May 04, 2020 Book of the Week — The Revelation of Saint John the Divine

And when he opened the fourthe seale I herde the voyce of the fourthe beste saye: come and se. And I loked and beholde a grene horsse and his name that sat on him was deeth and hell folowed after him and power was geven vnto them over the fourthe parte of the erth to kyll with swearde and with honger and with deeth that cometh of vermen of the erth. — Revelation 6:7-8

The Revelation of Saint John the Divine
Detroit, MI: Cranbrook Press, 1901
BS2823 1901

Text is the first English translation by William Tyndale (ca. 1525-26).

Illustrated with woodcut initials, tailpieces, black-on-white borders throughout, and sixteen full-page woodcuts after Albrecht Dürer’s “Apocalypse Series,” first printed in Nuremberg in 1498 when the artist was twenty-seven. These scenes cemented Durer’s fame and provided him with a source of income for life. The imaginative, animated woodcuts pushed book illustration from simple line drawings to sophisticated works of art.

Edition of two hundred and forty copies.

And I sawe in the right honde of him that sat in ye trone a boke written with in and on the backside sealyd with vii. seales. And I sawe a stronge angell which cryed with a loude voyce: Who is worthy to open the boke and to loose the seales therof. And no man in heven ner in erth nether vnder the erth was able to open the boke nether to loke thereon. And I wepte moche because no man was founde worthy to open and to rede the boke nether to loke thereon. And one of the elders sayde unto me: wepe not: Beholde a lion beinge of the tribe of Iuda the rote of Dauid hath obtayned to open the boke and to lose the vii. seales therof. — Revelation 5:1-5

And I sawe another signe in heve grett and mervellous .vii. angells havynge the seven laste plages for in the is fulfylled ye wrath of god. And I sawe as it were a glassye see mingled with fyre and the that had gotten victory of the beest and of his ymage and of his marke and of the nombre of his name stode on the glassye see havinge ye harpes of god and they songe the songe of Moses the servaunt of god and the songe of the lambe sayinge. Gret and marvellous are thy workes Lorde god almyghty iuste and true are thy wayes kynge of saynctes. — Revelation 15:1-3

And after yt I herde ye voyce of moche people in heven sayinge: Alleluia. Saluacion and glory and honour and power be ascribed to ye lorde oure god  for true and ryghteous are his iudgmentes for he hath iudged ye grett whore which did corrupt the erth with her fornicacion and hath avenged the bloud of his servauntes of her hond. — Revelation 19: 1-2