Prologue or Preface made by / Thomas Cranmer…” pages [1] and [2]; (11) unsigned, Cranmer’s Prologue continues pages [3] and [4]; (12) unsigned Cranmer’s Prologue continues and concludes (page [5]) on recto and verso bears “A discription of the yeeres from the…”; (13) signed [capitulum]i (partially in supplied MS in a repaired chip) bearing recto and verso “Proper lessons to be read for the first…” in red and black; (14) signed [capitulum]iii, “Proper psalms on certayne days.” (recto) and “An Almanacke (verso) for the years 1572 – 1610 (printed in red and black); (15) signed *iii “To finde Easter for euer” (recto) and “A Table for the order of the Psalmes” (verso) (in red and black); (16) signed A2 [an incorrect substitute for this edition] “March…” recto and “April…” verso (printed in red and black)(without the called for Zodiac signs at gutter); (17-20) continue the calendar correctly, May through December, printed in red and black and with the Zodiac signs at the gutters.

The title page is quite clean; many of the other preliminaries are worn / tired / repaired, etc., as expected.

Double column; text in Black Letter.

Many of the historiated initial letters are famously and rather inappropriately duplicated from an edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

“A remarkable feature of this edition is its two-version Psalter, which exhibits, printed side by side, (1) The translation used in common prayer (taken originally from the Great Bible, and still retained in the Prayer Book) in black-letter, and (2) The translation after the Hebrewes (i.e. the Bishops’ version) in roman type” – Herbert, p. 75.

General light browning; some ink notes and pen trials. A few side notes touched but generally nicely margined. Some marginal tears and repairs and little stains not worth enumerating.

Some defects enumerated for the sake of identification and for the sake of a very detailed condition report: A2 with a paste-on covering bold ink note, not affecting text, but note has offset to verso of A1 onto some text; E3 significant closed tear; G6v with long blotted stain with show-through and offsetting; [K5 and 6] with repair; [N7]v with a stain; [T5]r stained; Y4 and [5] stained; [Dd5-8] stained; [Bbb5] with a one inch plus triangular tear in text; [Fff6] with a smear stain; [Iii6] with a smear and a closed tear; Ppp4 with a chip repair; [Sss5v and 6r] stained; Yyy3 and 4 with notable repairs; [Zzz5v and 6r] with stain; NT: headline misprint on M2v corrected in MS; O3 and [Q8] quite repaired; all of Revelation tired, soiled and heavily repaired. This litany of individual flaws does a disservice to the overall pleasing nature of the copy. This is really a very nice example of this highly important Bible.

Full old calf, rebacked – scuffed and worn but solid and appropriate.