Puritan History
Rheims–Bishops’ Parallel New Testament, First Edition
Rheims–Bishops’ Parallel New Testament, First Edition
BIB.003616
Bible - Printed Book
1589
England
English
Printed on Paper
10.7 × 8.1 × 2.6 in. (27.2 × 20.6 × 6.6 cm)
Not on View
William Fulke created the Rheims–Bishops’ Parallel New Testament in an effort to refute Catholic scholars, but inadvertently aided their cause. In 1582, Gregory Martin and other exiled scholars at the English College in Douay, France, had produced the Rheims New Testament, an English translation of the Latin Vulgate. Martin accused Protestant scholars of purposefully introducing errors in their Bible translations. Fulke, a Puritan minister and theologian, responded with this parallel New Testament in 1589, which placed the Rheims translation side by side with the text of the Protestant Bishops’ Bible. The format allowed him to refute the Rheims text line by line. In publishing his work, however, Fulke unintentionally made the Rheims New Testament more widely available to Catholics in England. This copy is a first edition, printed in 1589.
Printed in 1589 by Christopher Barker, London, England. Acquired before 1921 by James Miles, bookseller, Leeds, England.[1] Acquired before 1921 by Sir Thomas Edward Watson, Newport, Wales.[2] By descent in 1921 to the Watson family until 2005.[3] Acquired before 2011 by David C. Lachman, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Privately purchased in 2011 by Green Collection, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, under the curatorial care of Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC.
Notes: [1] James Miles’s tag is located at the bottom right corner of the front pastedown. [2] Sir Thomas Edward Watson’s (1851–1921) bookplate is located on the front pastedown. [3] This copy was sold at auction through Christie’s, London in 2005. It is unclear if the subsequent owner purchased the text through this auction or at a later date. See Christie’s, Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts (London), June 7, 2005, Lot 314.
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