The Bible, that is the Holy Scriptures conteined in the Old and New Testament: Translated According to the Ebrewe and Greeke, and Conferred with the Best Translations in Divers Languages. [WITH] The Booke of Common Prayer, and the Administration of the Sacraments, and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England.

[BIBLE],.

$7,200.00

Item Number: 146373

London: Deputies of Christopher Barker, [1599]; London: Robert Barker, 1636.

Rare “Breeches” Bible, printed by Christopher Barker with the fictitious 1599 publication date. “There are many editions bearing this date, which while agreeing closely are yet distinct … the phenomena of the various editions described under the year 1599, and the very similar edition of 1633, constitute one of the most curious problems in the bibliography of the English Bible.” Genesis 3:7 with “Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed figge tree leaves together, and made themselves breeches.” Octavo, two volumes bound into one in full paneled calf, hand-embossing to the front and rear panels, original silk and cloth ribbons, woodcut title pages and initials. Bound with The Booke of Common Prayer, and the Administration of the Sacraments, and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England printed by Robert Barker in 1636. In good condition, rebacked, contemporary names and inscriptions to several pages. A very rare and desirable example of the Breeches Bible.

Upon Queen Mary’s accession in 1553, “publication of the English Bible ceased in England. Many Protestants who fled to the Continent were attracted to Calvin’s Geneva. Among these exiles were eminent English Bible scholars who began work on a new translation” (The Bible: 100 Landmarks 62). First published in 1560, the Geneva Bible—often called the “Breeches Bible” for its unique rendering of Genesis 3:7—was “more scholarly than any previous translation… [It] achieved immediate popularity and exerted an extremely powerful influence… The Geneva Version included prefaces, maps and tables; and for the first time in an English Bible the verses were divided and numbered… It has been more properly called the Elizabethan family Bible, since it was this version which was the first to enter the English home” (PMM 83). “It became the textus receptus for the Puritan element in England. It was read by Shakespeare, Bunyan and the soldiers of the Civil War, and is thus of cardinal importance for its influence on the English language, literature and thought” (Great Books and Book Collectors, 105-8).