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Book Cover for: Paratexts of the English Bible, 1525-1611, Debora Shuger

Paratexts of the English Bible, 1525-1611

Debora Shuger

English bibles, from Tyndale's 1525 New Testament to the 1611 King James, feature calendars, woodcuts, maps, chronologies, prayers, philological glosses, inset historical essays, elaborate multi-page diagrams, single-leaf summaries of scripture, prefaces by eminent churchmen, doctrinal notes by leading theologians, a dialogue on predestination, a twelfth-century genealogy of Christ, a ninth-century Jewish chronicle--most widely available, given the hundreds of editions printed between those dates. This book explores this archive, but it also tracks its changes, because while biblical translations remain relatively stable over time, the paratexts cocooning a bible's first printing sometimes mutate or vanish in succeeding editions--and indeed sometimes they migrate to a competing bible. These paratexts, together with their revelatory print histories, disclose a picture of the English Reformation that differs in striking ways from the authorized version.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Oxford University Press
  • Publish Date: Oct 31st, 2022
  • Pages: 362
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.37in - 6.46in - 1.17in - 1.60lb
  • EAN: 9780192843579
  • Categories: Modern - GeneralChristianity - Literature & the ArtsBiblical Studies - General

About the Author

Debora Shuger, Distinguished Professor of English, UCLA

Debora Shuger received her PhD from Stanford University and since 1989 she has taught at UCLA where she is Distinguished Professor of English. The recipient of fellowships from the National Humanities Center, the Guggenheim, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, and the Bogliasco Foundation, in 2007 she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Science.

Praise for this book

"Over the long term, this complex mass of commentary became the foundation of what has been called the great Anglican compromise" -- Anthony Grafton, Chronicles of Higher Education

"What is especially enjoyable in this book is the way that rigorous scholarly sleuthing and careful book history, pursued with focus and breadth, does not permit its sources and book history to become the sole focus of the writing." -- Kevin Killeen, University of York

"...stunningly ambitious and learned book." -- Ann Blair, Erudition and the Republic of Letters