THE GENEVA BIBLE, or "Breeches" Bible, in two volumes, with the Scottish Metrical Psalter (c.1599 edition)

THE GENEVA BIBLE, in two volumes, with the Scottish Metrical Psalter with a long history of incredible provenance.

The Bible: That is, The Holy Scriptures conteined in the Olde and New Testament. [Geneva Bible]. With: The Psalms of David, In Meeter. Newly translated, and diligently compared with the original text, and former translations: More plain, smooth, and agreeable to the Text, then any heretofore. Allowed by the authority of the Generall Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, and appointed to be sung in Congregations and Families.
[London: Deputies of Christopher Barker, 1599]. With: Edinburgh: Printed by Gideon Lithgow, 1651.

The Geneva Bible, first published in 1560, was the most widely read English Bible of the 16th and 17th centuries, predating the King James Version by 51 years. This bible was the preferred bible of Shakespeare, and a copy was taken over with the pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower. The Geneva bible's extensive marginal notes, with their distinctly Calvinist and Puritan interpretations, made it immensely popular among Reformed congregations, particularly in Scotland, where it remained preferred long after the 1611 King James translation appeared.

This copy bears the nominal date of 1599 on both of its title pages, though it has been noted that "the nominal date 1599 is probably untrue in almost every case." (Herbert, 1968). It is generally understood that the vast majority of Geneva Bibles dated 1599 are in fact later Amsterdam or Dordrecht copies printed during the 1620s-1640s with falsified London imprints. These Continental editions were produced to circumvent Archbishop Laud's import bans of the 1630s, which sought to suppress the Geneva Bible in favour of the King James Version. Despite their false imprints, these Amsterdam editions are historically significant as material evidence of the religious controversies of the period and the continued demand for the Geneva Bible's Calvinist commentary among Presbyterian and Puritan communities. They were also made to a higher standard, with better materials, than their earlier British counterparts and have thus weathered the ensuing centuries much better.

Unique to this Geneva Bible is a 1651 Edinburgh printing of the "Psalms of David, in Meeter", bound in with the New Testament in the second volume. This is one of the earliest editions of this very rare landmark work, also known as the Scottish Metrical Psalter. The "official" Scottish Psalter, it was authorised by the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland following extensive revision by the Westminster Assembly of Divines. Based on Francis Rous's 1641 translation and refined with meticulous attention to the Hebrew text, it became the sole authorized psalter for Scottish Presbyterian worship and has remained in continuous use for over 375 years. 

This copy of the Geneva Bible contains many points consistent with its identification as an early Amsterdam copy. It lacks an Apocrypha section, which became commonplace as worshippers turned from the texts. Alongside this, it contains mixed points associated with both London and Amsterdam copies, including textual errors throughout, extensive margin notes in both Roman Type and italicized. Thomson's 1576 New Testament revisions and Junius's notes on Revelation (extensive marginal notes) are both present, confirming this copy's status as an Amsterdam version.

There are numerous woodcut engravings present, with a wonderful map of the 'Holy Land' and another showing an approximate geographical location of the Garden of Eden. The title pages of the New and Old testaments are profusely illustrated with 24 compartments: 12 depicting the tribes of Israel and 12 of the Apostles, as well as four depictions of the Evangelists framing the titling text. The volumes have, unfortunately been trimmed down aggressively with the rebinding. Particularly to the the Psalms of David in Meeter portion, with the head and tail texts impacted on numerous pages. Both volumes are bound in full contemporary polished calf in matching style, modestly decorated in blind along the edges. The spines feature six raised bands with compartments like decorated in blind. The modest decorations to the calf are in keeping with the style and intent of the Geneva bible as a working bible, and match wonderfully.

This two-volume set provides a remarkable window into Scottish Presbyterian devotional practice in the critical period following the Solemn League and Covenant (1643). The combination of the Geneva Bible—with its Reformed theological commentary—and the newly authorized Scottish Metrical Psalter represents the complete liturgical library of a Scottish Presbyterian household. The division into two volumes is practical, separating the unwieldy Old Testament from the New Testament and Psalter, the latter being the texts most frequently used in worship and family devotions. This binding arrangement suggests liturgical use rather than mere preservation—the New Testament and Psalms together formed the core of daily Presbyterian worship.

Provenance: Volume one contains the armorial bookplate of Charles Bruce, Viscount Bruce of Ampthill (1682-1747), later 3rd Earl of Ailesbury and 4th Earl of Elgin. Charles Bruce was a major figure in early Georgian Britain—a Tory politician who sat in Parliament from 1705 to 1711, when he was elevated to the House of Lords as one of "Harley's Dozen," a group of twelve peers created by Robert Harley to secure a Tory majority in the upper house. He succeeded his father as Earl of Ailesbury in 1741 and held vast estates at Ampthill in Bedfordshire, Savernake Park in Wiltshire, and Tottenham House (also in Wiltshire), where his substantial library was housed. 

Because neither of Lord Bruce's two sons survived him, his English titles became extinct upon his death in 1747, though he was created Baron Bruce of Tottenham in 1746 with a special remainder to his nephew Thomas Brudenell, who later became 1st Earl of Ailesbury in the second creation of that title.

It is likely this Bible passed through a remarkable chain of ownership following Lord Bruce's death. His third wife, Lady Caroline Campbell (c.1721-1803), daughter of John Campbell, 4th Duke of Argyll, whom he had married in 1739 when she was just eighteen and he was fifty-seven, subsequently married as her second husband Field Marshal the Honourable Henry Seymour Conway (1721-1795), whose bookplate also appears to the front pastedown of both of these volumes.

Conway was one of the most distinguished military and political figures of Georgian Britain, nephew of Sir Robert Walpole, Britain's first Prime Minister. He was known for his principled opposition to harsh measures against the American colonies—a stance that cost him his regiment but earned him lasting respect. Conway was an intimate friend and correspondent of Horace Walpole, who regarded him as one of the finest men of the age.

Also present is the signature of Anne Seymour Damer (1748-1828), the daughter of Henry Seymour Conway and Lady Caroline Campbell, and one of the most remarkable women of Georgian England. Mrs. Damer was a celebrated sculptress whose works are held in the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and other major collections. She was one of the very few professional female sculptors of her era, working in an almost exclusively male field and achieving artistic recognition on merit.

This remarkable provenance chain connects three generations and two aristocratic families across nearly a century of Georgian history.

1599 [c.1600s] edition, 2 volumes. London: The Deputies of Christopher Barker, 1599. 8vo. Full decorated black calf. Covers and spines decorated in blind. Dentelles decorated in gilt. All edges gilt. vol.1: Old Testamament, pp. [viii], 127 [254: pagination to recto only]; vol.2: New Testament & Psalms of David in Meeter, pp. 121 [242], [xxii], 53 [106], [i]. Good. Calf bindings show wear consistent with their age: some rubbing and wear along creases and at edges and corners. There is some cracking to calf along the covers, particularly to volume one and some markings to the rear face of volume two. Upper edge gilt darkened with age, other edges bright. The contents are generally in good order, however there is some water staining to the first half of the Old Testament and some markings throughout contents of both volumes, though nothing beyond expected for a work of this age that likely saw use as a working bible.

This book is currently not on display in store.

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Catalogue Number: HH000441