(Bishop Bible, Folio) The Holy Bible, Containing the Old Testament and the New: Authorised and Appointed to be Read in Churches

Matthew Parker; Robert Barker

Imprinted at London : By Robert Barker, Printer to the Qveenes most excellent Maiestie, 1602

[Bishop's Bible, the last edition before the first King James edition] Folio, 44.5 x 30 cm (17 1/2 x 12 inches).  Bound in contemporary blind paneled calf over wooden boards. Rebacked, with later spine leather.  5 (of 8) brass corner bosses. Lacking original claps. Printed in black letter. Double column, with double rules down center of page. [18], 496 leaves.  Important note: three pages provided in facsimile, lacking original title pages (New and Old) and woodcut map of the Holy Land (leaves 394, 395).  Final leaf lacking bottom corner of margin.  Leaves 270 & 396 have a marginal tear. Leaf 393 conserved, with margins trimmed, some loss at inner margin. Last edition of the Bishops' Bible, "presumably used by King James's translators as the basis of their new version" - Herbert 271; ESTC S122093; Wing B2188;  Darlow & Moule 206.  Contents: Contents: Calendar; Almanac; 'A Prologue made by Thomas Cranmer'; Tables and Genealogy; Old Testament; Apocrypha; 'A Preface into the New Testament'; 'The description of the holy Land'; 'A Table'; New Testament.  

Provenance: Owned by a notorious English pirate.  Armorial book plate of Sir Henry Mainwaring, (1587-1653).  After graduating from Oxford at age 15, Mainwaring took up a life of piracy, plundering Spanish, French and Portuguese ships in the West Indies.  He recruited (or impressed) men into piracy and established a large pirate fleet based at Mamora.  King James I gave him a conditional pardon in 1616, and as result he became a Knight and a respected Vice-Admiral of the Royal Navy.  He served as Member of Parliament for Dover in 1621.  Mainwaring wrote a number of books and pamphlets about seamanship and piracy.  A royalist, he followed Prince Charles to exile, dying in obscurity. -DCB.  Additional provenance: contemporary signatures of Richarde Massye Clerke, Raphe Hollenshed, Henrie Bennett, "churchwardens".  Other early signatures on rear end page.