Why is there an image of the God Poseidon illustrating the letter T in a copy of a 16th century bible!? I can only assume that the printer, Richard Jugge, based in the prining centre of London at St Pauls Graveyard, wanted an eye catching woodcut intial at the start of a chapter. It obviously had not caused any offence to the Archbishop Matthew Parker, who commissioned the 1568 first edition of this bible and ensured this 1572 edition was also printed.
I became interested in this Bible , when it was (re)discovered in the collection of the Norris Museum, St Ives, Cambridgeshire, where I am a volunteer. I've spent several years collecting and collating data which I hope to continue to report on, as well as giving talks on the dangerous nature of Bibles, olitics and Art in the tumultuous years of the Tudors and the reformation.
The 1572, second edition of the Bishops Bible has 1311 woodcut initials throughout its 1442 pages. What is surprising is the variety of different types for each represented letter of the alphabet. The most frequently used initials are A, 14 types – 433 occurrences, I, 15 types – 133 occurrences, T 15 types – 276 occurrences.
All the letters, bar three, are Roman initials, in contrast to the black letter font of most of the bible text. The three exceptions are where the initial forms part of a design incorporating a coat of arms, one large O and two different large T, listed as loosely historiated in figure 1.
The remaining woodcut initials comprise an almost equal balance of 57 floriated (having a floral pattern) and 58 inhabited designs (where there are animal or mythical or human figures included). Including the three coat of arms designs, there are 16 historiated initials, showing recognisable scenes from mythology, including the controversial G with Leda and the swan, and two that are a variation of Eve and the serpent.
I have prepared and uploaded a full catalogue of the 132 woodcut initials from the 1572 Bishops Bible, which can be found in the Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/bishops-bible-capitals-sized-ordered-b/page/6/mode/2up or by searching there for "The 132 Woodcut initials of the Bishops Bible 1572".
More articles on the subject will follow.
