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The Bible, That is, the Holy Scriptures Conteined in the Old and New Testament. Translated according to the Ebrew and Greeke, and conferred with the best translation in divers Languages. With most profitable Annotations…
Summary
The famous 1599 quarto Geneva Bible. Complete text in Roman font with the full set of Geneva illustrations and maps. A nicely preserved example of the version that journeyed aboard the Mayflower to America.
Description
The composite general title page (1599) with woodcut border comprising twenty-four small compartments showing the tents of the twelve tribes as well as the figures of the twelve apostles. Title is enclosed within a heart-shaped frame. A second printed general title page with small woodcut of the Red Sea. Text in two column Roman font containing Tomson’s New Testament and Junius’ Revelation. Complete set of Geneva illustrations and maps. Title to the Second Part (n.d.) with decorated headpiece. Issued without Apocrypha. Concludes with a dated colophon (1599). Bound with the Psalmes of David in Scots Meter by Andro Hart (1632) with architectural border. Woodcut first chapter initials and decorated head- and tailpieces throughout. This copy was likely printed in the 1630s in Amsterdam.
Collation
[par]^4, A-Z^8, &^6 (first part: Gen-Job), Aa-Qq^8 (second part: Psalms- Malachi), Aaa-Qqq^8, Rrr^4 (New Testament). Complete.
Binding
Contemporary brown paneled calf with central lozenge to both boards. Evidence of clasps. Endpapers perished. Spine with five raised bands. Rubbed and scuffed to edges with small loss to top of spine. Joints worn. A lovely, well-preserved period binding.
Condition
Both general titles frayed to edges with loss to lower woodcut border of first title; A3,4 lower marginal loss; Aaa7 closer tear to outer sidenotes without loss; final few leaves of metrical Psalter frayed to edges and lacking final leaf of Prayers; infrequent soiling and occasional staining but a overall a clean crisp text.
Provenance
“Mrs Miller, Mansfield Place, Perth 1852” to front pastedown; extensive family history records of Francis Mastertone and Christian Kerne, “married by Mr. John Hamiltone, minister on Sunday the 13th July 1678.” Two pages of birth records of their fifteen children between the Old and New Testament.
Note
Most Geneva Bibles dated 1599 were printed in Amsterdam following King James' 1616 ban on printing the Geneva Bible in England, intended to promote his sponsored translation. Despite the ban, the Geneva Bible remained popular and was printed abroad, then imported into England. In the 1630s, Archbishop Laud prohibited its importation, prompting printers to add falsely dated title pages to circumvent restrictions. The Geneva Bible's popularity endured for over three generations, as evidenced by the vast number of pirated copies available today, highlighting that the King James Bible did not immediately become the dominant text. Historical records indicate that two of the four Bibles aboard the Mayflower were 1599 pirated editions.
References
Herbert 253; ESTC 2179; Wilson’s No. 2.