Bible in Welsh

4to (7 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.; 184 x 140mm).  Black letter with Roman italic notes, two-leaf dedication to Elizabeth I in English, woodcut initials and tailpieces; lacks title-page and errata leaf, "Bb" gathering incorrectly bound before "X" gathering, "Gg" gathering in facsimile, minor dampstaining and soiling, a few contemporary annotations in margins, some restorations at gutter, generally not affecting text. Full red morocco, spine gilt-lettered, edges gilt; joints and corners rubbed.

Formatting the Word of God 6.7; Darlow & Moule 9580; STC 2960

Condition as described in catalogue entry.
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First edition of the New Testament  in Welsh. One of only about 50 extant copies. In 1562, the bishops of the Welsh Dioceses petitioned the English Parliament "to wyll and require and command the learned men to traducte the Boke of the Lordes Testament into the vulgare walsh tong." The next year, Queen Elizabeth I granted to William Salesbury and his colleagues a seven-year patent for the sole right to print the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer in Welsh. Salesbury's Welsh Lectionary (1551) included the Gospels. The present edition, however, is the first edition of the entire New Testament in Welsh.

In his dedication to the Queen, Salesbury wrote, "And would be to God that your Graces subiectes of Wales might also have the whole booke of Gods woord." Salesbury and his colleagues quareled and did not complete their proposed Old Testament during their seven-year patent. The first complete Welsh Bible was achieved in London in 1588 by William Morgan and Christopher Barker.