The circulation and influence of the English version made by Wycliffe--or, as some scholars think, at Wycliffe's instance--is shown by the fact that in spite of persecution and destruction one hundred and seventy copies are still preserved, one hundred and forty of which belong to a second revision, made by a younger friend of Wycliffe's, John Purvey (Plate XIV). It was the first English translation of the whole Bible, a good specimen of English, but, like most mediæval translations based upon the Latin Vulgate, preserving the faults of that version and adding others of its own. There are numbers of Czech Bibles in existence, both in manuscript and in print, but not yet thoroughly studied. It is remarkable that in this Hussite Bible, as well as in some German translations of the same time, readings are found which go back to the very earliest period of textual development. They belong to the southern branch of French tradition and are supplied probably by Latin, French, or Italian copies which came from Lyons or Milan. This is clear evidence that it was through the Waldensians that the Bible spread in the vernacular of Italy, Bohemia, and Germany, and that the later movements, while originating independently, were in close relation with the earlier ones. It is the Bible which not only stirred all these movements but connected them one with the other. [Illustration: PLATE XIV--WYCLIFFE'S BIBLE (Brit. Mus. Egerton, 617-8) A beautiful copy in folio of the first edition; it is interesting to compare Egerton, 1171, a small octavo copy of the second edition, written for private use. From "Fac-similes of Biblical Manuscripts." By permission of the Trustees of the British Museum.] VI THE BIBLE TRAINS PRINTERS AND TRANSLATORS (1450-1611) We have been led in the last chapters far back into the Middle Ages. Now we approach the great time of discoveries. It is difficult to say who made the most important discovery, Columbus crossing the Atlantic to find a new world, in which a new civilisation was to arise, or Gutenberg inventing the art of printing and thereby revolutionising the world of intellectual life and consequently the history of the Bible.