Press Release

William Tyndale's English Bible -- A Founding Document of the Church of England -- Comes to New York from The British Library; Exhibition Opens February 22

One of the world's and The British Library's greatest treasures -- the 1526 New Testament in English -- will be featured in Let There Be Light: William Tyndale and the Making of the English Bible, an exhibition opening February 22. One of only two known complete copies in the world, this masterpiece of translation by William Tyndale can be seen in the D. Samuel and Jeane H. Gottesman Exhibition Hall at The New York Public Library's Center for the Humanities at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street through May 17, 1997.

William Tyndale (1494?-1536) was a Roman Catholic priest who devoted his life to the study and translation of the Bible, spurred by the desire to "cause the boy that driveth the plough to know more of the scriptures" than did most of the clergy of the day. For his efforts to produce what eventually became an essential document of the Protestant Reformation, Tyndale was strangled and burned at the stake. "Eat, drink and be merry," "the fat of the land," "the powers that be," "fight the good fight," "signs of the times," are some of the everyday phrases coined by William Tyndale in his translation of the New Testament and parts of the Old Testament. Translated directly from the original Hebrew and Greek texts, his simple and poetic language has had a profound influence on the English-speaking world for 450 years. Tyndale's 1526 New Testament, the centerpiece of Let There Be Light, was purchased by The British Library in 1994 for more than one million pounds.

First organized by The British Library to mark the 500th anniversary of William Tyndale's birth, Let There Be Light has been expanded to include some 100 books and artifacts from both The British Library and The New York Public Library, providing a fascinating context for the importance of Tyndale's masterwork. Tyndale's translation of the first five books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch, 1530), made directly from the original Hebrew texts, will also be on display. Dr. Paul LeClerc, President of The New York Public Library, said that working with The British Library is another important step "toward the creation of a global community of library leaders, who through personal and inter-institutional relationships will work together to expand worldwide access to library collections. The New York Public Library is honored to be able to display the evidence of William Tyndale's legacy to the English language, an inheritance shared by English speakers the world over."

In the early 16th century, the only Bible accepted by the Roman Catholic Church was the Latin translation known as the "common version" or "Vulgate," made by Jerome in the 4th century. On display from The New York Public Library's collections will be a 14th-century illustrated manuscript Vulgate and a 16th-century printed copy. England was two generations behind its neighbors in offering printed vernacular Bibles, from Latin. Early vernacular translations in Italian, Dutch, German, Swedish, and Bohemian will be on view.

In the 14th century, John Wycliffe translated the Bible from Latin into English working from the Vulgate. Wycliffe's translation clung faithfully to the syntax and grammar of the Latin, which resulted in an awkward English. Though faithful to the Vulgate, Wycliffe's translation, which emphasized the common man's access to the Scriptures, was condemned as heretical in England by the Constitutions of Oxford in 1408, setting a precedent for Tyndale's fate. On display will be four 14th- and 15th-century Wycliffe Bibles from The New York Public Library, showing each of the four Gospels.

Tyndale's efforts to bring the Bible to the common man were seen as undermining the authority of the Church and the English monarchy. He was viewed as a heretic in England by Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey and was forced to work in secret, printing his pocket-sized New Testaments and parts of the Old Testament in mainland Europe. A timeline in the exhibition will give viewers a sense of Tyndale's place in the theological, political, and cultural spheres of his time.

The exhibition also includes a translation panel, comparing Tyndale's words with those of other translators (including Wycliffe's earlier attempt and the King James Version, among others), demonstrating that Tyndale expressed the original words of Scripture in an English which still speaks directly to the human heart. Two copies of Tyndale's Pentateuch translation will be on display from the collections of The New York Public Library. Tyndale felt passionately that Hebrew went better into English than into Latin. He made the English respond to the many varieties of Hebrew while consistently aiming for clarity above all else, even to the point of inventing words (like "scapegoat") when necessary. Living as an outlaw, Tyndale was eventually arrested in Brussels, imprisoned for sixteen months, tried for heresy, and, on October 6, 1536, strangled and burned. Tyndale's last words were said to have been "Lord, open the King of England's eyes." On display will be a letter from William Tyndale -- believed to be the only surviving document written in his hand -- written in Latin thirteen months before he died. The letter (on loan from the Archives générales du Royaume, Brussels), which is accompanied by a full translation, is a plea to a person in authority for some basic comforts as winter approaches, and for a Hebrew Bible, grammar, and dictionary.

Many of Tyndale's works were destroyed, but there are two surviving complete copies of his original 1526 translation (the other was "discovered" in November 1996 at the Württembergische Landesbibliothek in Stuttgart, Germany, and there is an incomplete copy at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.) This exhibition includes other surviving works by Tyndale. Perhaps his most important work outside the Bible translations was The Obedience of a Christian Man and how Christe[n] rulers ought to governe (Antwerp, 1535). In this book Tyndale stressed allegiance to the King as a duty of all good Christians and criticized the Church for emphasizing ritual over study of the Scriptures. This book was widely read -- secretly, as it was immediately banned, but it is said to have reached an approving King Henry VIII.

Exhibition highlights from The British Library's collections also include Anne Boleyn's personal copy of Tyndale's 1534 New Testament (his revised version); the Cologne 1525 fragment (Tyndale's first attempt to publish his New Testament, which includes a prologue and chapters 1-22 of Matthew, before printing was interrupted by the authorities); and Martin Luther's 1522 New Testament (known as the "September Testament"), which was groundbreaking because its translation was directly from the Greek into a German which could be understood in every region of Germany.

The work of translating the Bible is a never-ending process, and one that keeps scholars busy today. Displayed will be a small sampling of works -- from The New York Public Library's collections -- by present-day translators who, like their 15th- and 16th-century counterparts, draw on the original texts, earlier translations, new scholarship, and the ever-changing vernacular to bring the Bible to the readers of their time. Included are the Black Bible Chronicles (1993) by P. K. McCary; The Gospels and the Letters of Paul, An Inclusive-Language Edition (1992), translated and edited by Burton H. Throckmorton, Jr.; Genesis (1996), translation and commentary by Robert Alter; The New Testament (1996), translated by Richmond Lattimore; and the New International Version Pictorial Bible (1978), translated by an international group of scholars.

Travel Schedule: Let There Be Light was originally organized and first shown at The British Library in 1994 on the 500th anniversary of William Tyndale's birth. It was also the first time The British Library placed on public display Tyndale's 1526 New Testament, which had been recently acquired from the Bristol Baptist College in England. From there, the exhibition went to the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. Following its stay at The New York Public Library (February 22 - May 17, 1997), the exhibition will be on view at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., from June 4 to September 6, 1997.

Curators: The exhibition was co-curated by Dr. David Daniell and Dr. Mervyn Jannetta. Dr. Daniell is Emeritus Professor, University of London, and editor of The New Testament Translated from the Greek by William Tyndale in 1524 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989) and, more recently, author of William Tyndale: A Biography (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994). He also prepared a companion publication to The British Library exhibition, available for sale in New York at The Library Shop for $4.95. Co-curator Dr. Mervyn Jannetta is Head, English Antiquarian Collections, The British Library. Jeanne Bornstein and Holland Goss, Research Coordinators in The New York Public Library's Exhibition Program, arranged the adaptation of Let There Be Light for its presentation at The New York Public Library.

Sponsorship: Let There Be Light: William Tyndale and the Making of the English Bible has been supported at The New York Public Library, in part, by Pinewood Foundation and The Episcopal Church Foundation. Zondervan Bibles, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers, is the media partner for this exhibition. International air transportation has been provided by British Airways. Domestic air transportation has been provided by United Airlines.

Hours: Exhibitions in Gottesman Exhibition Hall at The New York Public Library's Center for the Humanities, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, are open Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Admission is free. For a recorded message of all exhibitions on view at the research libraries of The New York Public Library, call (212) 869-8089.

Notice of Gottesman Closing: Exhibitions in Gottesman Hall will be suspended from the closing of Let There Be Light in May 1997 through 1999 due to a renovation of the Main Reading Room. During that time, Gottesman will serve as a temporary reading room. Exhibitions in other spaces will continue as usual.

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