Highlights of the Exhibition
The Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Bible Collection
at
Bridwell
Library
1996-2006
September 7-November 18, 2006
The Bishops' Bible
The Holie. Bible. Conteynyng the Olde Testament and the Newe. Edited by Archbishop Matthew Parker et al. [London: Richard Jugge, 1568]. First edition of Bishops’ Bible.
After the death of Mary in 1558, England was once more Protestant and in need of an official translation, a need which the clandestine and somewhat anti-monarchical Geneva Bible could never fulfill. The solution was again a royally commissioned revision of the English Bible. The Bishops’ Bible of 1568 was the result. A revision committee of no fewer than seventeen ecclesiastics and biblical scholars, and headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury Mathew Parker (†1575), produced the monumental text. Although the Bible held some improvements to the text and by decree was to be placed in every cathedral and parish church, it never achieved marked success. The Bishops’ Bible retains more importance as an example of fine printing and engraving than as a scholarly translation.
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