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SKU 1549MB-039
Original leaf from the rare 1549 Matthew\'s Bible (STC 2077), edited by Edmund Becke and printed in London by John Day and William Seres.
This handsome folio leaf contains portions of Judges chapters 6 and 7, including the famous account of Gideon\'s fleece and the beginning of the narrative of Gideon and his three hundred men.
The leaf preserves the beloved passage in which Gideon seeks a sign from God by laying out a fleece of wool:
\"I will put a fleece of wool in the threshing place...\"
The text also contains the opening of the story in which God deliberately reduces Gideon\'s army so that Israel\'s victory over the Midianites would be recognized as the work of God rather than human strength. The account of Gideon and his three hundred men remains one of the Bible\'s most memorable narratives of faith, divine calling, and improbable victory.
The Matthew\'s Bible occupies a central place in the history of the English Bible. First published in 1537 and edited by the Reformer John Rogers—the first Protestant martyr of Queen Mary\'s reign—it combined the translations of William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale and became one of the foundational English Bibles that ultimately influenced the Great Bible and the King James Version.
Bibliographical Information:
The Byble, that is to say all the holy Scripture.
London: John Day and William Seres, 1549.
Matthew\'s Bible (STC 2077)
Edited by Edmund Becke.
Large folio edition.
Leaf measures approximately 12 x 7½ inches (30.5 x 19 cm).
Condition: A genuine sixteenth-century leaf with expected age toning, edge wear, and marginal losses. The text remains attractive and entirely identifiable. Please examine photographs carefully.
The seller recently acquired a rare oil portrait, catalogued at sale as English School, 17th century and traditionally identified as John Rogers (c.1500–1555), editor of the Matthew Bible and the first Marian martyr. In researching the portrait, the seller has found that painted likenesses of Rogers are extraordinarily scarce, and no earlier surviving oil portrait of Rogers is presently known to the seller. This rarity underscores the exceptional historical importance of original leaves from the Matthew Bible, the work most closely associated with Rogers\'s name.
Original 1549 Matthew\'s Bible leaf containing Gideon\'s fleece and the beginning of Gideon\'s three hundred men from Judges chapters 6 and 7, an authentic English Reformation artifact associated with John Rogers and William Tyndale, ideal for collectors of early English Bibles, biblical history, Judges, Gideon, and Reformation-era printing.
