HAMII^TON vSCIRNTlFIC ASSOCIATION 95 



much to do with it. The Inquisition interrupted the work at 

 Paris, and the type and as man)' of the printed sheets as 

 possible were taken to England, where the printing was 

 completed. At the foot of the title is this notice " Printed 

 by Richard Grafton and Edward Whitechnrch. Cum 

 privilegio ad impriniendum solum, 1539." The ordinary 

 price of this Bible was equivalent to six pounds sterling of 

 the present day. The library of St. John's College, 

 Cambridge, contains the unique vellum copy printed fo^" 

 Thomas Cromwell, All its initial letters, headlines and 

 titles are artisticolly illuminated. From 1539 to 1541, two 

 years, seven editions of this "Great Bible," as it is called, 

 were printed. The second edition, 1540, had Cranmer's 

 prologue, and carried on its title: "This is the Bible 

 appointed to the use of the churches." The fourth edition, 

 also in 1540, carried this imprint : " The Bible in English of 

 the largest and greatest volume, authorized and appointed by 

 the commandment of King Henry the VIII, supreme head of 

 this his church and Realm of England ; to be frequented and 

 used in every church within this his said realm." Six of 

 these Bibles were placed in St. Paul's Cathedral for use of 

 the people. With the printing of the "Great Bible" the 

 fierce battle opened years before by Tyndale culminated in 

 victory for freedom's cause, and in the religious and national 

 life of the English people the authorized English Bible 

 became a new factor of great and far-reaching influence. 



in the interim between the "Great Bible" and King 

 James' version, seventy-two years, there were more than as 

 many editions and reprints of the English Bible. Three of 

 tliese call for mention in order of time when they were 

 printed. In 1560 was printed the Geneva version, prepared 

 by scholars who fled from England to Switzerland during the 

 Marian troubles. It was the first complete Bible to be print- 

 ed in Roman type ; it omitted the Apocrypha ; it recognized 

 a verse division ; it was often reprinted ; and it was the first 

 English Bil)le printed in Scotland. In 1568, during the reign 

 of Elizabeth, came the " Bishops' Bible." It was the " Great 



