GREATSITE.COM Presents
1549 "Matthews" Bible, Item # TSF1111.

1549 Edition of the “Matthew’s Bible”

[Bible in English.] The Byble, whych is all the Holy Scrip/ ture: In whych are contayned the Olde/ and Newe Testament, truelye and/ purely translated into Englishe/ By Thomas Matthewe./ 1537./ And now Imprinted in/ the Yeare of oure Lorde./ M.D.XLIX./ Esaye.i./ Hearcken to, ye heauens, and thou/ earth geue eare: For the Lord/ speaketh./ Imprinted at London by Thomas/ Raynalde, and William Hyll dwelling/ in Paules Churche yearde.

Black letter small folio, in sixes (mostly) for the Old Testament and in eights (mostly) for the New Testament. The second 1549 Edition, a reprint of the fundamentally important 1537 “Matthew’s Bible,” – that is to say the Bible of William Tyndale.

Some light damp or other staining. Copious marginalia in a 16th Century hand, sometimes with manicules. Various typos corrected in MS. Cropped a little close, but generally this copy is better margined than most surviving copies.

Overall a truly wonderful copy of an important Bible.

This book is extraordinarily important and extremely rare, as are all Bibles in English printed before Queen Mary’s reign (1553-1558).

The “Matthew’s Bible” [1537] of William Tyndale as seen through the press by John Rogers is “generally considered to b e the real primary version of our English Bible” (A.S. Herbert, 1968). John Rogers was martyred at the stake in 1555 for his work on this Bible.

Herbert 75. Darlow & Moule 48. STC 2078