Lot 129
Bible; English; Geneva Version
The Bible, that is, The Holy Scriptures Conteined in the Olde and Newe Testament
The Library of James Stirling, Mathematician
Auction: 23 October 2025 from 13:00 GMT
Description
London: the Deputies of Christopher Barker, 1599. 4to in eights (21.5 x 16cm), 18th century black calf panelled in gilt, all edges gilt, The Psalms of David in Meter (Edinburgh: the Heirs and Successors of Andrew Anderson, 1709) bound in at rear, covers rubbed, spine peeling, Bible lacking an initial leaf (blank?), some headlines shaved, some light damp-staining, occasional tears and holes with slight loss to letters on 3p2 and other leaves, I3 torn lacking lower corner and several words
Footnote
Geneva Bibles with 1599 imprints have a complex bibliographical history. Herbert identifies at least eight distinct editions, and notes that ‘the nominal date, 1599, is probably untrue in almost every case; they were apparently published at different times in Amsterdam and Dort [Dordrecht] and adopted by Barker’ (Herbert, Historical catalogue of printed editions of the English Bibles 1525-1961, p. 115). Often referred to as the Breeches Bible because of the translation of Genesis 3:7: ‘Then the eies of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed figge tree leaves together, and made themselves breeches’.