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107 ARNOLD'S CHRONICLE, Second Edition. Fol. 1 a blank cut away. Fol. 2a: IN this boke is conteined ye names of the baylyfs | Custose ma yers and she | refs of ye cy | te of london | . This heading and the Table which follows occupy three leaves. Fol. 5a: THe names of the Baylyfs. Custos. Mayres and Serefs of the cyte of London. . Fol. 135a, last two lines of the second column: tokyn of good loue and accorde whi- | che was done.

4to. 135 leaves chiefly in double columns, with 42 lines to the column; with woodcut initials; fine copy in dark morocco by Bedford

£ s. d.

S. n. (Peter Treveris, 1521) 21 0 0

The peculiar sh of Peter of Treves shows that this volume is from his press. Ít is more correctly printed than the Antwerp edition of 1503.

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The signatures are A four leaves, B eight, C four, B four, C-E in eights, F-Q in sixes, R eight, S and T in sixes, V five leaves = 135 leaves. The reason why it has four leaves more than its original is that the Annals at the beginning are continued down to 1520.

II. THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND 1300-1600

1. The Bible

John Wickliffe, 13..-1384. (See ante Nos. 17-20)

The

108 WYKLYFFITE BIBLE, the second issue, PERFECT. Fol. 1: The ploge on
Genesis. Brop' Ambrose bryngynge fulli þi little ziftis to me
prologues end on fol. 5. Fol. 6, blank, with an inscription added: This
Booke I will (god willinge) leaue for an heireloome to my right heires
of Bramhal. William Dauenporte 1620. Fol. 7: In pe bygynnyng
god made of noust heuene and erpe. Fol. 71: . . here bigynnep
Iosue. And it was doon aftir þe deep of moises seruant of pe lord pat
pe lord spak to iosue .. Fol. 177: . . here bigynnep pe saut' which
is red comonly in chirchis . . Fol. 197: . . Here endip pe sauter here
bigynnen puerbis.. Fol. 324: . . Here endip pe oolde testament
blessid be pe holi trinite Amē z here bigynnep pe newe testament. pe
prologe vp on matheu. Mathew pat was of iudee as he is set first i
ordre of pe gospelleris: so he wroot first pe gospel i iudee and fro pe
office of a tolgaderere he was clepid to god. . Fol. 404 . . Here
endip pe Apocalips: blessid be Almy3ti god. Amen. Below is an
inscription by a sixteenth century owner: I syr Henry fayer first dyd
begyne to rede thys boke the fourt day off february and I dyd rede. yt
over from the begynyng vnto the endyng in xxvi dayes per me dm
Henrim fayer Año dni Mo vo lxo xvio

109

Folio, in a red morocco binding of the beginning of this century

About 1425
The only perfect copy known of the complete English Bible as issued by John
Purvey Wyklyffe's follower.

THE HOLY BIBLE, contained in the Old and New Testaments, with
the Apocryphal Books in the earliest English versions made from the
Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and his followers, edited by the Rev.
Josiah Forshall and Sir Frederic Madden, 4 vols. imp. 4to. blue mor-
occo extra, gilt edges
Oxford, 1850

The only complete edition of the Wycliffite Bible in its various issues, based on the collation of about 120 MSS. made during a period of twenty-two years. The two texts are given in parallel columns; that is, the one ascribed to Wyckliffe and his own immediate circle, and the one of some twenty years later of which the chief editor was John Purvey.

William Tyndale, 1484-1536

110 TESTAMENT. Facsimile Texts: the first printed English New Testament translated by William Tyndale, photolithographed from the unique fragment in the Grenville Collection, edited by Arber. Small 4to.

bds.

1871

The original is a fragment consisting of 31 leaves, the only survival of an edition printed at Cologne in 1526.

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111 NEW TESTAMENT. Title: THE NEWE TESTA- | MENT | in Englyshe [by Tyndale] and in | Latin of Erasmus | Transla- | tion. | NOVVM TESTAMEN- TVM ANGLICE ET | LATINE. | Anno dni. 1549. This intitulation printed within a woodcut border. On the reverse: The bokes contay- ned in the newe Te- | stamente. . . Fol. 292 (marked CC.lxxxxi): . . The ende of the newe | Testamente. | Here folowe the Epistles taken out of the olde Testamente, whiche are red in the churche after the vse of Salysbury vpon certayne dayes of the yeare. Fol. 300b: . . Here endethe the Epystles of the olde testament. Foll. 301-304 contain the Table of the Pystles and Gospels, at the end of which on 304b is the colophon: Thus endeth the newe Testa- | ment both in Englyshe z in Laten, of mayster Eras- | mus translacyō, with the Pystles take out of ŷ Olde testamēt. Set forth with | the Kynges moste gracyous lycence, and Imprynted by Wyllyam Powell | dwellynge in Fletestrete at the sygne of the George nexte to saynt Dun-stons Churche. The yere of our Lorde. M.CCCCC. | xlix .│. . . . | GOD SAVE THE KYNge.

Small 4to. the English and the Latin printed collaterally on each page, the former in Black letter, the latter in Roman; the title in facsimile and the margins of fol. 2 mended; old English black morocco gilt (bound about 1660)

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1549 28 0 0

Dunn Gardner's (which had been Lea Wilson's) copy, having a facsimile title like this one, sold for £35.

112 TESTAMENT. Title: THE NEW TESTAMENT | Diligently | Translated by Myles Couerdale and conferred with the translacion of | Willyam Tyndale, with the necessary Concordances | truly alleged. | AN. M.D.XLIX. 12mo, a portion of the surface of the title-page, and a part of the last leaf, torn away; in the original calf binding, enclosed in a Rein. Wolf, 1549 12 12 0

case

This volume, consisting of Gospels and Acts, was issued and bound before the
second volume came from the press (Epistles and Revelations). It consists of 256 leaves
in signatures (), †, A-—Z, Aa—Gg, all in eights. The book is one of excessive rarity
in whatever condition. It is Tyndale's text slightly touched by Coverdale, just as in
the preceding and the following article.

113 TESTAMENT. Title: The newe Testament of our Sauiour Iesu
Christe. Faythfully tran- | slated out of the Greke, . . . . Here
a woodcut portrait of Edward VI, and under it a motto from Mathew
xiii in Latin and in English. On the reverse: The copy of the byll
assigned by the kynges honorable counsell, for the Au- ctorisingo
of this Testamente. . . Fol. 2a: Jugge's Epistle To the most
puysaunt and mightye Prince Edward the syxt.. Foll. 3-8 contain
the Calendar, 9-14 the Almanack and Table, 15 A perfecte supputation,
and 16 An exhortation. . with the life of St. Matthew on the reverse.
On leaf 201 end the Acts of the Apostles; leaves 202-204 contain a
description of the Lande of promys with a map, etc., and a colophon on
leaf 204.
Leaf 205 contains the title of the Epistles; on leaf 206 they
begin, and end with the Apocalypse on leaf 335a. On 335b begin the
Epistles of the old Testament which end on 337b. A table follows, and
ends on 339a. On the reverse of 339 is the printer's mark and the
colophon: Imprynted at London by Rycharde Iugge, dwel- | lynge in
Paules churche yarde at the signe of the byble. | With the kynge his
mooste gratious lycence, and priuilege, forbyddynge all other men to print
| or cause to be printed, this, or any other | Testament in Englyshe.

114

Small 4to. Black Letter, 339 leaves, with numerous woodcuts, including the curious representation of the Devil as a man with a tail and a wooden leg the title, the seventh leaf from the end, and the last leaf in facsimile, the corner of a leaf mended and made up; blue morocco, gilt edges R. Jugge, 1552 22 0 0 another copy, larger and finer; the title-page in facsimile; other

wise perfect, with the margins of some leaves mended; brown morocco, by
BEDFORD

£ 8. d.

1552 33 0 0

This edition, printed in London by Jugge, contains some of the same large flourished letters as have been remarked in Matthew's Bible of 1537, and in the Lubeck Low German Bible of 1533-4.--The facsimile of the title in the second copy was made from one of the copies which were issued with the reverse blank,

Miles Coverdale, 1487-1567
115 BIBLE, COVERDALE, FIRST EDITION. Title, within a woodcut
border: BIBLIA | The Bible, that is, the holy Scripture
of the Olde and New Testament, faith- | fully and truly
translated out of Douche and Latyn | in to Englishe. [
M.D.XXXV. S. Paul... The reverse of this title is blank.
Fol. 2a Unto the most victorious Prynce | and oure
most gracyous soueraigne Lorde, kynge Henry the
eyght,. Line 13: your dearest iust wyfe, and most
vertuous Pryncesse, Quene Anne, Amen. Fol. 4b: A
prologue. Myles Couerdale Unto the Christen reader. |
Fol. 76: The bokes of the hole Byble, how they are
named. . Fol. 86: The fyrst boke of Moses
Fol. 9a (numbered Fo. i): The first boke of Mo- | ses
called Genesis... Fol. 99, title: The seconde par- tie..
|
Fol. 100a (numbered Fo. ij): The boke of Josua Fol.
219a (numbered Fo. i): The boke of Job.. Fol. 271,
title: All the Prophetes in Englishe. |
Fol. 272
(numbered Fo. ij): The prophet Esay Fol. 373, title:
APOCRIPHA The bokes and treatises
Fol. 456,
a blank cut away. Fol. 457, title: The new testament. |
Fol. 5696, colophon: Prynted in the yeare of oure
LORDE M.D.XXXV. | and fynished the fourth daye of
October. A large folding map of the Holy Land between
foll. 98 and 99.

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Small folio, having leaf 2 in facsimile by the first Harrisse, the initial I of Genesis and the few words behind it also in facsimile, a little portion of the map and a small corner bit of the twentieth leaf repaired by facsimile; otherwise A PERFECT COPY OF THE FIRST ENGLISH BIBLE, bound in blue morocco by Charles Lewis (Zürich?) 1535 1050 0 0

This copy, formerly belonging to Lea-Wilson, afterwards to Dunn Gardiner, and lastly to Lord Ashburnham, is superior to any other known copy except the Leicester and the Osterley copies. The titlepage was, when Lea Wilson owned it, supplied for him in facsimile from the Leicester copy, by Harris, and that facsimile leaf is still retained to show the variation between the genuine title now inserted and the Leicester title. In the first place there is a list of contents on the back of the Leicester title, while the page is left absolutely blank in our genuine title. In the second place, among the inscriptions on the woodcuts we find the words Go once and Gospel twice. The three capitals G appear in Harrisse's facsimile of the Leicester title in a peculiar Gothic shape resembling S; while in our genuine first title it is a true G in which the curves are divided by two parallel vertical strokes. Now as the London-printed title retains in its border the

S-shaped G, this other original title in which the genuine G is found, must have been anterior to the title in the Leicester copy.

It may be confidently said that no other such copy as the above can ever come into the market, and the man who would secure a volume of such extraordinary character and value must not hesitate too long before making his purchase.

In his dedication to the King, Coverdale says he thought it was his duty" when I had translated this Bible, not onely to dedicate this translacyon unto your Highnesse, but wholy to commytte it unto the same to the intent that . it may stonde in your Graces handes to correcte it, to amend it. my poore translacyon . . I have nether wrested nor altered so much as one worde. . but have with a cleare conscience purely and faythfully translated this out of fyve sundry interpreters."-In the prologue to the Reader he says, "it greved me that other nacyons shulde be more plenteously provyded for with the scriptures in theyr mother tongue than we, therefore when I was instantly requyred though I coulde not do so well as I wolde I thought it yet my dewtye to do my best" . . . For the which cause I toke the more upon me to set forth this speciall translacyon, not as a despyser of other mens translacyons." And further on, explaining why he sometimes uses different synonyms for one word, he says "this matter have I used in my translacyon."

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These phrases are surely enough to settle the question as to the translator and to show how groundless was the late Henry Stevens' notion that the Fleming Meteren did the work of translation while Coverdale only revised him. It may of course be true that Jacob van Meteren was the person who urged Coverdale to the work, and that it was he who paid the cost of the printing, but the press was assuredly not an Antwerp one. The wood blocks may have been cut in Antwerp after designs of Beham and others, and the cutter is responsible for spelling Sviid on the illustration of the Tabernacle. The types of the quarto edition printed by Froschauer at Zürich in 1550 are smaller, but more nearly resemble those of the folio of 1535 than the type in any other book. It is not therefore unreasonable to stick to the old belief that the volume was printed in Switzerland.

John Rogers, 1509-1555

116 BIBLE, MATTHEW, FIRST EDITION. Title printed in red and black within an allegorical woodcut border: The Byble, | which is all the holy Scrip- | ture: In whych are contayned the Olde and Newe Testament truly and purely translated into En- | glysh by Thomas | Matthew.

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. . | . . │. . | . . | M,D,XXXVII, Beneath the lower edge of the woodcut: Set forth with the Kinges most gracyous lycece. On the reverse: These thynges ensuynge

Fol. 2, 3 contain Kalendar and Almanack (15381557). Fol 4a: An exhortacyon . . and at foot two large flourished Gothic letters IR (standing probably for JOHN ROGERS). Foll. 4b and 5a: The summe z content . Foll. 5b and 6: To the moost noble and gracyous | Prynce Kyng Henry the eyght.. signed on 6b: Youre graces faythfull true subiect | Thomas Matthew. under which are two large flourished letters H R (probably standing for Henricus Rex). Foll. 7-19 contain a Table. Fol.

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20a: The names of all the bokes .; 20b a full-page
woodcut of Adam and Eve in the Garden. Fol. 21a:
fyrst boke of Moses called Genesis. . . Fol. 267
| |
(numbered Ccxlvij): . The ende of the Ballet of
Ballettes.. Fol. 268 is the title, within a woodcut border,
of The Prophetes | in Englysh, |.. On the reverse a wood-
cut in the middle, the initials RG above, and E W below, in
large flourished Gothic letters (probably for Richard Grafton
and Edward Whitchurch. The text follows on foll. 269-362
(numbered j-xciiij), and on the last page, under the con-
clusion of Malachi, are the large flourished letters W T
(perhaps standing for William Tyndale). Fol. 363, title

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within woodcut border: The volume of the bokes called
Apocripha: .. On the reverse: To the Reader.
|
Foll.
364-443 (numbered ij-lxxxj) contain Esdras III to
Maccabees. Fol. 444 blank. Fol. 445, title within the same
woodcut as on first title: The newe | Testament of oure
|
sauyour | newly into Englyshe with Annotacions |
in the Mergent...
Prynted in the
yere of oure Lorde God. | M.D.XXXVII. The text
follows or foll. 446-553 (numbered ij-Cix). Foll. 553b-
555b contain The Table. Fol. 556a: ◄ The ende of the
newe Testament, and of the whole | Byble, | To the
honoure and prayse of God was this Byble prynted and
fy-nesshed, in the yere of our Lord God a, ¡
M.D.XXXVII,

Folio, black letter, double columns, with woodcuts, with an engraved portrait of John Rogers by A. Bloemaert inserted; having the first title and the colophon inlaid, nevertheless a fine as well as perfect copy in old russia gilt, gilt edges (bound about 1770), from the collections of Lea Wilson, DunnGardner, and Lord Ashburnham

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1537 200 00

EXCESSIVELY RARE. The book was printed abroad-most people think at Antwerp-under the revision of John Rogers, who was then residing either at Antwerp or at Wittenberg. (The name Thomas Matthew is merely pseudonymous.) The three chief woodcuts— namely, Adam and Eve, the allegorical title, and the one that precedes Isaiah, are from the same blocks as were used by Ludowich Dietz in printing the Low German Bible at Lübeck in 1523-34; and the large flourished letters above referred to appear to be from the same fount of type as the similar initials found in that Low German Bible. The blocks may have been borrowed from Dietz. The text is printed so correctly that it is difficult to consider this book as having been set up by foreign compositors whether at Antwerp or at Paris.

On the back of the New Testament title, there is a Register taken from the book of Cockwold Church, of the births and christenings of the children of Sir Thomas and Dame Barbara Bellasis from 1602 to 1618; and on a blank page before the New Testament a list of the children of Henry and Grace Bellasyse from 1626 to 1646.

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