"Geneva Bible Folio" Christopher Barker, 1578
First Edition of a large “Pulpit Folio” printing of the famous Geneva Bible. This is over 440 years old. This is the first Geneva Bible printed specifically for the church pulpit; a grand display piece nearly twice the size of all our other Geneva Bibles of its time. The Geneva Bible was first printed in Geneva, Switzerland, by refugees from England, fleeing the persecution of Protestants by Roman Catholic Queen “Bloody” Mary. Many copies were smuggled back into England at great personal risk. In later years, when Protestant-friendly Queen Elizabeth took the throne, printing of the Geneva Bible moved back to England. The Geneva Bible was produced by John Calvin, John Knox, Myles Coverdale, John Foxe, and other Reformers. It is the version that William Shakespeare quotes from hundreds of times in his plays, and the first English Bible to offer plain roman-style type in some of its early printings. The Geneva Bible was the first Bible taken to America, brought over on the Mayflower. it is the Bible upon which early America and its government was founded. The Geneva Bible was also the first English Bible to break the chapters of scripture into numbered verses, and it was the first true “Study Bible” offering extensive commentary notes in the margins. It was so accurate and popular, that a half-century later, when the King James Bible came out, it retained more than 90% of the exact wording of the Geneva Bible. (Measures: 15" x 4.5" )