"Great Bible"
[The Byble in Englysh that is to saye the content of all the holy scrypture, both of the olde and newe Testament with a prologe thereinto, made by the reuerende father in God, Thomas archebyshop of Cantorbury. This is the Byble appoynted to the vse of the churches]
[London: Edward Whitchurch, 1541]
St. John's College, BS 160 1540

This was the first English Bible commanded to be placed in all of England's churches, by Henry VIII. It was first printed in 1539. There were other English translations before it, both illegal and legal. Most notable of these was Tyndale's 1525 translation of the New Testament. Tyndale himself was martyred for having translated the Latin Bible into English, and the authorities single-mindedly confiscated his Bible for burning whenever they could. Nonetheless, Tyndale's translation, along with Miles Coverdale's translation of the Old Testament, was a major influence on the Great Bible, and through it, on all subsequent English translations through the King James. Note that this Bible does not have verse numbers (which had not yet been invented), but rather marginal letters subdividing each chapter. Compare it to the Geneva Bible, which was the first English Bible to number verses. The front matter and beginning of Genesis is missing from this copy.