A 1599 Dated Geneva Bible with a nice Handwritten Book Warning

Item #22

HOLY BIBLE English. Geneva. The Bible, that is, the Holy Scriptures conteined in the Old and New Testament. Translated according to the Ebrew and Greeke, and conferred with the best translations in diuers languages. With most profitable annotations vpon all hard places, and other things of great importance  Imprinted at London [i.e. Amsterdam] : By the deputies of Christopher Barker, printer to the Queenes most excellent Maiestie , 1599  20 x 16 cm.,  17th century panelled calf, stamped in blind, worm, hinges weak; title page stained with lower right corner loss,  some toning or occasional stains. added book of Psalms incomplete at end. The Bible itself is COMPLETE  A very good and presentable example, and probably quite an early pirated edition as the OT title page retains the square format over the later heart shaped imported copies of the 1630s.

The Bible also contains two handwritten 18th century poems; the first by a woman owner Susanna Pike that lauds knowledge over worldly possessions, and the second by Richard Pike that is a warning against book thieves and a reminder of mortality.

The translation that was first printed in 1560 was the Bible that Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as well as the Mayflower Puritans, used. It was called the Geneva Bible, as it was translated by and for English Protestants who escaped to Geneva during the reign of Queen Mary, a Catholic. The Geneva Bible remained the most popular choice for personal use, even after King James commissioned a new official translation in 1611. King James eventually banned the Geneva Bible in 1616, but unauthorized copies continued to be circulated. Although it claims to have been published by Christopher Barker in London in 1599, it was probably an unauthorized edition printed in Amsterdam and smuggled into England in the early 17th century.

Price: $2,250.00