1560 Geneva Bible, First Edition, large format, Facsimile in Period Binding SOLD
Large format facsimile reproduction of the 1560 Geneva Bible, FIRST EDITION, bound in soft brown calfskin with raised bands, measures approximately 11 inches tall by 8.75 inches wide by 4 inches thick, and weighs about 10 pounds. Originally printed by Roland Hall in Geneva for use of the Englishmen in exile.
This edition is 125 percent the size of the smaller original sized version making this bible heftier and much easier to read both the text and the footnotes, which distinguish this as the Bible of the Protestant Reformation.
This large format facsimile was produced by Bible Museum. Reproduction Bibles is a Value Added Reseller in the United States providing the appropriate, and very much needed, upgrade with an appropriate soft brown calfskin leather period binding. This is the way a real Bible should be done. It is hand crafted. It is indeed exquisite.
The Geneva Bible was the result of the work of the persecuted English refugees in exile under the five year reign of Queen Mary I (coronated 1553 and died 1558), the Catholic queen of England, who notoriously had 300 people burned at the stake over their religious convictions in order to destroy the faith of the English people, who had turned their backs to Rome, the pomp and ceremony, and the symbols devoid of the substance of true faith.
Of the 800 Englishmen in exile, William Whittingham, Myles Coverdale, Christopher Goodman, Anthony Gilby, Thomas Sampson, and William Cole were involved in the translation of the Geneva Bible from the Hebrew and Greek into English. These brave souls carried on the work of William Tyndale, who contributed to 90 percent of the text of the Geneva Bible.
The primary translators, William Wittingham, Anthony Gilby, and Thomas Sampson, used as the foundation for the Old Testament the Great Bible (the 1550 edition), which they revised in the light of the Hebrew-Latin Bibles of Xanthus Pagninus (1528, and in Robertus Stephanus’ Latin Bible, Geneva, 1557 and Münster (1534-1535) together with the more recent Latin versions of Leo Juda (1544) then under revision at Geneva. The five books of Moses and the historical books we’re largely taken from William Tyndale’s translation. For the Apocrypha, they were helped by the French version made by Theodore Beza for the 1551 revision of Pierre Robert Olivetan printed in Stephanus, 1556-1557 The New Testament was translated relying on Beza’s Latin version of 1556 and the Greek text used was that of Stephanus with the collection of variants (Paris, 1550). The preparatory material and the notes came from John Calvin. The emphasis in these notes is justification by faith alone, which is more Lutheran than Calvinist. [For more depth, see the Cambridge History of the Bible: The West from the Reformation to the Present Day, Edited by S. L. Greenslade, Cambridge University Press 1963, Page 157].
The Geneva Bible was first printed by Roland Hall in the republic of Geneva in Switzerland on his printing press in April 1560. The Bible was a first in that it had verse numbers, stand alone verses not in paragraph format, Roman type, cross references, foot notes, commentary, as well as 33 woodcut illustrations and maps. Contents include the prefatory epistle and dedication to Queen Elizabeth, all the books of the Old and New Testaments, as well as the Apocrypha, which the reformers placed between the last prophet Malachi and the New Testament. The Geneva Bible also includes prefaces and chapter summaries. The original Geneva Bible was in fact a hand held study bible for the people and intended for home use during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (coronated 1558 and died 1603). The Geneva Bible was the first of its kind.
The Geneva Bible went through 144 editions, in three revisions, up until 1644. It was printed in Geneva, London, Edinburgh, and Antwerp, but the latter place with a London imprimatur. The popularity of the Geneva Bible in England challenged the three editions that were appointed to be read in the churches of the Church of England - the Great Byble of 1539 to 1549, the Bishop's Bible of 1568, and the King James Version of 1611 and onward. The Geneva Bible was outlawed in England in 1616 in order to allow the 1611 edition for the Church of England to have a chance in the hearts and minds of the English people.
The sentiments of the Geneva Bible's translation and in particular its notes reflect the protestantism of separatism, which is the spirit of Puritanism and Presbyterianism, and as such the Geneva Bible was an affront to the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church, and royalty exercising their imagined and self serving notion of the divine right to rule over others. Because of these facts, the Geneva Bible was never an "authorized version" for any state sponsored church, because the notes did not prop up the old regime. But, it was a widely read and loved translation even in use by John Milton and William Shakespeare and often quoted within his famous works on the stage of the Globe Theater.
In popular lore, the Geneva Bible is known as the Breeches Bible, because in Genesis 3:7, the translators rendered the passage thusly,
"Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knewe that they were naked, and they sewed figge tree leaues together, and made them selues breeches."
The Geneva Bible arrived with the English Puritans on the Mayflower into the New World in Plymouth Bay Colony 400 years ago. And, these pilgrims produced the Mayflower Compact, which speaks to the First Amendment of the United States of America that assures citizens of freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech, which were the rights denied to the Puritans in England. The Geneva Bible also arrived into the British Colonies with Scottish Presbyterians. These people, our forefathers in these former British Colonies, formed our great nation with the divine inspiration and lessons from the history of Israel contained within the Geneva Bible.
There is nothing more beautiful than a BIG beautiful Bible that has been hand crafted with love, skill, and great care. This first edition Geneva Bible is BEAUTIFUL. Each page was computer-scanned from the original, and printed on heavy cream paper. The real leather period binding with raised bands finishes this master piece.
If you are looking for the real thing, go back to the original, and invest in a real bible in a real period binding in genuine leather.
Shipping includes $500 in insurance coverage via the USPS along with tracking.
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