LAST FEW REMAINING!!!
 
CATHOLIC RHEIMS NEW TESTAMENT 1582 FIRST EDITION DISPLAY LEAF
 
Offered for the consideration of the serious Bible leaf collector is an original display study leaf from the first edition 1582 CATHOLIC RHEMES' NEW TESTAMENT accompanied by a fine art reproduction of its title page and a Certificate of Authenticity. 
 
The Rhemes New Testament is the editio princeps of the Roman Catholic version of the New Testament in English. Translated from the Vulgate by Gregory Martin, under the supervision of William Allen (afterwards Cardinal Allen), and of Richard Bristow.
 
The translation adheres very closely to the Latin, though it shows traces of careful comparison with the Greek. But its groundwork was practically supplied by the existing English versions, from which Martin did not hesitate to borrow freely. In particular there are many striking resemblances between Martin’s renderings and those in Myles Coverdale’s diglot of 1538. Martin’s own style is often disfigured by latinisms.
 
This Rheims New Testament exerted a very considerable influence on the version of 1611, transmitting to it not only an extensive vocabulary, but also numerous dis- tinctive phrases and turns of expression. (See J. G. Carleton’s exhaustive analysis, The Part of Rheims in the making of the English Bible, Oxford, 1902.)
 
Allen was the first President, and Bristow was Moderator (or Prefect of studies) of the English Roman Catholic College, established in 1568 in connection with the University of Douai, and removed temporarily to Rheims, 1578—93. Martin was one of the original scholars of St. John’s College, Oxford, and is described in Wood’s Athence Oaconienses as follows : ‘He was a most excellent linguist, exactly read and vers’d in the Sacred Scriptures, and went beyond all of his time in humane literature, whether in poetry or prose.’ In 1570 he joined the College at Douai, and became Lecturer in Hebrew and Holy Scripture. He died at Rheims, in October, 1582. 
 
The translation was essentially Martin’s work. The keenly controversial matter which accompanies the text is ascribed to Bristow. The Censure and Approbation is signed by four ecclesiastics of Rheims : Petrns Remigins, Hnbertils Morns, Ioannes le Besgile, and Galielmns Balbus. The Preface criticises certain renderings of the English Bibles, mentioning some editions by their dates.
 
The Annotations are placed at the end of each chapter, the shorter notes etc. in the outside margins, the references in the inside margins. The text is in paragraphs, with the verse-numbers on the inner side. Contents precede each chapter, and Arguments appear before most of the books. After St. John’s Gospel is The scmme, and the order of the Evangelabal historic . . . (pp. 281 to 285): and after Acts The scmme of the Actes of the Apostles . . . (pp. 374 to 376). The list of words in the Eaxplication at the end of the volume includes many which are now established in familiar use; e.g., acquisition, advent, calumniate, character, evangelize, resuscitate, victims. No illustrations; but many vignettes, initial letters, etc· Darlow & Moule 1903 
 
When King James I of England came to the thrown in 1604 he learned quickly that England was divided into three ecclesiastical factions each with a different translation of the Bible. 
 
(1) The Roman Catholics, small but dangerous, had suffered from the death of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1587 and the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.  But their influence was almost totally wiped out by the discovery and resultant failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.  This was an attempt by notable Roman Catholics to blow up the House of Lords, destroying both king and government so that it could be replaced by Catholic rulers.  Guy Fawkes Day in England still commemorates this plot. The 1st English Catholic New Testament was printed in 1582 and the Old Testament in 1609/10.
 
(2) The Puritans, aggressive and growing in influence, disliked the prayer book and the episcopacy of the Anglican church, and practiced greater liberty in worship and church government.  Too, they wanted to break the despotic power of the king and place government in the hands of the people. Their translation of preference was the Genva Bible, 1st printed in 1560.
 
(3) The Anglican Church party, led by Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, and loyal to the king, stood for ideals which appealed to the new monarch. The Bible of authority for the established church was the Bishops’ Bible, 1st printed 1568.
 
Using the Bishops’ Bible as their starting point the translators of the King James' Bible referenced Tyndale’s New Testament, the Geneva Bible and the Catholic Rheims New Testament when they were carrying out their work.
 
Now you can own an original SAME TEXT leaf from TWO of these foundational Bibles that underpins the 1611 KJV text.