The Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Bible Collection
at
Bridwell
Library
September 8 - December 12, 2009
First "Geneva Bible"
The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. Translated by William Whittingham, et al. Geneva: Rouland Hall, 1560.
The Church of England officially became Protestant during the brief reign of Edward VI (1547 to 1553). However, with the accession of Mary I (1516–1558), a staunch Roman Catholic, English translations of the Bible were again officially condemned. During Mary’s reign the English Protestant scholar William Whittingham (d. 1579) fled to Geneva, where he produced a new English Bible based on the Greek and Hebrew sources. The first edition of the “Geneva Bible,” published in a portable format and in legible Roman typeface, represented a superior translation that included several aids to improve understanding. This Bible remained tremendously popular throughout the sixteenth century, despite official disapproval of its controversial and anti-monarchical marginal notes.