Editing Great Bible (section)

==Printing==
Myles Coverdale and Richard Grafton went over to Paris and put the work into the hands of the French printer, François Regnault at the University of Paris, with the countenance of Bonner, then (Bishop Elect of Hereford and) British Ambassador at Paris. There was constant fear of the Inquisition. Coverdale packed off a large quantity of the finished work through Bonner to Cromwell, and just when this was done, the officers of the Inquisition came on the scene. Coverdale and Grafton made their escape. A large quantity of the printed sheets were sold as waste paper to a haberdasher, who resold them to Cromwell's agents, and they were, in due course, sent over to London. Cromwell bought the type and presses from Regnault and secured the services of his compositors.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barker |first1=Henry |title=English Bible Versions: A Tercentenary Memorial of the King James Version, from the New York Bible and Common Prayer Book Society |date=1911 |publisher=Edwin S. Gorham |page=112 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZK48AAAAYAAJ}}</ref>

The first edition{{Sfn | Herbert | Darlow | Moule | 1968 | p = 46}} was a run of 2,500 copies that were begun in [[Paris]] in 1539. Much of the printing – in fact 60 percent – was done at Paris, and after some misadventures where the [[Censorship of the Bible|printed sheets were seized]] by the French authorities on grounds of heresy (since relations between England and France were somewhat troubled at this time), the remaining 40 percent of the publication was completed in London in April 1539.<ref name="dict"/><br>

Two luxurious editions were printed to showcase for presentation. One edition was produced for King Henry VIII and the other for Thomas Cromwell. Each was printed on parchment rather than on paper. The woodcut illustrations of these editions, moreover, were then exquisitely painted by hand to look like illuminations. Today, the copy that was owned by King Henry VIII is held by the [[British Library]] in London, England. Thomas Cromwell's edition is today held by the Old Library at St John's College in Cambridge, England.<br>

It went through six subsequent revisions between 1540 and 1541. The second edition of 1540 included a preface by [[Thomas Cranmer]], Archbishop of Canterbury, recommending the reading of the scriptures. (Cranmer's preface was also included in the front of the Bishops' Bible.)

Seven editions of the Great Bible were published in quick succession.{{Sfn |Barker |1911 |page=116}}

1. 1539, April – Printed in Paris and London by Richard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch.<br>
2. 1540, April – Printed in London by Richard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch, includes Archbishop Thomas Cranmer's preface, and the Apocryphal Books were interspersed among the Canonical Books of the Old Testament.<br>
3. 1540, July – Printed in London by Richard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch, includes Archbishop Cranmer's preface with Cromwell's shield defaced on the title page<br>
4. 1540, November — Printed in London by Richard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch, with the title page of 1541, and includes Archbishop Cranmer's preface..<br>
5. 1541, May – Printed in London by Edward Whitchurch, includes Archbishop Cranmer's preface.<br>
6. 1541, November – Printed in London by Edward Whitchurch, includes Archbishop Cranmer's preface.<br>
7. 1541, December – Printed in London by Edward Whitchurch, includes Archbishop Cranmer's preface.<br>
<br>
More than 9,000 copies of the Great Bible were printed by 1541.

8. 1549, ________  –  Printed in London by Edward Whitchurch.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Paltsits |first1=Victor H. |title=Review of "The English Bible in the John Rylands Library 1525 to 1640. With 26 Facsimiles and 39 Engravings by Richard Lovett" |journal=The American Journal of Theology |date=January 1901 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=128–130 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |doi=10.1086/477620 |jstor=3153362 |jstor-access=free}}</ref>

9. "In 1568, the Great Bible was superseded as the authorized version of the Anglican Church by the Bishops' Bible. The last of over 30 editions of the Great Bible appeared in 1569."<ref>{{cite web |title=The Great Bible |website=Deskarati |url=http://deskarati.com/2011/09/19/the-great-bible}}{{Better source|date=September 2020}}</ref>

A version of Cranmer's Great Bible can be found included in the [[English Hexapla]], produced by Samuel Baxter and Sons in 1841. However copies of this work are fairly rare.

The most available reprinting of the Great Bible's New Testament (minus its marginal notes) can be found in the second column of the ''New Testament Octapla'' edited by [[Luther Weigle]], chairman of the translation committee that produced the [[Revised Standard Version]].{{Sfn|Weigle|1962}}