Photo: Cover artwork.
The New Testament: The first English Bible
Translated by William Tyndale (Facsimile of the 1526 edition)
In 1994, the British Library (BL) bought one of the very few surviving copies of William Tyndale’s 1526 English New Testament, for over a million pounds. Thanks to last year’s reissue of the facsimile edition, readers can now get an idea of the physical reality of this book – for about one fifty-thousandth of what the library paid. Seldom has the size and weight of a book been more important. Tyndale’s NT was designed to be smuggled into England, and carefully concealed. It was extremely dangerous to own any part of the scriptures translated into the vernacular.
The new edition comprises sharp colour photos of the original pages, which, over the centuries, have turned a pleasant pale gold colour. Visitors glancing at the original book on display at St Pancras might mistake it for a small manuscript, but this is printed, with hand-coloured woodcut illustrations and capitals. The only handwritten bits are marginal notes in astonishingly elegant calligraphy, designed to point out the links between passages and corresponding parts of both testaments.
David Daniell’s introduction insists that ‘five minutes’ practice is all that is needed’ before a modern reader starts to get along comfortably with this old text. The obstacles are, however, formidable. Slashes are used instead of commas, many words are abbreviated, and Tyndale’s (inconsistent) spelling is different from ours. In the font used by Tyndale’s printer, many letters also have different shapes. More words are broken at the end of lines than we would expect now, even short words like ‘which’.
The BL’s copy has dark blotches in some places, and there are pages where the ink from the other side of the sheet has come through, making the text look murky. Navigation is difficult, because verses (and pages) are not numbered, and there is no contents page. One is tempted to take up a recent Tyndale NT, with modernised spelling. Many of these are now available.
In an argument over dinner, Tyndale is supposed to have said, ‘if God spare my life ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough, shall knowe more of the scripture then thou dost’. Though tricky for us to read, Tyndale’s New Testament must have been a revelation for that ploughboy, literate perhaps only in English.
In his ‘To the Reader’ pages (placed, confusingly, at the end), the indefatigable translator reminds us that the gospel ‘promiseth all good things to them that set their trust in Christ only. The gospel signifieth glad tidings, and is nothing but the promises of good things’.
Implying that reading the gospel should be a spiritual exercise in itself, Tyndale describes the onset of the repentance he evidently felt was indispensable for the Christian. Readers will feel in themselves ‘a certain sorrow, pain, and grief’; working through this, they will ‘feel God as a kind and merciful father’.
Tyndale beseeches ‘them that are learned and able’ to help those with ‘weak stomachs’ to digest the message. Speaking for himself and his brave collaborators, he concludes simply ‘pray for us’.
Comments
An excellent review of a book I love, with enough detail to ensure I won’t be buying it, I already have the digital text.
There are only three surviving copies of Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament, all other copies were burnt, later owners of the book were burnt and finally Wycliffe was burnt. By comparison, two hundred and fifty or so copies of Wycliffe’s earlier translation on the Bible into English. But Wycliffe’s translation was of the Latin Vulgate, it was no challenge to the authority of the established Church. Whereas Tyndale challenged the authority of the established Church and Henry Tudor’s newly established church was too fragile to stand criticism.
Tyndale’s translation has a vernacular grace and poetry that has influenced religious writings ever since. Even today people aspire to his prose style when praying. Tyndale created new words for Biblical concepts, expecially the Hebrew Bible for example scapegoat and atonement, and more everyday such as fisherman, castaway and busybody.
But for me, best of all is “I have been a stranger in a strange land.” Exodus 2:22
By Ol Rappaport on 19th September 2024 - 15:09
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