# Free ebook: 1599 Geneva Bible



## reaganmarsh (Dec 17, 2015)

Greetings PB brethren,

Monergism has posted the 1599 Geneva Bible for free download here: https://www.monergism.com/1599-geneva-bible

Enjoy!


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## Logan (Dec 18, 2015)

Thank you, it looks like a very nice PDF. I don't have my physical copy handy to compare but it does look different from the Tolle Lege edition. Hopefully a decent Kindle edition will come out too (Tolle Lege's is pretty but barely functional).


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## Nebrexan (Dec 18, 2015)

Logan said:


> Thank you, it looks like a very nice PDF. I don't have my physical copy handy to compare but it does look different from the Tolle Lege edition. Hopefully a decent Kindle edition will come out too (Tolle Lege's is pretty but barely functional).



It looks identical to Tolle Lege's PDF except it doesn't include about 40 pages (~20 at the beginning including the copyright page, and ~20 at the end) and the watermark. I received TL's PDF when I purchased a Calvin Legacy Edition hardcover Geneva Bible.


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## reaganmarsh (Dec 18, 2015)

I agree, the PDF looks almost identical to my Tolle Lege hardback edition -- a very clean and functional version. If it is the TL file, I wonder why the copyright material and end matter would be excluded? Monergism doesn't do things "below the table," at least, not that I've observed. They seem to be very careful with what they publish.


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## TylerRay (Dec 18, 2015)

reaganmarsh said:


> I agree, the PDF looks almost identical to my Tolle Lege hardback edition -- a very clean and functional version. If it is the TL file, I wonder why the copyright material and end matter would be excluded? Monergism doesn't do things "below the table," at least, not that I've observed. They seem to be very careful with what they publish.



What exactly has TL copyrighted? Perhaps the 40 pages or so was the copyrighted material. The Geneva Bible itself is certainly not subject to copyright law.


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## reaganmarsh (Dec 18, 2015)

That's a great question, Tyler. My copy is in my Study at church, or else I could check. 

Perhaps someone whose copy is more ready to hand can answer?


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## Nebrexan (Dec 21, 2015)

> What exactly has TL copyrighted? Perhaps the 40 pages or so was the copyrighted material. The Geneva Bible itself is certainly not subject to copyright law.



_The 1599 Geneva Bible
Copyright © 2006-2007 by Tolle Lege Press
All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission
from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews,
and broadcasts._


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## Logan (Dec 21, 2015)

Right. The text itself is not copyrighted, but surely all the work going into modernizing the spelling, formatting, and typography, can't just be copied.

Curious!


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## Jake (Dec 21, 2015)

To add to its confusing origin stories, the information on the page of the download indicates it is a facsimile edition! Maybe they just copy and pasted an introduction to another edition.


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## reaganmarsh (Dec 21, 2015)

I really hope that Monergism's edition is a legitimate one...have to say that this is a bit concerning to me.

My hardback TL Geneva Bible has the identical copyright statement as David's (post #7, above).


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## NaphtaliPress (Dec 21, 2015)

I think we discussed this in the past. Someone questioned if just editing for spelling and punctuation is enough to copyright; and it may not be. Here though considerable work would need to have been used if the text was corrected to modern spellings, contractions were expanded etc. I have not seen the TL edition; if it claims to have done anything approaching critical work with the text, it is possibly all under copyright. If it just replicates exactly in a new typeface, the original printing, I'm not sure if that would stand up. It sounds like the new publisher assumed the added material was all that was protected. Or maybe they discussed this with TL? One would hope.


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## Nebrexan (Dec 22, 2015)

I used Monergism's contact form yesterday to ask about the similarity. I'll post their reply, or a summary of it, here when I receive it.


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## reaganmarsh (Dec 22, 2015)

Thanks, David!

Chris, my TL edition's prefatory material indicates fairly significant editing. I'll be at the office later today; perhaps I'll be able to post their statement then.


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## Nebrexan (Dec 23, 2015)

Nebrexan said:


> I used Monergism's contact form yesterday to ask about the similarity. I'll post their reply, or a summary of it, here when I receive it.



I received this response from John at Monergism.com today:




> Thanks for your email. I did not get this pdf book from Tolle Lege Press but it is possible that is part of its original source. I did not create this file but discovered it online and usually if there is a copyright issue then the publisher quickly gets back to me about it.



Copyright issues should really be resolved _before_ publishing a document, but it sounds like he would respond appropriately if Tolle Lege complains.


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## NaphtaliPress (Dec 23, 2015)

Has someone tried to contact TL to see if this is in the clear or not?


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