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 Translations in divers Languages. With most profitable Annotations... Imprinted at London by the Deputies of Christopher Barker, Printer to the Queen's most Excellent Majestie, 1599, 4to.
A STUNNING ORIGINAL GENEVA "BREECHES" BIBLE IN INCREDIBLE CONDITION PRINTED IN THE YEAR 1599! ONE OF THE RAREST VARIANTS AND ONE OF THE MOST EXCELLENT WITH BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATIONS THROUGHOUT.
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A very rare original 1599 "Breeches" Geneva Bible, so named for the reading in Genesis 3:7 describing Adam and Eve as having made "breeches" to cover their nakedness instead of "aprons" or "loincloths".
This is one of the most excellent printings of the Geneva Bible and one of the best extant examples given just how much these were read - typically every day for centuries. The pages throughout this example are clean and bright and the binding is also very attractive on the shelf. This printing is very rare, being variant G of the important 1599 printing. This variant is "easily distinguishable from the other editions; since every page is surrounded, and the columns are separated, by black lines... the marginal notes are almost entirely in roman type" [Herbert 254]. It is also distinguished by the error in Esther 1:1 which reads "seven | and twenty provinces. )" with a strangely placed closing bracket.
The various additional pages throughout such as the list of books in the second part of the Old Testament really connect this edition to the earliest English Bibles such as the Matthew Bible and Henry VIII's Great Bible, as subsequent Geneva Bibles did not have these. This is one of the only Geneva Bibles to have the pages lined as became common with the later King James Bibles.
The Great Bible (named for its large page size and first ordered by Henry VIII in 1538) was restored to the churches after Elizabeth I's succession halted persecution of Anglicans and Protestants, but the Geneva Bible, imported from Europe and not printed in England until 1576, quickly surpassed the Great Bible in public favour. The Geneva Bible was the first Bible in English to add numbered verses. It was also one of the first to include extensive commentary notes, which were later deemed "seditious" by King James when he banned the Geneva Bible not long after the publication of the King James Bible in 1611.
King James despised the revolutionary and "seditious" Geneva Bible. He thought the Geneva Bible's study notes on key political texts threatened his authority, so he outlawed it and ordered a new translation of the Bible - the King James (Authorised Version). While the King James Version is an excellent translation, it was edited and authorised by the Government. The Geneva Bible was not. It was truly a Bible by the people and for the people.
The Geneva Bible is unique among all other Bibles. It was the first Bible to use chapters and numbered verses and became the most popular version of its time because of the extensive study notes. These notes were included to explain and interpret the Scriptures for the common people and laid the foundation for a Republican form of government. For nearly half a century these notes helped the people of England, Scotland, and Ireland understand the Bible.
When the Pilgrims arrived in America in 1620, they brought the Geneva Bible with them. You can see why this remarkable version with its profound study notes played a key role in the formation of the American Republic, and its influence on the development of Western thought, politics, government, society generally, and literature (the Geneva Bible is often called 'The Bible of Shakespeare' for example).
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"There are many editions bearing this date, which while agreeing closely are yet distinct. No doubt a certain number of copies were originally issued in a mixed state. The nominal date, 1599, is probably untrue in almost every case; they were apparently published at different times in Amsterdam and Dort and adopted by Barker." [Herbert]
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Size: 181 x 220 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[ff.2-190, 2pp, ff.2-127, 2pp, ff.3-121, 10ff]
Full calf with red tooled label between raised bands. Binding rubbed and scuffed. Some loss to the bottom of the spine. Two red marks, appearing to be wax, to the front board, and with some spots of discolouration to both boards. Boards loosely attached with cracked joints and hinges. Shelf and edge wear with loss to corners. Toning to page edges, more so to the top page edge as typical. Endpapers replaced with some marks and toning, more so to edges. Tears to the gutter between the front pastedown and first blank but remain attached. Very small tears to leaf edges with some edge repairs from pp.2 to pp.7, and then to the last leaf of the text block. First few and last few leaves prominently toned. Pen ownership inscriptions to pp.2 in the margins, not affecting text. Remainder of the text block with some toning, more so to edges, and with sporadic minor foxing. Small number of damp stains. Blue marks to half title of the Second Part and to the verso.
Apocrypha omitted as published. This Bible was "probably printed for English use in the Low Countries" (Herbert). Lacks both title pages as typical and the last leaf of the tables, thus ending on 3R3. Also lacks preliminaries (all before A2), including the first leaf of Genesis, thus text starts at 3:1.
[Herbert 254; Lea Wilson No.78, pp.99]
