“With regard to Tyndale’s translation, Thomas More commented that searching for errors in the Tyndale Bible was similar to searching for water in the sea and Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall of London declared that there were upwards of 2,000 errors in Tyndale’s Bible.”
That was wickedness on the part of Thomas More, who knew better. There was nothing wrong with Tyndale’s translation, apart from the mortal errors that come with any man attempting anything. They were lying, and doing so to protect their hierarchy. Thomas More’s hatred for non-Catholics is a huge blot on his legacy.
For example, More protested that Tyndale used elder instead of bishop. Tyndale’s reply was that Erasmus did the same thing, and for the same reason: that is what the word means. More’s reply was that it was OK for Erasmus, because Erasmus wasn’t a heretic.
Henry VIII wasn’t known for his rational arguments, either! The ‘Great Bible’ he authorized had Tyndale’s NT, other than changes of the words for church & bishop to satisfy the church hierarchy. The KJV followed it, for the same reason. It was King James who said, “No Bishop, No King!”
The pictures I posted were from the original 1526 edition. Notice the notes? No? There weren’t any. Notes would have required extra printing cost. A previous attempted printing had included notes, but it didn’t make the market.
The preface to Tyndale’s NT read, in total:
“The New Testament as it was written, and caused to be written, by them which heard it. To whom also our saviour Christ Jesus commanded that they should preach it unto all creatures.”
If that is heresy, then I’m a heretic and proud to be one!
Regarding cost, in 1274 a Latin Bible cost 30 pounds. By the 1420s, a hand written Wycliffe New Testament was less than 3 pounds. A complete one ran 7-10 pounds. And the difference is even greater, because the inflation that caused the Peasant’s Revolt in the 1300s would have raised the price I’m comparing much higher than 30 pounds.
But in the 1520s, Tyndale’s New Testament ran under 0.15 pounds (7 groats). With distribution and shipping costs to towns around England, the price rose to about 1/3 of a pound - just 1% of the cost of a Latin Bible from 1274, and that doesn’t allow for the 150 years of inflation. And there are records of Tyndale’s complete NT selling for under two shillings.
“Later editions of it, without the prologue, had a general use even among Catholics -as far, of course, as the laborious transcription by hand in the pre- printing press days would permit the multiplication of copies.”
More precisely, copies without notes were impossible to discern as Wycliffe’s, since it was a perfectly good translation of the Latin.
The Lollards, for instance, did not hesitate to introduce into certain copies of the pious and orthodox Commentary on the Psalms by the hermit of Hampole interpolations of their own of the most virulently controversial kind (MSS. Trin. Coll. Camb. B.V. 25, Brit. Mus. Reg. 18. C. 26, &c.), and although the text of their Biblical versions was faithful and true, the General Prologue of the Later Version was interlarded with controversial matter.The English ‘Bibles fair and old’ referred to by Thomas More were copies of the later Wycliffite version. There was nothing in the translation itself that smacked of Lollardy or any other form of ‘heresy’, and the copies bore no indication of the translators’ identity. Many bishops would feel quite happy to grant permission for the possession and use of such copies.