John Speed Genealogy and King James Bible

John Speeds’s Postdeluvian Genealogy 1610

Family history is not a new territory for the historian.

In 1611 John Speed along with Hebrew scholar Hugh Broughton created a genealogy to accompany the first printing of the King James Bible. The genealogy traced:

“euery family and tribe with the line of Our Sauior Jesus Christ obserued from Adam to the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

The genealogy presents the idea that Noah’s sons go out and populate all corners of the earth after the great biblical flood.

John Speed obtained a patent for ten years from King James on 31st October 1616, giving him the right to print and insert the genealogy in every  to write the genealogy and was given a printed copy of the bible  in 1612.

Speed charged a fixed price for each folio of thirty six pages, large 2s, small 1s 6d, quarto 12d, octavo 6d.

Although they formed no part of the book itself, they can be found in the early editions of the bible

The Genealogy is currently on display at the Harry Ransome Centre at the University of Texas

 

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