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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). Complete with all title pages and the blank leaf before the Apocrypha.
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 divided into five parts with divisional title pages 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
Rebound in dark brown calf. Covers with triple paneled border and elaborate tooling to with a floral design. Spine with five blind-lined raised bands and the words “Holy Bible” and “1549” lettered in gilt. Endpapers renewed.
Condition
Title page with loss to lower and fore-edge reducing woodcut border; similar loss to remainder of prelims but improving thereafter; Genesis-Exodus with lower marginal loss from damp stain, occasionally reducing a catchword; Aa-Ff of this section professionally repaired; Ff2,3 repair to fore-edge margin resulting in loss of a few sidenotes; Kk1 repair to lower corner with loss to 14 lines of text in outer column; title to the third part and half-page woodcut of David on verso cropped at fore-edge; a few letters of the sidenotes cropped in the New Testament; final leaf frayed and reinforced to edges.
Provenance
Newspaper clipping from November 1875 detailing the sale of this Bible at auction for £55.
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). Copies at auction do appear reasonably regularly, but almost never complete (the other 1549 edition sees even fewer complete copies). The last complete copy was sold in 2006. Hutson and Willoughby conducted a worldwide census of 1549 Becke Bibles and located 10 complete copies out of the 59 copies in institutions.
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.