4to (212 x 171 mm). 486 (of 624) leaves. Black Letter, woodcut initials. Lacking the following signatures: *8 [title-page supplied in facsimile], A-A7 [A1 supplied in facsimile], B1, n-p8, q1-7, QQ4, aa-pp8, qq4 [New Testament]. (Approximately 180 leaves supplied from a shorter copy, A8 remargined affecting letters, a few leaves torn and repaired, g6 corner torn away, several leaves trimmed close and affecting running titles, marginal toning). Modern calf antique. Provenance: Wlm. Rowsone (early ownership inscription), possibly the eldest son of William Rawson, esq. of Bradford, Yorkshire; contemporary marginalia to a few leaves.

THE LAST EDITION OF THE 1535 COVERDALE BIBLE to appear in the translator's own lifetime. Coverdale's bible was "the editio princeps of the complete English Bible" (Pelikan, p.144) and the first complete English Bible to be printed. Coverdale "did not claim to translate from the original languages. Instead, he used Luther's German Bible, Pagnini's Latin translation, the Zurich Bible, and the Vulgate as his source texts; he probably also relied on Tyndale's New Testament. Coverdale's Bible is the first English Bible to appear with royal approval" (Pelikan).

This edition is notorious for existing only in incomplete, usually sophisticated copies. All of the copies reported in 20 U.S. libraries owning the 1550 edition are incomplete. Darlow & Moule 55; ESTC S122319; Herbert 84.