SOURCE: Westcott, Brooke Foss. “The Printed Bible: External History” and “The Internal History of the English Bible.” In A General View of the History of the English Bible, pp. 71-110, 212-220. London: Macmillan and Co., 1868.

In the first excerpt which follows, Westcott considers the textual history of both the Coverdale Bible of 1535 and the Great Bible, analyzing the creation of the works and the garnering of official royal sanction. In the second excerpt, Westcott considers the bases and distinctive qualities of each of Coverdale's major Biblical translations.

The Printed Bible: External History

§ 2. Coverdale.

Tyndale's character is heroic. He could see clearly the work to which he was called and pursue it with a single unswerving faith in God and in the powers which God had given him. It was otherwise with Miles Coverdale, who was allowed to finish what Tyndale left incomplete. The differences of the men are...