Tyndale Bible 1551 Small Folio OT, Apocrypha, NT Wood Cut Engravings, Middle Tudor

Tyndale Bible 1551 Small Folio

Summary

Presented for your review, a mid-sixteenth century English Tyndale small folio bible printed in London, England by John Day and William Seres.

 

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Description

A large-format English bible in black-letter type, printed in London by the notable printers John Day and William Seres during the reign of Edward VI. The translation follows the Tyndale line and includes the Old Testament, Apocrypha and New Testament, each with its own woodcut title page and rich decorative elements. Text in double columns with numerous woodcut initials. Architectural borders prominently display the royal arms and the motto “Arise, for it is day.” A substantial and important edition reflecting the pivotal moment when the English bible, once forbidden, became officially supported within the Reformation. This particular bible was published during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. This is a scarce opportunity to own a significant and rare piece of bible history.

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History of the Tyndale Bible

The Tyndale Bible marks one of the most decisive turning points in English religious and linguistic history. William Tyndale (c.1494–1536), educated at Oxford and Cambridge and ordained a Catholic priest in 1515, was the first to translate the New Testament into English directly from the original Greek, publishing it secretly in 1526. His mission was both spiritual and revolutionary: that every man, even “the boy that driveth the plough,” should have direct access to the Word of God. Tyndale’s translation was illegal in England; his books burned, his associates hunted but his words lived on, smuggled across the Channel and read in secret by merchants, artisans, and reformers. Arrested and executed in 1536 by the request of Henry VIII and carried out by the Holy Roman Emperor, he died praying that God would “open the King of England’s eyes.” Within a year, his prayer began to bear fruit.

Tyndale’s phrasing shaped not only the Protestant faith in England but the future of English prose itself. His work provided much of the textual backbone for the Matthew Bible (1537) compiled by John Rogers, Tyndale’s friend and disciple, who later perished at the stake. Myles Coverdale’s additions and the patronage of reform-minded clerics such as Thomas Cranmer carried Tyndale’s words into the Great Bible of 1539, and later into nearly every English version thereafter. The printers John Day and William Seres, working under Edward VI, brought these texts into wide circulation, securing the place of vernacular Scripture at the heart of English worship. Through their presses, and through the testimony of figures like John Foxe, whose Book of Martyrs enshrined Tyndale’s sacrifice, the Tyndale Bible became not only a cornerstone of English Protestantism but a monument of the English language its cadences echoing still in the King James Version and the literary tradition that followed.

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Collation

Prelims: First 4 leaves including OT title page in facsimile.

Old Testament
Signatures:
c2 to c6
e-i1 to e-i6
k-s1 to k-s6
(with unsigned leaves counted within gatherings)

Second Section
A-H1 to A-H6
K-T1 to K-T6
U1 to U3

Third Section
A1 to A2
AA3 to AA6* (signature anomaly noted for bibliographic transparency)
BB-II1 to BB-II6
KK-YY1 to KK-YY6
AAA1 to AAA6
BBB1 to BBB4

Books of the Apocrypha
AAa1 to AAa6
BBb1 to BBb6 (BBb3 potential misprinted “BB3”)
CCc-HHh1 to CCc-HHh6
JJj-OOo1 to JJj-OOo6

New Testament
Aaaa-Hhhh1 to Aaaa-Hhhh6
Jjjj-Uuuu1 to Jjjj-Uuuu6

Total leaves: approximately 564
(Unsigned leaves included within gatherings; supplied facsimile prelims enumerated)

 

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Provenance / Inscriptions

• Seventeenth-century marginalia in a neat early hand, chiefly in prophetic books (e.g., Ezekiel). These are short theological glosses employing the abbreviation viz. (“namely / that is to say”), clarifying passages concerning divine judgment and calamity.
Example transcription:
“viz. declares God’s judgment and how He scourgeth them…”
Translation / sense:
“Namely, this passage shows God’s judgment and how He punishes them.”

Additional glosses reference themes such as pestilence, the sins of the people, and prophetic warnings, indicating active devotional study by an early reader.

• Eighteenth–nineteenth-century ownership inscriptions in bold cursive, including:
“John Mac…” (surname uncertain) and “James”, written across the lower margin of The Supputation of the Years leaf and lightly on the Apocrypha title page.
These function as later possession notes rather than commentary.

 

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References

Herbert 93 (provisional, pending final verification notes)
Darlow & Moule 88
STC 2073

 

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Condition

• First four prelim leaves (including OT title) in facsimile

• Rebound with a sympathetic cover approximately 20th century, retaining the earlier spine laid on

• Leaves trimmed with some marginal losses near headlines

• Expected toning, occasional small repairs, minor stains or edge wear

• Text strong and largely clean

• Woodcut initials and NT architectural border well preserved

 

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Dimensions

Text block size approximately 245 mm x 155 mm

 

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Catalogue Note

A highly significant mid-Tudor English bible printed during the crucial early decades of the Reformation, combining scarcity, historical value and a largely complete survival exceeding 560 leaves.

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Significance and Appeal

This bible is not merely a religious text but a witness to the birth of the English Reformation and the shaping of the English language itself. The editions printed by John Day and William Seres occupy a pivotal place in that history: they were among the first legally printed English bibles following centuries of suppression. Issued under Edward VI, they represent the moment when Tyndale’s once-forbidden translation was finally embraced by the crown and church alike. The present volume— in folio, lavishly adorned with woodcut borders and initials—was designed for both public reading and private devotion, a symbol of vernacular Scripture’s triumph over secrecy and persecution.

Collectors and institutions prize such volumes for their intersection of theology, language, and politics. A Day & Seres Tyndale Bible appeals to:

• Scholars and collectors of early English printing, who value Day’s technical mastery and the evolving textual lineage from Tyndale to the Great Bible.
• Theological and Reformation historians, for whom this edition embodies the shift from manuscript faith to print culture.
• Libraries, universities, and museums, which seek representative works of Tudor printing and vernacular religion.
• Private collectors of English literature, drawn by the linguistic legacy that fed directly into the prose rhythms of the King James Bible, Shakespeare, and Milton.

In short, this bible is both an artefact and ancestor—a rare surviving monument to the moment England found its voice in Scripture.