The Leda Bible
Preserved but no longer current.
The third edition (second folio) of the Bishops' Bible (#.v.), published in 1572, and so called because the decoration to the initial at the Epistle to the Hebrews is a startling and incongruous woodcut of Jupiter visiting Leda in the guise of a swan. This, and several other decorations in the New Testament of this edition, were from an edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses', they created such a storm of protest that they were never afterwards used.
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 Leda Bible” mean?
The third edition (second folio) of the Bishops' Bible (#.v.), published in 1572, and so called because the decoration to the initial at the Epistle to the Hebrews is a startling and incongruous woodcut of Jupiter visiting Leda in the guise of a swan. This, and several other decorations in the New Testament of this edition, were from an edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses', they created such a storm of protest that they were never afterwards used.
Is “The Leda Bible” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.