Know All About the Coverdale Bible

William Tyndale’s close friend, Myles Coverdale, translated, compiled, and published the Coverdale Bible in 1535. This was the first printed complete Bible in English. It can be called a ‘translation of a translation’ as it used source texts in Greek and Hebrew, along with translations in Latin and German (including Luther’s Bible).

 As Myles Coverdale was the first individual to print an entire Bible in English, he perpetually secured his place in history. If you want to possess this piece of history but can’t get your hands on the original and rare Coverdale Bible, you can try buying a budget-friendly facsimile.

Publication of the Coverdale Bible

After Tyndale’s New Testament was published in numerous editions in the 1520s and 1530s, many people got used to reading or hearing the Bible in English. As a result, one of the closest friends of Tyndale, Myles Coverdale, translated and published what came to be known as the 1535 Coverdale Bible. It was the first complete Bible in English.

After Tyndale was arrested and awaited execution, it became less perilous to get the Bible translated into English. Yet, the first version of the Coverdale Bible was published abroad. After it went to print in Antwerp (the place of residence of Coverdale) in 1535, two editions were published in London in 1537. One of these was a folio and another quarto.

This was the first time a complete Bible in English was somewhat flatteringly dedicated to the King himself and printed in England openly.

Features of the Coverdale Bible

The 1535 Coverdale Bible contains the New and Old Testaments as well as the Apocrypha. Two columns are used to print the text, which is clearly laid out on the pages. The pages come with a handful of marginal annotations, along with book titles and chapter headings at the top to facilitate navigation.

This volume of the Bible has more than 150 illustrations. Hans Holbein the Younger designed the title page that depicts King Henry VIII as a dominant Reformation monarch and ‘Defender of the Faith.’ The page’s top section has the name of God directly over the King to indicate he received his religious authority directly from God.

Similar to Tyndale, Coverdale coined certain phrases and words, but most haven’t survived well. A surprising feature of the Coverdale Bible is the exclusion of the godly name in the form “Jehovah.” It’s interesting to note here that Tyndale used God’s name more than 20 times in his translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. But the 1535 Coverdale Bible omitted the word “Jehovah” altogether.”

Final Words

Though the Coverdale Bible was quickly superseded by the Great Bible, the former’s historical importance can’t be overlooked. However, its importance didn’t stem from the number of copies it sold or the readers it attracted. Instead, it was because the Coverdale Bible was the first complete Bible translation in modern English.

Bible and the Protestant Reformation

The 15th and early 16th centuries were a time of significant intellectual change throughout Europe. This change directly affected the Bible’s availability in the vernacular language to the average reader. A significant 15th-century development was the printing press, which sped both the transmission of ideas and the production of texts. During the early years of printing, the Latin Bible was pretty popular. But after the Gutenberg Bible was printed in Germany’s Mainz around 1455, more than 90 other editions of the Vulgate, including some that had commentary, originated from presses across Europe.

The leaders of the Protestant Reformation aimed to return to a faith and practice that was more aligned with the Bible’s teachings. According to them, allegiance to a church wasn’t necessary to understand God. Instead, they argued that individual study of scripture was needed. This triggered a surge in the creation of new editions of the Bible. These Bibles printed during the Protestant Reformation were just as vital as the individuals who directed and drove the movement. Given below are some notable Bibles of the era.

The Erasmus Bible

Erasmus of Rotterdam was a renowned scholar of his age. This priest from the Netherlands believed the church needed reforms. He targeted the Vulgate, the Bible’s Latin version, translated in the fourth century, which was widely used during his time.

According to Erasmus, the Vulgate had numerous errors. He found more than 6,000 mistakes himself. Since the New Testament was initially written in Greek, not Latin, he published a New Greek translation by drawing upon multiple sources. Scholars could use his version to compare the church’s Vulgate with the original Greek scripture. Erasmus’s Bible was the first translated version to have editor’s notes regarding the meaning of the text, which proved to be enormously influential for later Protestant translators.

In his New Testament’s preface, Erasmus urged others to carry on his work by translating the word of God into their native languages. Several reformers, including Martin Luther, went ahead to do just what Erasmus had advised. Erasmus’s translated Bible didn’t just serve as the textual foundation for Luther’s German translation (1522). It was also the basis for Bible’s English translation by William Tyndale (1526) and the King James Version (1611).

Luther’s German Translation

As an act of defiance, Martin Luther posted 95 criticisms against the church on the door of a Wittenburg-based church. This is believed to be the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Since he refused to recant what he posted, Luther was taken away to a Wartburg Castle in 1521. During this period, he chose to translate the New Testament into German. He finished the job in eleven weeks. In September 1522, his translation saw the light of day and became popular as Luther’s September Testament.

Luther’s translation consisted of his critical interpretation and explanation of the New Testament. However, Luther found the Old Testament’s translation an uphill task. Personal ill health, wars, and inadequate expertise in Hebrew slowed him down. It took Luther and a diverse team of scholars to translate and publish the whole Old Testament in twelve years. It was released in installments. The Pentateuch, the Bible’s first five books, wasn’t released until 1523.

The Tyndale’s Bible

Emboldened by Erasmus and Luther, work started on a new Bible in England. But like several places in Europe, working to produce a local-language Bible in the British Isles was perilous. This was because the law of the land handed death to anyone found to have an unlicensed possession of scripture.

William Tyndale started work to produce the first English Bible by translating directly from the original Hebrew and Greek. In 1526, Tyndale published his New Testament and followed it up with the Pentateuch (1530). An English adaptation of the Book of Jonah was also published by Tyndale, but his other Old Testament translations never got published. Tyndale’s Bible translation was regarded as such a massive act of dissent that he was strangled to death and then burned at stake.

Tyndale is frequently called the Father of the Protestant Reformation. His work impacted subsequent translators of the Bible significantly as they adopted a great deal of his style and choice of words in their translations, including the KJV (King James Version).

Final Words

The Geneva Bible and the Bishop’s Bible are other notable Bibles published during the Protestant Reformation, if you want to know more about Protestant Reformation, click here. The publication of these and several other Bibles made the church realize that it could no longer suppress the will of God. Thus, God’s word became available in the English language as well as other vernacular languages.

Original Source: https://lifeunited.org/bible-and-the-protestant-reformation/

Family Bibles - A Treasured Tradition

For at least a century, from the late 1880’s until the 1980’s, the time-honored American tradition of having a large “Family Bible” on prominent display in most Christian households was part of our culture as Americans and our heritage as Christians. That big “Family Bible” stood as a silent witness to all that home’s visitors, demonstrating without speaking a word that this home was a Christian Home. Often family records of births, deaths, and marriages were penned into the blank pages at the front or back.

Decline of The Family Bible

Then, in the 1980’s… the economically booming “Reagan Years”, the “Me Decade”… something happened.  That rich tradition of proudly displaying a very large Bible in the Christian Home just fell out of favor.  Sure, we still had the hand-sized Bible that we take to church and back home, which we kept on the nightstand, or on a shelf.  But the unapologetically huge display Bible… the beloved Family Bible… the one that was the centerpiece of the living room or den… disappeared from the American Home. Why did Family Bibles disappear?

Do You Remember Family Bibles?

Do you remember it? It was a very large format Bible with big print and beautiful typeface. The family gathered around to read it, if not daily, then at least on special occasions, like Easter and Christmas. Family Bibles held a place of honor in the Christian Home, and they were displayed with pride. All who entered the home saw this family heirloom, this treasured Family Bible, and knew instantly that this was a home with Christian values.

Do you have such a Family Bible displayed visibly in your home, signifying the Christ-centered focus of your home, and functioning as a silent witness that “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”? Or do you just have the conveniently hand-sized Bible that you take the church and rest on the shelf through the week?

Bringing Back The Family Bible

We believe that we should recapture that tradition, but it needs to be a special Bible that holds such a place of honor. It needs to be a statement piece: huge in format, elegant in typeface, and with a sense of history, heritage, and birthright about it… not just some mass-produced modern-looking printing.

Choosing The Best Family Bible

For the person seeking an affordable large format Family Bible in the King James Version, we suggest the Oxford KJV Pulpit Bible originally printed in 1769, and often referred to as “The Perfected King James Bible”. Few realize it, but the First Edition King James Bible of 1611 has not been in print since the early 1600’s. That original KJV of 1611 contained several typographical errors, and spellings that are extremely antiquated by modern standards. Its punctuation likewise does not follow modern use. The 1611 KJV Bible was revised in 1615, and again in 1629, and again in 1638, and again in 1762, and again in 1769. The King James Bible you have known all your life is actually the 1769 Oxford Standardized Version… even though it may not actually say that anywhere in your Bible.

Family Bibles as Family Heirlooms

For the person seeking an investment-grade original ancient Bible as a display piece for their home, rather than one of the lower-priced facsimile reproductions, the inventory of The Bible Museum provides many options from which to choose, all of which can be seen by searching the current online inventory of ancient Bibles.

History’s First Family Bible

The first “Family Bible” in the English language actually dates back to half a century before the 1611 King James Bible. It was the 1560 Geneva Bible While the Geneva Bible was not the very first English language Bible ever printed (that would be the 1535 Coverdale Bible), the 1560 Geneva Bible was nevertheless the first English Bible to be produced specifically for the primary purpose of personal home use. English Bibles before the Geneva Bible were either illegal productions made covertly by brave reformers, or they were officially sanctioned Anglican Church productions intended for public use on the church pulpit.

The Geneva Bible was produced by English Protestant refugees, fleeing the rule of Catholic Queen “Bloody Mary”, and living in Geneva (Switzerland). They produced a special English language Bible translation which was the first to use numbered verses, and the first to use plain Roman typeface, and the first to add commentary notes to the scriptures. It was intended to be a “Home Schooler’s Bible”, making it the quintessential Family Bible that was the progenitor of all Family Bibles in the English language which came after it.

Illustrated Family Bibles

One feature that many people seek in their Family Bibles is illustrations. The greatest of all illustrated Bibles of antiquity is undoubtedly the spectacularly beautiful 1568 Bishops Bible. However, the Bishops Bible is not really a Family Bible. It was more of an official church Bible.

A better example of an illustrated Family Bible of centuries gone by would be the 1846 Illuminated Bible. Featuring more than 1,600 woodcut illustrations, it was the most elaborately illustrated Bible ever printed up until that time. Like nearly all the Family Bibles of its day, the Illuminated Bible was a King James Version. The illustrations helped to keep the interest of children who were learning to read the Bible, and adults also appreciated the finely detailed images which complimented the scriptural readings on each page.

The Family Bible As An Archive

Another function of Family Bibles for centuries has been as a place to document family records of birth, marriage, and death. These records were typically written on the inside blank leaves in the front or back of Family Bibles. In fact, unto this day, when personal identification records are lost or stolen, bringing family genealogical records written inside a Family Bible to the courthouse is often acceptable as proof to reissue birth certificates and similar records. Those researching their genealogy find these records kept in Family Bibles to be of paramount importance in confirming their family lineage.

The Family Bible As a Gathering Point

For many families, the Family Bible is an iconic heirloom which serves as a focal point for holiday gatherings. Reading the scriptural passages about the birth of Christ at Christmas, or the resurrection of Christ at Easter, can be meaningful and memorable traditions to maintain. Some families take this even further, and practice daily devotional readings together, as they gather around their Family Bibles.

Original Source: https://greatsite.com/family-bibles/

What Should You Know About the 1611 King James Bible for Sale

Buying a rare copy of an original Bible like the 1611 King James Bible (also called KJV or King James Version) may not be everyone’s cup of tea. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t own a piece of history. You could get a facsimile of the original King James Bible for sale and proudly show it as a valuable addition to your personal library. It could even be a great gift to friends and family, especially the ones who are interested in reading some of the rarest and most unique Bibles.

For more than 400 years, people have loved the KJV or the Authorized Version of the Bible. It stands out for its majestic phrasing and splendid cadences. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that perhaps no other book has so intensely impacted our language as well as our theology.

Thus, it’s not a surprise that there’s a high demand for facsimiles of the original 1611 King James Bible. If you are also planning to get one, here are a few things you should know.

The Story Behind the 1611 King James Bible

During her reign, Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603) reinstated Protestantism as England’s official religion (following Queen Mary’s attempt to restore Roman Catholicism in the nation). Elizabeth also imposed a high level of uniformity upon the Church of England.

In 1604, almost immediately after James’s coronation as England’s king, a churchmen’s conference requested the English Bible’s revision. This was due to the existing translations being regarded as corrupt and unanswerable to the truth of the original, according to these churchmen.

King James quickly understood the proposal's broader value and why a new authorized translation was required. He acted fast and, by June 30, 1604, approved 54 revisers. However, present-day records confirm that only 47 scholars really participated.

These scholars were categorized into six groups, two each working separately at Oxford, Westminster, and Cambridge on parts of the Bible allocated to them. The work was overseen by Canterbury’s archbishop, Richard Bancroft (1544–1610), who also established doctrinal principles for the translators. In 1611, the new Bible was published.
Not since the Septuagint — the earliest extant Greek-language version of the Old Testament (translated from the original Hebrew) — had a Bible translation of such a massive scale been undertaken under regal sponsorship as a cooperative project.

A detailed set of rules was planned to restrain individual proclivities and guarantee the translation’s unbiased and scholarly character. Unlike earlier practice, the new version was set to use vulgar forms of proper names (such as “Jonah” or “Jonas” for “Yonah” in Hebrew) to align with its goal of making the Scriptures familiar and popular.

As guidance for their work, the translators used extant English-language translations, including William Tyndale’s partial translation and Jewish commentaries. Thanks to the extensive range of scholarly tools made available to them, the translators were able to decide how to render uniqueness and independent judgment. This was one of the primary reasons behind the new version being far more true to the Bible’s original languages and more academic than any of its predecessors.

The King James Bible showed a prominent influence of the original Hebrew. It appeared as if the translators and revisers consciously tried to replicate the Hebrew Scriptures’ style and rhythm in their work. As a result, the English New Testament’s literary style turned out to be better than its Greek original.

Features of the Original 1611 KJV

The original 1611 A.D. text of the KJV was written in Early Modern English and displayed the language’s closer ties to its Latin roots. This Bible’s spelling was in Jacobean style. Though it wasn’t fully standardized, readers could read it phonetically.

The original typeface of the 1611 KJV with Apocrypha was in Gothic style. Today, both its older language and the typestyle may be considered complex to read by modern English readers, which is why some facsimiles of the King James Bible for sale use a modern typestyle. But there’s no denying that King James Version is still respected and recognized for its cadence, beauty, and poetic feel.

When buying a facsimile of the 1611 King James Bible for sale, you should ensure to choose a reliable and reputed dealer of rare and antique Bibles. Else, you may end up buying a replica of the 1769 Oxford King James revision, with revised spellings and some words being changed. If you aren’t careful, you could even be cajoled to buy a facsimile of the 1611 KJV where the original’s extra prefatory features have been removed.

Final Words

When buying a facsimile of the 1611 King James Bible for sale, make sure to check some of its key features to ensure you are paying for an exact replica of the original, not a later version with changed words, revised spellings, and missing prefatory features.

Why You Should Get a Facsimile of the 1536 Tyndale New Testament, and the 1549 Tyndale Bible For Sale

Before you buy a copy of the original 1536 Tyndale New Testament, and the 1549 Tyndale Bible for sale, it’s important to know what makes it so significant. Usually, the Tyndale Bible stands for William Tyndale’s translations of different books of the Bible in the 1500s. His work is given the credit of being the first English translation from the original Greek and Hebrew texts and the first English, mass-produced biblical translation that became possible due to the new technological advances in the art of printing.

It’s sad to note that before his execution, Tyndale never published a complete Bible. That’s because he could just finish translating the New Testament and around 50% of the Old Testament. Yet, Tyndale’s translations have significantly influenced on almost every contemporary English translation of Scripture.

Since not everyone may have the huge pile of money necessary to buy the original 1536 Tyndale New Testament, and the 1549 Tyndale Bible for sale or even a few pages of it, the next best thing is to get a facsimile. If you are considering buying a copy of the original Tyndale Bible, you should learn about the unique aspects that made the original such a prized possession.

Story Behind the 1536 Tyndale New Testament, and the 1549 Tyndale Bible

William Tyndale is often called the “Father of the English Bible.” It was his burning desire to make the Bible available to England’s common people that finally made it possible to print it.

Due to strong demand for Scriptures in the language England’s common people spoke, and the advancement in printing technology, William Tyndale took the responsibility of translating the New Testament directly from Greek. Since Tyndale could speak seven languages and was skillful in ancient Greek and Hebrew, the job wasn’t an uphill one for him. He started his translation work in 1523.

After England’s church authorities stopped him from translating the Bible, William Tyndale received financial support from London’s wealthy merchants that helped him flee to Germany in 1524. He completed translating the New Testament in July 1525. It was printed in Cologne.

He came under pressure, once again, from the city authorities, and fled to Worms. There, two more editions of his translations were published in 1525. In 1526, the first copies of Tyndale’s Bible translations were smuggled into England. However, they were immediately banned.

After finishing work on the New Testament, Tyndale started work on the Old Testament. In 1530, his translation of the Pentateuch (the Old Testament’s first five books) was issued in Marburg. Each of these five books was published and circulated separately. Though Tyndale continued working on the Old Testament translation, he couldn’t complete it as he was captured in Antwerp. In 1536, he was condemned for dissent and executed by strangulation, followed by being burned at stake in Vilvoorde.

Special Features of the 1536 Tyndale New Testament, and the 1549 Tyndale Bible

Before buying a replica of the original 1536 Tyndale New Testament, it would help you to know that it was the most elaborate and last edition done before Tyndale’s death in October of the same year. The original 1536 Tyndale New Testament, and the 1549 Tyndale Bible includes outstanding woodcut illustrations and a Gothic blackletter typeface similar to calligraphy. Rare original Tyndale Bibles from the 1500’s can sell for well into six figures.

A facsimile of the original 1536 Tyndale New Testament, and the 1549 Tyndale Bible for sale would be a lot cheaper. However, you should ensure it’s the exact facsimile reproduction of the original and features magnificent woodcut illustrations.

Some sellers of such rare books offer photographically enlarged Tyndale Bible for sale, where they photographically make the reproduction bigger to almost 125% the size of the original for ease of reading.

It’s wise to get your facsimile of the original 1536 Tyndale New Testament, and the 1549 Tyndale Bible for sale in a hardcover bound form to ensure you and others can enjoy reading it for a long time to come.

Why Is It Hard to Get a Facsimile of 1535 Tyndale’s Bible for Sale?

Though thousands of copies of Tyndale’s 1525 first edition were smuggled back into England, primarily due to the book’s small octavo format, not many are found today.
Most of these copies were confiscated and burned. A handful of those who owned them risked death. Tyndale’s translation work and printing of Bibles paved the way for new versions. Most of the succeeding English translations that took place during the rest of the 16th and early 17th centuries were largely based on Tyndale’s work. Yet, just two known copies are left of Tyndale’s 1525 first edition today, which makes it pretty difficult, if not impossible, to possess them or even their facsimile.

Final Words

The 1536 Tyndale New Testament, and the 1549 Tyndale Bible is testimony to the dawn of the reformation. Getting your hands on a replica of the original is definitely a worthy investment. So, go ahead and buy a facsimile of the original 1536 Tyndale New Testament, and the 1549 Tyndale Bible for sale from a reputed dealer.

Things You Need to Know Before Buying Old Bibles for Sale

People have diverse reasons to buy old Bibles for sale. For example, an individual may plan to buy an antique King James Version as an heirloom, which will be passed down for generations. Another may like to acquire a Geneva Bible to be given to a loved one as a gift – be it for a wedding anniversary or a birthday. Some may even like to buy ancient Bibles as an investment.

You may even have plans to start your own collection of antique Bibles. Whatever be your reason for buying these old Bibles, you may feel somewhat intimidated by the jargon that antique book dealers use while negotiating a deal.

Given below is an overview of the technical terms the antiquarian book trade involves, which will help you navigate this world with relative ease and better understand the different factors contributing to the price of old Bibles for sale. 

Size

In the ancient era, Bibles were made of large sheets of paper. A folio Bible (2°) had these sheets folded in half, which created 2 leaves or 4 pages. Quarto Bibles (4°) had these sheets folded in half twice, which created 4 leaves or 8 pages. Octavo Bibles (8°) had these sheets folded in half thrice, resulting in 8 leaves or 16 pages. In terms of size, folio Bibles were the largest (standing tall at 11-20”), followed by quarto and octavo Bibles that stood tall at 8-10.75” and 6-7.5”, respectively.

Collation

This term stands for the order and manner in which leaves are collected into signatures and bound into a single book. Collation lets you decide if any pages are missing and the edition or version of the book. Antique Bible collectors and dealers typically use catalogs, like Thomas Herbert Darlow and Horace Frederick Moule’s Historical catalogue of the printed editions of Holy Scripture or A.S. Herbert’s Historical catalog of Printed Bibles to date and list ancient Bibles accurately.

Additional Features

Old Bible texts often had extra features. For instance, J.S. Speed’s Illustrated Genealogies came with a pictorial depiction of thirty-four pages of the pedigree from Adam to Christ, and had an optional map of the Promised Land spread across double pages. The Book of Common Prayer - the Anglican Church’s guide to baptism, communion, marriages, and other ceremonies, is another example worth noticing. Some old Bibles for sale even had a calendar that would include significant holy days and daily scripture readings.

Provenance

This gives ownership details of a Bible as it passes through several members of the royal family, collectors, or specific families. In other words, provenance lets you trace an old Bible’s ownership through a famous person.

Red-ruled Markings

A handful of ancient Bibles had the borders and vital parts of the text marked with a straight edge and red ink. A scribe would outline every page after printing, which was an extremely lengthy and detail-oriented practice used only by the affluent of those ancient times. Bibles with red-ruling made their text noticeable and easier to read.

Woodcuts

Woodcut illustrations found in old Bibles for sale were crafted by expert craftsmen, who would carve a picture into a wooden block. The book’s non-printed parts too would be carved out. This resulted in the carved image being at the same level as these parts. This was followed by the ink’s addition to the block. Next, the block would be pressed onto the page, thus creating the desired woodcut illustration.

Margins

Ancient Bibles often had their page perimeters, and the book’s text block undergo soiling, wear, and tear. But since many of these Bibles were originally printed with broad margins, they could be easily trimmed down before a soiled or damaged book was rebound, thus giving the book a relatively fresher and more pleasing look.

Binding

Ancient Bibles are always hardcover and come bound in different types of leathers over wooden boards, each offering a somewhat different color and texture. Since the binding of these books weren’t designed to last more than around 200 years, many old Bibles for sale have therefore been re-backed or rebound. Often, the original boards are reused and retained whenever an antique bible is rebound. However, you will rarely find a Bible in its original binding. It’s even rarer to get hold of the original metal hardware that accompanied these ancient Bibles.

Final Words

All these factors, along with the Bible’s condition, and font size or misprints that add a rare element, determine its value. Take note of these things when browsing old Bibles for sale before finalizing your deal.