A Leaf from the First Edition of the First Complete Bible in English, The Coverdale Bible, 1535; With an Historical Introduction by Allen P. Wikgren, and A Census of Copies Recorded..

1974. San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1974.

Folio, 45 pp., illustrated throughout including a sepia portrait of Coverdale and a folding facsimile of the original map; and with an original leaf tipped in. A fine copy in a slightly creased example of the rather odd original dustjacket to which someone as taped a small typed title over the plain spine panel. The leaf has a faint water stain to the lower margin as usual. Bookplate.

§ Limited to 425 copies including a number of “special” copies, thus one of about 400. The leaf is from 1 Kings, 18:17 to 20:5, recounting the prophet Elijah's challenge to the prophets of Baal, his flight from Jezebel into the desert, and his forty day journey to Mount Horeb where God appears to him as a still, small voice. The leaf is particularly nice for featuring a fine woodcut showing God igniting Elijah's sacrificial altar.

The census of extant copies of the Coverdale Bible was carried out by John Windle and Robert Tainsh at John Howell-Books in 1972/3 as part of a project completing two original copies, thus leaving these leaves available for a leaf book. (Inventory #: 126721)