As early as 1524 he had chosen to go into exile on the Continent, for reasons of security, but also and especially because owning texts in Hebrew was forbidden in England since the Edict of Expulsion of the Jews in 1290.
Translated from Greek, the New Testament of Tyndale was published in 1526. The copies exported to England were burned by the bishop of London in dramatic humiliating processions of penitents which will in turn increase the notoriety of the translator.
Tyndale then worked on a translation of the Pentateuch directly from Hebrew which was published in Antwerp in 1530, reusing Holbein's woodcuts for an Old Testament published in Basel in 1524.
The Pentateuch of Tyndale is extremely rare. Only eight copies survive. The only one in private hands is estimated $ 300K for sale by Sotheby's in New York on December 5, lot 44.
Condemned for heresy by the inquisitor of Charles V, William Tyndale was strangled and burnt at Vilvoorde in 1536. He had written a pamphlet in 1530 against the first divorce of Henry VIII, but the king needed some moral support against his ecclesiastical opponents. As early as 1538 the use of the Tyndale Bible is recommended to all Englishmen.
SOLD for $ 670K including premium