New Testament title page from a first edition of the Geneva Bible, printed in Geneva in 1560.
Protestant exiles from England and Scotland found asylum in Geneva during the persecutions of Protestants under the English Catholic Queen Mary (known as Bloody Mary). Mary's reign (1553-1558) also meant the end of printing Bibles in English.
Some of the exiles started a new English translation of the Bible, which became known as the Geneva Bible.
Largely based on the text of the Great Bible (1539), it was mainly meant for private study.
For this reason it is the first English Bible with verse divisions, it is printed in Roman type in a small octavo format, and it has extensive marginal notes, maps and chapter headings.
[NLS shelfmark: Hax.91]
A first edition of this Bible and others formed part of the display about 'The Bible in English' in our George VI Bridge Building from 2 November 2011 to 8 January 2012.