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The Byble, that is to say all the holy Scripture: In which are contayned the Olde and New Testamente, truly and purely translated into English, and nowe lately with greate industry and diligence recognised.
Collation
Aa^2, Bb^6, Cc^8, D-R^6, S4 (First Part: Gen-Deut); Aa-Tt^6 (Second Part: Josh-Job); Aa-Gg^6, Hh^8, Ii-Zz^6, AAa^8 (Third Part: Psalms-Malachi); Aaa-Mmm^6, Nnn^4 (Fourth Part: Apocrypha); A-T^6, V^8 (Fifth Part: New Testament). Lacks D1 (Gen 1-2) provided in good facsimile.
Description
General title page (1549) surrounded by a border comprised of 14 woodcuts. Title and Almanacke printed in red and black. Two large half-page engravings before Psalms and Isaiah. Many woodcuts throughout the text. Text in black letter, double columns, with 65 lines to the full column. Text is ruled in red from Genesis through 2 Samuel, and again throughout the New Testament. Text divided into five parts with divisional title pages to each part surrounded by two ornamental blocks and two woodcuts above and below depicting narrative scenes. This Bible contains the famous note in 1 Peter 3: “And yf she be not obedient and healpfull unto hym endevevoureth to beate the feare of God into her heae, that thereby she maye be compelled to learne her duitie and do it” and is sometimes referred to as the “wife-beater Bible.” The text includes Tyndale’s chapter summaries and prologues, including his notes in Revelation where he refers to the Pope as the antichrist.
Binding
Contemporary brown calf over beveled oak boards. Covers featuring a mid-sixteenth century blind roll design within concentric frames. All metal corner- and centerpieces intact. Clasps and hasps were likely added later. Plain endpapers. Extremities lightly rubbed and scuffed but wonderfully preserved overall.
Condition
Clean and bright with good margins; some of the red rules slightly faded; a few leaves with lower corner repair (O4, R2), fore-margin repair (Ee5-6), none of which impact the text; I4,5 in New Testament with small repair reducing one letter to headline; some thumbsoiling to edges; A near complete copy in a stunning contemporary binding, and in far better condition than typically seen.
Provenance
“David K. Parsons 2005” to front pastedown; laid down copperplate engraving depicting the final interview of John Rogers with his wife and eleven children just prior to his burning at the stake by Bloody Mary; birth records of James and Elizabeth Sage to blank leaf before Apocrypha; ex-libris stamp of David Parsons to final blank leaf.
Note
The Matthew's Bible (also referred to as the Matthew's-Tyndale Bible) was printed in 1537, 1549 (two editions), and 1551. Copies of the 1537 first edition are very difficult to find and rarely complete. The text was reprinted twice in 1549: one edition with the notes slightly revised by Edmund Becke and the "wife-beater" note at 1 Peter 3 (this copy), and the other edition being a straight reprint of the 1537 text without woodcuts and a notoriously bad printing. This edition boasts numerous woodcuts in the text (especially the Pentateuch, the gospels, and Revelation).
John Rogers was a central figure in the history of the English Bible. Best known as the editor of the Matthew’s Bible, Rogers deliberately worked under the pseudonym “Thomas Matthew” to distance the volume from the condemned and dangerous name of William Tyndale. This strategic choice allowed the Bible to circulate more freely at a time when Tyndale’s translations were officially banned. In reality, roughly two thirds of the Matthew’s Bible consists of Tyndale’s work, including Genesis through 2 Chronicles and the entire New Testament. Rogers helped preserve and disseminate Tyndale’s translation during a period when doing so openly could invite severe punishment.
Rogers’ faithfulness to Scripture ultimately cost him his life. During the reign of Queen Mary I, when she sought to return England to Catholicism, Rogers was arrested for heresy and became the first Protestant martyr of Mary’s persecution. In 1555 he was burned at the stake at Smithfield in the presence of his wife and children. The Matthew’s Bible is considered to be the primary version of our English Bible.
References
Herbert 74; Harold H. Hutson and Harold R. Willoughby, "Decisive Data on Thomas Matthew Problems", Journal of Bible and Religion, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Spring, 1938), 77-82, 121-128.