1549 Matthew's-Tyndale Bible - Book of Obadiah Title Leaf

[1549 reprint of the 1537 Matthew’s Bible] “The Byble, that is to say all the holy Scripture: In whych are cotayned the Olde and New Testamente, truly & purely traslated into English, & nowe lately with The Byble, That is to say all the hoy Scripture: in whuch are contnayned the Olde and New Testamente…

NOTE

William Tyndale (1494-1536) began to craft a new English translation of the Bible in 1524. Armed with Erasmus’ Greek New Testament and Luther’s German text, he completed his English translation of the New Testament in just one year. The printing shop was raided, forcing him to begin anew and he released a smaller version in 1526.

While working on his Old Testament translation, Tyndale was betrayed and arrested. He was convicted of heresy, strangled, and burned at the stake. His last words were: “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.”

Within a year his prayers were answered. His colleague Miles Coverdale (1488-1568) completed the first English translation of the Bible in 1535.

John Rogers (1505-1555) worked on a translation that used Tyndale’s work, completing the Old Testament based upon the Hebrew text. This version was first released in 1537 under the pseudonym of Thomas Matthew. This Bible is known as the Matthew's Bible or the Tyndale-Matthew Bible and welds together the best work of Tyndale and Coverdale. According to Herbert, this version is generally considered to be the primary version of our English Bible. Rogers would be burned at the stake during the reign of Bloody Mary.

These specific leaves originate from a 1549 reprint of the 1537 Matthew's Bible with the notes revised by Edmund Becke.

SHIPPING

All of our Matthews-Tyndale leaves will be protected between sheets of cardboard and shipped via USPS Priority Mail.

REFERENCES

Herbert 74; STC 2077.