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![[picture: Front Cover, Geneva Bible]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Geneva/tn/000-Front-Cover-q75-387x500.jpg "[picture: Front Cover, Geneva Bible]")
Some scans from a 1581 copy of the Geneva Bible.
These images are large files!
You can see the outside of the book here.
The first version of this translation was made in Geneva, in Switzerland, because the Roman Catholic Church had been so afraid of what would happen if ordinary people had access to the Bible without going through the priests that they had arranged for translating the Bible into modern local languages was punishable by death. The Roman Catholic Church still uses services in Latin in some parts of the world. Such is the power of knowledge and the fear of those in charge of losing that power.
This Bible is also known as the Breeches Bible because, in the story of the Fall from Grace, instead of sewing loin-cloths out of fig leaves, Adam and Eve are described as making breeches (trousers, or, in the US, pants) out of fig leaves, a fairly major sewing project!
My copy is dated 1581, and is rather late. By that time the Reformation had taken hold in England and the text could be printed in English.
Title: Geneva Bible Scans
City: Geneva
Date: 1581
Total items: 18
Out of copyright (called public domain in the USA), hence royalty-free for all purposes usage credit requested, or as marked.
![[picture: Title page detail: heraldic scrollwork]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Geneva/wm/big/Concordance-RFH-title-page-detail-scrollwork-q75-172x200.jpg "[picture: Title page detail: heraldic scrollwork]")
Title page detail: heraldic scrollwork
The concordance title page includes this cartouche with a boar’s head (rather like a chess-piece, on a crowned brick base, formally a “mural crown”) with a scroll coming from its mouth and at the bottom [...] [more...]
[$]![[picture: To The Reader: guide to reading early modern music]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Geneva/wm/big/Psalms-Hopkins-1581-000-obverse-q85-150x200.jpg "[picture: To The Reader: guide to reading early modern music]")
To The Reader: guide to reading early modern music
This is printed on the back of the title page of the Psalms, from 1581. It shows two staves with different clefs and the nmes of the notes that were in use in [...] [more...]
[$]![[picture: Dragon!]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Geneva/wm/big/000-New-Testament-Title-Page-detail-dragon-q75-131x200.jpg "[picture: Dragon!]")
![[picture: Luke Chapter Two verses 10--23]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Geneva/wm/big/Luke-2-10-23-q75-113x200.jpg "[picture: Luke Chapter Two verses 10--23]")
Luke Chapter Two verses 10 – 23
Part of a page from a 1581 copy of the Geneva Bible. This extract is from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2, and tells of the birth of Jesus, called Christ, and of angels [...]Glory be to God in the high [heavens], and peace in earth, and towards men good will; a more modern translation would be peace towards men of good will, but the error here persisted through the King James Bible of 1611 and is still widely quoted. The text starts: [more...]
[$]Some scans from a 1581 copy of the Geneva Bible.
These images are large files!
You can see the outside of the book here.
The first version of this translation was made in Geneva, in Switzerland, because the Roman Catholic Church had been so afraid of what would happen if ordinary people had access to the Bible without going through the priests that they had arranged for translating the Bible into modern local languages was punishable by death. The Roman Catholic Church still uses services in Latin in some parts of the world. Such is the power of knowledge and the fear of those in charge of losing that power.
This Bible is also known as the Breeches Bible because, in the story of the Fall from Grace, instead of sewing loin-cloths out of fig leaves, Adam and Eve are described as making breeches (trousers, or, in the US, pants) out of fig leaves, a fairly major sewing project!
My copy is dated 1581, and is rather late. By that time the Reformation had taken hold in England and the text could be printed in English.
Note: If you got here from a search engine and don’t see what you were looking for, it might have moved onto a different page within this gallery.
![[picture: p.425: Ephesians Chapters 1 and 2]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Geneva/wm/big/Geneva-p524-q75-164x200.jpg "[picture: p.425: Ephesians Chapters 1 and 2]")
