The Great Bible
Preserved but no longer current.
Coverdale's revision of his own Bible of 1535 (see COVERD ALE'S BIBLE above), collated with Tyndale's and Matthew's, printed in Paris by Regnault, and published by Grafton and Whitchurch in 1539. It is a large folio, and a splendid specimen of typography. It is sometimes called "Cromwell's Bible," as it was undertaken at his direction, and it was made compulsory for all parish churches to purchase a copy.
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 “The Great Bible” mean?
Coverdale's revision of his own Bible of 1535 (see COVERD ALE'S BIBLE above), collated with Tyndale's and Matthew's, printed in Paris by Regnault, and published by Grafton and Whitchurch in 1539. It is a large folio, and a splendid specimen of typography. It is sometimes called "Cromwell's Bible," as it was undertaken at his direction, and it was made compulsory for all parish churches to purchase a copy.
Is “The Great Bible” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.