On Old English Bibles.

ON OLD ENGLISH BIBLES .

( Continued from page 4 . ) MATTHEW ' BIBLE . THE next version is known as " Matthew ' s Bible . " This is made up of a part of Tyndale ' s translation , a part of Coverdale ' s ,

the whole revised by John Rogers . The New Testament is taken , with some slight alterations , from Tyndale ' s last version — the edition of A 1535-4 , known as the G . H . edition , from having on the *\\ second title page the combined initials of the translator , and the Ki—LJT P ™ fer : Guillaume Hytchins , William Tyndale ' s aliasand JfQ ^ Jacob van Meteren . It was

, published under the assumed name of Thomas Matthews in 1537 , by Grafton ancl Whitchurch , in folio . Collation—Title , "T TheByble , which is all the holy Scripture : in whych are contayned the Olde and Newe Testament , truely and purely translated into Englysh by Thomas Matthew . IT Esaye j ., Hearcken to ye heauens , and thou earthe geaue eare : For the Lorde speaketh . MDXXxvij .. Set forth with the

kinges most gracyous lycece . " The title has on the reverse " These thynges ensuynge are ioyned with thys present volume of the Byble . " The second leaf begins on * ij . with "The Kalender , " 4 pp . with "An Almanack , " at the bottom of the fourth page . The next leaf , * iiij . begins " \ An exhortacyon to the studye , " & c , 1 p ., with J . R . in large letters at the bottom . On the reverse is " If The summe and content" 2 pp . On the reverse of the fifth

, leaf begins " \ To the moost noble and gracyous Prynce Kyng Henry the eyght , " & c ., 3 pp . —Signed Thomas Matthew , with the capitals H . R . beneath . Next comes " % To the Chrysten Readers" and " A table of pryncypall matters , " 26 pp . Then follows " % The names of all the bokes of the Byble , " and " % A brief rehersall of the yeares , " & c , 1 p . ; on the reverse is a large woodcut of Adam and Eve . Twentpreliminary leaves in all . Genesis to

y Solomon ' s Ballet 247 folioed leaves , the reverse of the last blank . The second title is in red ancl black , with a border of sixteen woodcuts ' — " The Prophetes in English Esay to Malachy . " The upper corners of the reverse has R . G ., and the lower E . W ., in capitals , with a woodcut in the centre .

The third title has also fifteen woodcuts round it , ancl in the middle " The volume of the bokes called Apocripha . " On the reverse is a prologue " % To the Reader "; text folioed 2 to 81 , followed by a blank leaf . Then the New Testament title page like the first title . The text is folioed 2 to 109 , ending on the recto .

On the other side is " This is the table wherin ye shall fynde the Epistles and Gospels after the vse of Salisbury , " 5 pp . On the next leaf is the colophon " % The ende of the Newe Testament and of the whole Byble . f To the honoure and prayse of God was this Byble prynted and fynesshed in the yere of our Lorde God a , MDXxxvij . It has 78 woodcuts . The Psalms are divided into five books , and the Canticles printed in red and black . The running titlessignaturesmarginal notesetc . are all in Gothic letter . A

, , , , full page contains 60 lines . It was printed at Antwerp by the same person who printed Coverdale ' s Bible of 1535 . In this Bible three verses of the 14 th Psalm " not being in the Hebrew " are omitted . Grafton , one of the publishers , brought a copy of this Bible from Antwerp , and gave it to Archbishop Cranmer , and begged him to obtain royal authority for