Facsimile of William Tyndale’s 1534 New Testament For Preorder
Channel: Felix Rare Books
Date: 2023-04-01

Update, you can now buy this here: https://tyndalebible1534.com/

Our Digitising Process
We are partnering with an Austria-based scanning company, to digitise our 1534. This company has a rich history of scanning ancient books, including ones from the 1400s. The scanning process will occur in the coming weeks (April 2023)  at their headquarters in Vienna. Their unique scanner allows old books to be scanned in full fidelity at a 60° angle without having to open up the book block all the way, which would otherwise cause significant damage to a book of this antiquity. We'll be capturing this at 400 DPI for the richest possible reproduction quality of this historic work. 

Printing
Our scanner process captures the full page to the edges, and then we’re adding a 1cm margin around the edge. The original book block is approximately 114mm by 146mm (Portrait), and so the final book block will be about 134mm by 166mm. We’ll be printing this on 60gsm paper in full color (CMYK) to give you the full experience of how this originally appeared. 

Binding
Tyndale's 1534 clocks in around 437 pages total. We’re leaving these pages untouched but we’re adding a few pages (e.g. a title page for the book's ISBN, some blank ones at the end, etc), for a total page count of 448. This will yield us 7 signatures at 64 pages per signature. 

We are offering this in two binding options: (1) a hard-bound version in a delightful Balacron Kashmir style and (2) a leather-bound in paste-down cowhide. 

Both options will be smythe-bound (stitched) with identical dimensions and paperweight, but the leather version will have rounded pages with gold edges, and gold gilded letters on the spine; the look of a traditional Bible. 

Authenticity 
We are reproducing the actual 1534 edition of Tyndale's work. There were later printed editions that emerged subsequently in 1535 and afterward, but they lacked the woodcuts (illustrations) that are found in the original that was published by Marten de Keyser in Antwerp in 1534. Most of these 
woodcuts, including the 22 larger ones, are clustered in Revelation. This is the New Testament that we are reproducing. 

Readability
"What language is that!?" This is a common reaction we hear from people who see our 1534 for the first time. Never fear! Even though the spelling styles were different in 1534, with ten minutes’ effort you can learn to comfortably read this New Testament. Each reward tier will include a brief explanation of the handful of things you need to know to read this work.  

Timeline
We anticipate completing the digitising process in April-May. From there, we anticipate about a 12-week process before we can start fulfilling orders. There are a lot of moving parts in the publishing world, and we want to get it done right. At the same time, we’re eager to get this into your hands, and we anticipate fulfilling orders somewhere in August. 

Please share this project!
The second most helpful thing you can do, next to backing this project yourself, is telling others about it. Share it with family and friends in your church. Send a text message, Facebook post, or an old-fashioned email (our favorite). 

Questions?
If there’s something we’ve left out or if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or reach out directly via email at owenfelix2@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you!