The 1537 Matthew-Tyndale Bible:
The First English Bible Directly Translated
And The Oldest Printed English Scripture Available

A leaf from the earliest available printing of God's Word in the English language on a piece of paper. This is the first complete printing of an English language Bible that was translated directly from the original languages of Hebrew and Greek into English. These leaves are 467 years old. "Thomas Matthew", (whose real name was "John Rogers"), completed the translation work of Tyndale, and produced a complete English Bible within a year of Tyndale's execution. These large folio-size leaves are unspeakably rare.

While they are the first printing of the Bible to be directly translated from the original Biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek straight into English, and most "purist" scholars consider the 1537 Matthew-Tyndale the first "true and legitimate" translation of the Bible into English; it is technically the second printing of an English language complete Bible. This is because in October of 1535, another of Tyndale’s friends, Myles Coverdale, actually printed the very first English language complete Bible… but it was a "translation of a translation" making use of source texts from Latin and German as well. For many historians, that sort of "disqualifies" Coverdale’s Bible from holding the title of "First English Printed Bible Translation"... a title perhaps more deserved by these 1537 leaves.

These leaves were printed on 100% rag cotton linen sheet, not wood-pulp paper like books today, so they remain in excellent condition... even after nearly 500 years. Each leaf measures approximately 13 inches tall by 9 inches wide, and is a unique piece of ancient artwork, carefully produced one-at-a-time, using a movable-type press.

See Next page for another leaf

Photo found at http://www.greatsite.com/ancient-rare-bible-leaves/