The "Coverdale Bible", First Edition of the Bible in English

Biblia. The Bible that is, the Holy Scripture of the Olde and New Testament.
Translated by Miles Coverdale.
[Marburg: Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], 1535. (Prothro B-92)

The first edition of the complete Bible in English followed more than a century of strict prohibition against English translations of the scriptures. Although William Tyndale’s pro-Lutheran translation from the original Hebrew and Greek had been suppressed during the preceding decade, Henry VIII’s break with the Church of Rome in 1534 suggested that the publication of a new English translation might gain royal support. Miles Coverdale (c. 1488–1569) compiled this text from Latin and German versions, and more of Tyndale’s prose than anyone at the time would admit. Dedicated to the king with a title page that shows him handing the Bible down to his church and court officials, the Coverdale Bible earned the king’s verbal consent: “If there be no heresies, then in God’s name, let it go abroad among our people.”