490 yrs ago today, William Tyndale was strangled and burned, having produced the English New Testament we celebrate 500 yrs of across 2026 His is a story that shows the violence and messiness of the early English Reformation and it opens my own study of how the English Bible became a bestseller

Happy #InternationalTranslationDay! To celebrate, we're sharing an image of Brian Walton's Polyglot Bible. The impressive six volume work presents the Old Testament in nine languages: Hebrew, Aramaic (Targum), Samaritan, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Ethiopic, Greek, and Latin.

How fitting that my episode on Tyndale with @onthetudortrail.bsky.social arrives on #internationaltranslationday Tyndale's English New Testament was the first to translate from Greek into English, and his Pentateuch the first from Hebrew into English. Listen to learn more about Tyndale's life...

Episode 362 - William Tyndale & the English Bible with Dr Harry Spillane

YouTube video by Talking Tudors

youtube.com

Great to see 'Selling the Word of God: The Early Commercial History of the English Bible' in such great company within @finebooks.bsky.social September roundup of new books

Fine Books & Collections@finebooks.bsky.social · 2w ago

History of Bookselling, Selling the Bible, and A Librarian’s Memoir: September Books Roundup www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-n...

History of Bookselling, Selling the Bible, and A Librarian’s Memoir: September Books Roundup www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-n...

History of Bookselling, Selling the Bible, and A Librarian’s Memoir: September Books Roundup

Our regular look at the new books that have recently caught the eye of our print and online editors this month.Selling the Word of God: The Early Commercial History of the English Bible by Harry Spill...

finebooksmagazine.com

'Selling the Word of God' is also being distributed in the US via @uchicagopress.bsky.social : press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo... A review of the book by David Smith has also just been published: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Selling the Word of God

The fascinating commercial history of the Bible’s first English printings.The Bible is the most published text in history, and the story of its publication in the English language is extraordinary. Pu...

press.uchicago.edu

Harry Spillane@harryspillane.bsky.social · 3w ago

OUT NOW - Selling the Word of God: The Early Commercial History of the English Bible Pictured here at Emmanuel College beneath the Tyndale window, and with the @newnhamcollege.bsky.social table and pink velvet chaise longue that enabled its writing bodleianshop.co.uk/products/sel...

OUT NOW - Selling the Word of God: The Early Commercial History of the English Bible Pictured here at Emmanuel College beneath the Tyndale window, and with the @newnhamcollege.bsky.social table and pink velvet chaise longue that enabled its writing bodleianshop.co.uk/products/sel...

Next up in our #Shakespeare webinar series is RICHARD III. Emma Smith @oldfortunatus.bsky.social will be joined by Susan L. Anderson (Mary Baldwin University) to discuss the new Oxford World's Classics edition of the play. 5 October | 6-7.15pm (BST) This is a free public event & all are welcome!

English Faculty/OWC Shakespeare Webinar: Richard III

In this free webinar, Professor Emma Smith will be discussing the new edition of Richard III from Oxford World's Classics.

shakespeare-webinar-richard-iii.eventbrite.co.uk

THEY GOT TO 2000 SUPPORTERS! Now in need of 3000 more in just under a year. LETS GO! #earlymodern #bookhistory #skystorians

Elizabeth Biggs@elizabethbiggs.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Hi #EarlyModern Bluesky - did you know that someone brilliant has built working printing presses using Lego and they are trying to get enough supporters so that Lego will release it as a kit? They look so cool! beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...

With just a week until the release of 'Selling the Word of God: The Early Commercial History of the English Bible', the first review is already out. Very grateful to David Smith @camhistory.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

How to do with books, especially bibles, when you live in a material world? Well, William Hogarth of 18th century fame reminds us of the typical re-using (of bindings). In this case, the leather binding is re-used for a shoe sole. #bookhistory #booksky

For the last nine months it's been my pleasure & privilege to be the editor of Renaissance Studies, and I think we're well overdue a romp through some fantastic articles we've published this year. See below for some of the finest new research in the interdisciplinary study of the Renaissance! 👇

ANTHONY GRAFTON IN THE HOUSE!!! #earlymodern #skystorians In person in the Warburg but with nice online access!

Princeton University Press@princetonupress.bsky.social · 4w ago

We're thrilled to be co-sponsoring the 2026 E.H. Gombrich Lecture Series next week, 22-24 September at 6:00 pm BST, with @warburginstitute.bsky.social! Dr. Anthony Grafton of @princeton.edu will deliver this three-part lecture series on the life & controversies of Joseph Scaliger. Details below:

Delighted to see 'Selling the Word of God' advertised in the Church Times with a generous endorsement from Rev Fergus Butler-Gallie

With less than two weeks to go until the publication of "Selling the Word of God. The Early Commercial History of the English Bible", I'm delighted to be featured in Oxford University's 'Off the Shelf' for September @ox.ac.uk www.alumni.ox.ac.uk/article/off-...

OFF THE SHELF: SEPTEMBER 2026

This month Mallory, Mussolini, Markets, AI, sickle cells, bibles, World War Two, Bayeux Tapestry, M.R.James, Ukraine, Universities and Asylum

alumni.ox.ac.uk

Bryan Deighton, Conservator (Books & Paper) at Cambridge University Library, has completed a project to conserve a 19th-century album filled with medieval manuscript fragments. 🔎Learn more about the work, which was made possible by a grant from @thenmct.bsky.social: https://loom.ly/PkeRIVs

Good to see new research on the intersection of #bookhistory and bible history.

Harry Spillane@harryspillane.bsky.social · 2mo ago

One month until the release of 'Selling the Word of God' on Sep 24th. All at Bodleian Publishing have done a wonderful job in producing a beautifully illustrated book! Available to pre-order now from: bodleianshop.co.uk/products/sel... (10% discount with code: SWG10) 1/3

One month until the release of 'Selling the Word of God' on Sep 24th. All at Bodleian Publishing have done a wonderful job in producing a beautifully illustrated book! Available to pre-order now from: bodleianshop.co.uk/products/sel... (10% discount with code: SWG10) 1/3

7 Aug 1570: d. Margaret [Harleston] Parker wife of Archbishop Matthew Parker 'right Christianly' as her husband recorded it. Parker had lived with her from 1544 and then married her in June 1547. (Lambeth Palace)

Happening this evening - 'Go the extra mile', to hear 'a small still voice' or two describe Tyndale's achievement of 'fighting the good fight' to give the Bible to all. Wine & cheese provided to 'eat drink and be merry' too *just four of Tyndale's wonderful English phrases so subtly worked in there

Harry Spillane@harryspillane.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Tyndale at 500 - 'The Ploughboy Revolution' Join us for an evening at the Round Church, Cambridge, to celebrate 500 years of Tyndale's New Testament. I'll be joined in conversation with the wonderful Tony Watkins from @tyndalehouse.bsky.social More info at: lifeintheround.org

Pleased to see my review of Raphael Magarik's 'Fictions of God' out with the Sixteenth Century Journal. Well worth a read @16csociety.bsky.social

Happening on Monday - a chance to reflect on what Tyndale's achievement of producing the first English New Testament out of the original Greek means 500 years on. A free event at the Cambridge Round Church, with wine & cheese too. 'Eat, drink and be merry' is appropriately a phrase Tyndale coined!

Harry Spillane@harryspillane.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Tyndale at 500 - 'The Ploughboy Revolution' Join us for an evening at the Round Church, Cambridge, to celebrate 500 years of Tyndale's New Testament. I'll be joined in conversation with the wonderful Tony Watkins from @tyndalehouse.bsky.social More info at: lifeintheround.org

Tyndale at 500 - 'The Ploughboy Revolution' Join us for an evening at the Round Church, Cambridge, to celebrate 500 years of Tyndale's New Testament. I'll be joined in conversation with the wonderful Tony Watkins from @tyndalehouse.bsky.social More info at: lifeintheround.org

Happy Birthday to my old favourite, Archbishop Matthew Parker, born #otd in 1504 Sometime master of @corpuscambridge.bsky.social and benefactor of the @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social, also @theul.bsky.social, and archbishop of Canterbury from 1559-75. Celebrate by learning all about his portrait:

Matthew Parker’s Portrait

‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ the old adage tells us. Despite being the first portrait engraved in England, the portrait of Matthew Parker (1504–1575) from the College Statutes (CCCC MS 582) h...

corpus.cam.ac.uk

Tyndale at 500 - 'The Ploughboy Revolution' Join us for an evening at the Round Church, Cambridge, to celebrate 500 years of Tyndale's New Testament. I'll be joined in conversation with the wonderful Tony Watkins from @tyndalehouse.bsky.social More info at: lifeintheround.org

Excited to have started overseeing the book reviews section of 'The Journal of Ecclesiastical History'. A reminder that suggestions of books and offers to review can be sent to jeh-office@cambridge.org @universitypress.cambridge.org @cambridge.org

My review of 'Researching the English Reformation' is out now with Ecclesiology. This wide range of essays is a fitting tribute to the work of W.B. Patterson, edited by Benjamin Guyer and William Engel from @degruyterbrill.bsky.social tinyurl.com/mtxn5azs

Researching the English Reformation: Essays in Honour of W. B. Patterson, written by Benjamin M. Guyer and William E. Engel

"Researching the English Reformation: Essays in Honour of W. B. Patterson, written by Benjamin M. Guyer and William E. Engel" published on 25 May 2026 by Brill.

tinyurl.com

A tremendous range of forthcoming books from @camhistory.bsky.social! Honoured to be in such great company 📚

Cambridge University History Faculty@camhistory.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Explore new books from Cambridge historians: ➡Selling the Word of God by @harryspillane.bsky.social ➡The Oxford Illustrated History of the United States ed. by @nicholasguyatt.bsky.social ➡Frenzy in Early Modern England: Madness, Brain Disease and the Soul by @extispex.bsky.social Discover more⬇️

For American friends, I am pleased to announce that 'Selling the Word of God' is being distributed by the University of Chicago Press ($40) Do pre-order your copy from: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Selling the Word of God

The fascinating commercial history of the Bible’s first English printings.The Bible is the most published text in history, and the story of its publication in the English language is extraordinary. Se...

press.uchicago.edu

Harry Spillane@harryspillane.bsky.social · 5mo ago

AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW: 'Selling the Word of God: The Early Commercial History of the English Bible' - £25 A study of how the English Bible became a bestseller, charting the innovations, errors, rivalries and bankruptcies behind the 'book of books' Coming September 2026 tinyurl.com/2p3cdmwp

A pleasure to talk Tyndale at the 'Big Ideas by the Sea' festival in Scarborough. The festival is a great initiative and allows for a day of talks and music followed by seaside walks and fish & chips...what more could you want! www.bigideasbythesea.com