Tyndale New Testament 1836

6B Holy Bible. The New Testament of Our Savior Jesus Christ: First published in 1526 and reprinted verbatim. London: Samuel Bagster, 1836 Notes In 1521, William Tyndale, as the chaplain to Sir John Walsh, was involved in a heated exchange with a fellow priest about whether the Bible should be translated into the vernacular. In response to the argument that the faithful need rely only the law of the Pope rather than the word of God, Tyndale replied: “I defy the Pope and all his laws; and…I will cause the boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost”. Two years later, Tyndale began work on his translation of the New Testament. As the law forbade the publication of an English translation, Tyndale fled to Germany where he completed his work. In Cologne (a Catholic city) he managed to print his translation of St Matthew’s Gospel, but fearing that the authorities had discovered his plan, he left for Worms where, in 1526, the great Reformation printer Peter Schoefferpublished Tyndale’s complete New Testament in English. Antwerp merchants smuggled copies into England where those that were not seized and burned were sold secretly through a clandestine network of booksellers known as “New Testamenters”. Tyndale remained in exile until he was arrested in Antwerp and imprisoned before, in 1536, being strangled and his body burned. But by then, his New Testament had provided fuel for the Reformation and transformed the English language. Description  Bound in full calf binding. Gilt lozenge the boards of the ‘Society of Writer to the Signet.’ Neatly re-backed with raised bands and blind tooled lines and with twin leather labels in red and green to the spine. Lettered in gilt to spine. Minor rubbing to boards. Small shelf number ticket to the inner front pastedown.