B. F. Westcott. A General View of the History of the English Bible. 1872. Second ed. Amazon.com, 2014.
Since I teach the history of the English Bible in my British Literature classes, I came across this title in a book I recently reviewed that devoted a chapter to Dr. Westcott. This is the most thorough book on the history of the Bible in English through the King James Version. It includes references to editions that no longer exist and does an exhaustive comparison between different versions, especially the more influential ones.
Other books have had the same purpose. For most general readers, F. F. Bruce’s History of the Bible in English is sufficient. Westcott has more details including mentions of a possible English version, clearly neither Latinate nor Wycliffite, that Chaucer may have used and a printed version of the Cheke New Testament. Cheke was Edward VI’s tutor.
As far as we know, Cheke only did the Gospel of Matthew and it was not published until the nineteenth century, three hundred years after he lived. But if there were a Cheke New Testament still in existence, as at least one contemporary source claims, it would be a collector’s item.
There are also many detailed comparisons emphasizing both differences between certain translations and similarities showing likely influences. Westcott also belonged to a committee which was tasked with updating the King James Version, so he does devote a chapter to the work on that.
Because Westcott was such a thorough researcher, A General View of the History of the English Bible is not dated. Anyone who really wants to get delve into the origins and stories behind the translations of the Bible into English from Wycliffe through King James, this book does the job.
Alas, the electronic copy issued by Amazon was clearly done by an optical scan, and no attempt was made to correct problems. Some words are unreadable: They resemble the cuss words from a comic strip. Because superscripts are seldom recorded properly, there is usually a mishmash between the footnotes and the text. The e-book needs some serious editing. My recommendation: Get the above edition and expect to be annoyed, or do an inter-library loan for a printed copy.