GREATSITE.COM Presents
1539 Great Bible, Item # GRT2001

The First Edition of the
1539 “Great” Bible

[Bible in English.] The Byble in/ Englyshe, that is to saye the con-/ tent of all the holy scrypture, bothe/ of ye olde and newe testament, truly/ translated after the veryte of the/ Hebrue and Greke textes, by ye dy-/ lygent studye of dyuerse excellent/ learned men, expert in the forsayde/ tonges./ Prynted by Richard Grafton &/ Edward Whitchurch./ Cum priuilegio ad imprimen-/ dum solum./ 1539.

The first edition, first printing of the Miles Coverdale “Great” Bible, “the hole byble of the largest volume,” which Thomas Cromwell, as the King’s vice-regent (King Henry VIII), in an injunction to the clergy (September 1538), ordered to be set up in sum conuenient place wythin the said church that ye haue cure of, where as your parishioners may moste comodiously resorte to the same and reade it.

Ideal collation, per Herbert= *6, a-k8, l4, A-P8, Q4, AA-PP8, QQ6, RR6, Aaa-Kkk8, Aa-Nn8. Copy at hand: lacks *i.-iii. (i.e. general title-page and first two leaves of preliminaries (provided in facsimile; has *iv-vi, followed by an inserted blank with copious manuscript notes; lacks a.ii. (provided in facsimile); [c.vi.] and [c.vii] supplied from another copy; lacks Q4 (an excised blank); lacks Aa.i., fly-title to the New Testament (provided in facsimile [rather dark]); Kk.iv supplied from another copy; lacks Mm.iii; Nn.vii and viii, provided in facsimile. Overall lacks 8 printed leaves and a blank.

Light damp and other staining. Occasional marginal tears, repairs, sometimes affecting edges of text. Some headlines touched or shaved. Beyond these general expected minor flaws, there are a few that should be noted: preliminaries of gathering * with heavy restoration and repairs (but no text loss); AA.i. (fly-title to Third Part) is repaired on verso; [CC.vii] heavily repaired (Psalm 119); [RR.vi] heavily repaired; Aa.ii, Bb.ii, and Ee.i heavily repaired with text loss.

Modern full medium calf to style over bevelled boards, panelled and heavily tooled in blind. Spine ruled in blind; no gilt, no lettering. Calf turn-ins over exposed finished board. Text block thonged in. A very nice binding.

The single most important Bible of the established Church of England (the official Anglican Church) until the 1611 King James Bible. (The Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer still carries forward the Coverdale Psalter of the “Great” Bible. This Bible is a revision by Miles Coverdale of the 1537 “Matthew’s” Bible (of John Rogers) which Coverdale “corrected” chiefly by the aid of Sebastian Munster’s new critical Latin from the Hebrew OT (1534/5) and employing the Erasmus new Latin NT with a glance to the Complutensian Polyglot (see Herbert, p. 25). Coverdale worked under the direct patronage of Thomas Cromwell, so this edition is sometimes nicknamed the “Cromwell Bible” – and from the Second Edition forward the “Great” Bible contained a prologue by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, and is therefore sometimes nicknamed the “Cranmer Bible” (or version).