Myi.i.s COVBRDALB was the first to publish, if not to translate, the. whole Bible into English. He com- menced this work in November, 1534, and it was print- ed, probably at Zurich, in October, 1535. Though
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Coverdale had evidently the Hebrew- and Greek be- fore him, he freely used the translations of Tyndale, both printed and perhaps manuscript. He speaks of his having been aided by live sundry interpreters in the Dutch, German, and Latin languages. In the Old Testament he may have had, 1st, the Latin Vul- gate; 2d, Pagninus's version; 3d, Luther's German translation ; 4th, Leo Juda's German-Swiss version ; 5th, the Latin version connected with Sebastian Mini- ster's Hebrew Bible, the first volume of which was printed in 1534. The New Testament appears to be in part a revision of Tyndale's, in which Coverdale took much care, and availed himself both of the edition of 1525 and the amended one of 1534. This Bible, which was dedicated to King Henry VIII, had the following as the title : "Bibi.ia. The Bible, that is, the holy Scripture of the Okie and New Testament, faithfully and truly translated out of Douche and Latyn in to Englishe. 1535." However, it must be observed, the use of the words "out of Douche, i. e. German, and Latyn," was merely a bookselling artifice by the print- ers, to make the work circulate better, as being inti- mately connected with the reformed doctrines, which ■were then equally well known by the name of German or Dutch doctrines. In the new title inserted the fol- lowing year, these terms were left out. Coverdale cer- tainly did not follow the Latin, nor even Luther's ver- sion, but he no doubt availed himself of all the differ- ent means of assistance within his power. This Bible ■was reprinted with some amendments at Zurich in 1537, with a London title-page, and was then allowed by the king to "go abroad among the people," but without any regal imprimatur or license. The follow- ing is a specimen of Coverdale's translation — Ps. xc (xci), 4, 5 :
lie shal couer the vnder his wynges, that thou mayest be safe vnder hi-* fethers : his fnithfulnesso ami truetli shal be thy ehylde and buckler. So yt thou shalt not nede to lie afrayed for eny bugges by night, ner for arowe that flyeth by daye.
In the year 1537, the translations of Tyndale were published in a collected form, under the name of " Thomas Matthew." The editing of this Bible was really the work of the martyr Rogers. To this edition was prefixed, An Exhortation to the Study of the Holy Scriptures, beneath which stand J. R., the initials of his name. In the execution of this work, Rogers had the whole of Tyndale's translations, ■whether imprint or manuscript, before him. The Old Testament is a reprint of Tyndale's Pentateuch ; the remainder, as far as the Second Book of Chronicles, was copied from Tyndale's manuscripts, which were undoubtedly in Rogers's safe keeping. The New Testament was Tyndale's of 1534 This Bible has the character of Tyndale's labors so stamped upon it as clearly to show that at least two thirds of the translation were his work ; the remainder is the work of Rogers, who was probably aided by Cov- erdale's sheets. At the end of the Old Testament, the letters YV. T. are printed in very large text capitals cu- riously flourished. This Bible was probably printed at Lubeck ; and it is not improbable that it was actual- ly in the press, under the joint labors of Tyndale and Rogers, at the time of Tyndale's arrest and martyr- dom. Much credit is clue to Rogers, who probably resided at the place of printing, as the careful editor of this Bible; he was evidently a line scholar, and he seems to have acted both as desiring to give his coun- trymen a Bible as correct as possible, and likewise to perpetuate the labors of Tyndale, his friend and in- structor in the truth of the Gospel. This Bible was translated by the first Hebrew, Greek, and English scholars, and is executed most in conformity witli the views of the latest and best Biblical critics. This revision, which is frequently but not inaptly called "Tyndale's Bible," appeared with the then much cov- eted words, " Set forth with the king's most gracious license;" hence it was the first properly authorized edition of the English Bible. This Bible— -at least part
of it — appears to have been printed at the expense of Richard Grafton and his partner, Edward Whitchurch — who afterwards married the widow of Archbishop Cranmer. They, about the same period, became print- ers themselves, as their initials appear at the begin- ning of the Prophets, where, perhaps, the part of the expense which they defrayed commenced. "Thomas Matthew" may actually have been the person at whose cost the preceding portion was printed. This Bible was the popular translation, and from the various edi- tions it appears to have been much used for many years. The following is a fine specimen of Tyndale's rendering from the Hebrew — 2 Sam. i, 17, 18 :
And Dauid sang thys songe of mournynge oner Saul and ouer Jonathas hys Sonne, & bad to teache the chyldren of Is- raeli the staues thereof.