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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: Title page for Concordance]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Geneva/wm/big/Concordance-RFH-title-page-q75-146x200.jpg "[picture: Title page for Concordance]")
![[picture: Revelation 13, The Number of the Beast]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Geneva/wm/big/Revelation-13-number-of-the-beast-q75-188x200.jpg "[picture: Revelation 13, The Number of the Beast]")
Revelation 13, The Number of the Beast
This image shows the text (at upper right) of the Book of Revelation of John the Divine, Revelation Chapter 13 verses 17 and 18 (and a fragment of verse 16) ( Rev. 13 xvii), together with margin notes. The Geneva bible from which this was [...] [more...] [$]
![[picture: Red Dragon!]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Geneva/wm/big/000-New-Testament-Title-Page-detail-red-dragon-q75-131x200.jpg "[picture: Red Dragon!]")
An heraldic dragon from the Geneva Bible New Testament Title Page. [more...] [$]
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.
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