Coverdale's Bible
Preserved but no longer current.
The first complete English Bible to be printed, published in 1535 as a translation out of Douche (i.e. German) and Latin by Myles Coverdale. It consists of Tyndale's translation of the Pentateuch and New Testament, with translations from the Vulgate, a Latin version (1527-8) by the Italian Catholic theologian, Sanctes Peginus, Luther's German version (1534) and the Swiss- German version of Zwingli and Leo Juda (Zurich, 1527-9).
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Coverdale's Bible” mean?
The first complete English Bible to be printed, published in 1535 as a translation out of Douche (i.e. German) and Latin by Myles Coverdale. It consists of Tyndale's translation of the Pentateuch and New Testament, with translations from the Vulgate, a Latin version (1527-8) by the Italian Catholic theologian, Sanctes Peginus, Luther's German version (1534) and the Swiss- German version of Zwingli and Leo Juda (Zurich, 1527-9).
Is “Coverdale's Bible” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.