27 Fcap . 4 to. Cloth , GY//, ios. 6d. net. THE ONLY KNOWN FRAGMENT OF The First printed English New Testament, in Quarto. By W. TINDALE and W. ROY. Sixty photo-lithographed pages; preceded by a critical PREFACE . Briefly told, the story of this profoundly interesting work is as follows: — In 1524 Tindale went from London to Hamburg; where remaining for about a year, he journeyed on to Cologne ; and there, assisted by William Roy, subsequently the author of the satire on Wolsey, Rede me and be nott wrothe [see p. 19], he began this first edition in 4to, with glosses , of the English New Testament. A virulent enemy of the Reformation, Cochl^us, at that time an exile in Cologne ; learnt, through giving wine to the printer’s men, that P. Quental the printer had in hand a secret edition of three thousand copies of the English New Testament. In great alarm, he informed Herman Rinck, a Senator of the city, who moved the Senate to stop the printing ; but Cochl^eus could neither obtain a sight of the Translators, nor a sheet of the impression. Tindale and Roy fled with the printed sheets up the Rhine to Worms ; and there completing this edition, produced also another in 8vo, without glosses. Both editions were probably in England by March 1 526. Of the six thousand copies of which they together were composed, there remain but this fragment of the First commenced edition, in 4to ; and of the Second Edition, in 8vo, one complete copy in the Library of the Baptist College at Bristol, and an imperfect one in that of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. In the Preface , the original documents are given intact, in connection with Evidence connected with the first Two Editions of the English New Testament , viz. , in Quarto and Octavo — I. William Tindale’s antecedent career. II. The Printing at Cologne. III. The Printing at Worms. IV. William Roy’s connection with these Editions. V. The landing and distribution in England. VI. The persecution in England. Typographical and Literary Evidence connected with the present Fragment — I. It was printed for Tindale by Peter Quental at Cologne, before 1 526. II. It is not a portion of the separate Gospel of Matthew printed previous to that year. III. It is therefore certainly a fragment of the Quarto. Is the Quarto a translation 0/ Luther’s German Version ? Text. The prologge. Inner Marginal References. Outer Marginal Glosses.
- For a continuation of this Story see G. Joy’s Apology , at p. 25.
