Description
John Rogers, operating under the assumed name “Thomas Matthew” was the first person to ever print a complete English Bible that was translated directly from the original Greek & Hebrew. He took William Tyndale’s New Testament, and completed Tyndale’s work on the Old Testament, publishing his First Edition in 1537.This is a facsimile reproduction of his 1549 Second Edition, containing the fascinating and controversial side notes, sometimes referred to as the “Becke Edition”.
This is the earliest (oldest) complete English Bible translated directly from the original Greek and Hebrew – straight into English – that we offer in high quality facsimile reproduction form. A genuine original 1549 Matthew-Tyndale Bible is available in the Gold Room of our Ancient Rare Bibles & Books section for tens of thousands of dollars, but this facsimile reproduction is a much more cost-effective alternative. If you want to study the whole Bible in the earliest available form of English, this is the item for you. The type style is a lovely Gothic Blackletter, which is fancy but not too difficult to read. There are also a few lovely illustrations and several beautiful woodcut-ornamented title pages.
Both the Regular and the Deluxe Editions of the 1549 Facsimile Reproduction are the same on the inside. Because there were seven pages of the original that featured some red ink accenting the otherwise black and white page (Title Pages and Prefatory Pages), we have faithfully reproduced those seven pages in full-color in our facsimiles. The remaining pages are black and white, as were the pages of the original. A wonderful and extensive concordance to the scriptures is also printed in the prefatory section. There are 1,172 oversized pages in this large and thick Bible.
This is a “lectern folio” size Bible, considerably larger than normal. The Regular Edition measures over 13 inches tall by almost 9 inches wide by over 3 inches thick, and it is bound in burgundy-brown bonded leather hardcover, with gold stamping on the spine. A Genuine Leaf from the Original 1549 is available for free with this edition.
The Deluxe Edition measures almost 14 inches tall by almost 9 inches wide by over 3.5 inches thick, and is bound in the finest grade of deep chocolate full-grain calf leather over thick wood boards. The covers and spine of the Deluxe Edition are intricately blind-stamped with elaborate decorative designs, and the spine features five raised bands with burgundy leather labels beautifully gold-stamped.
NOTE: This 1549 Matthew-Tyndale Bible facsimile is no longer available, however… a full color high resolution digital edition of the 1549 Matthew-Tyndale Bible is available for free online access at BIBLES-ONLINE.NET