Miles Coverdale, ordained a priest about 1514, becameinterested in the works of such men as Erasmus, Luther, and Tyndale. Hehelped Tyndale in Antwerp in 1529. He translated the Psalms and Ecclesiastesfrom the Latin works of Campensis and published them in 1534 and 1535,respectively. He may have started his own work on the Bible in 1534.

This Bible is divided into six parts, as was Luther's.The chapters are divided into paragraphs without systemmatic numbering.The notes, comparatively few, concern alternate readings. Marginal cross-referencesabound. There are over one hundred fifty illustrations.

It was not translated from Hebrew and Greek, but fromGerman and Latin. Coverdale was competent in both of the latter two languages.He trusted five different interpreters, translating from them purely andfaithfully, without favor to any sect and subject to correction. Thesewere Jerome, Pagninus, Luther, the translators of the Zurich Bible, andTyndale.

There is an extensive introduction. The spelling and typeare Old English.

Dawson (1975)

[University of Miami Library,Coral Gables, Florida]