The first printed English translation of the Magna Carta was published in 1534 by Robert Redman (d. 1540). A rival of Richard Pynson, Redman eventually adopted Pynson’s premises and printer’s emblem in Fleet Street. Like Pynson, Redman’s production was dominated by legal titles, but with innovations such as the inclusion of alphabetical indexes and the translation of the sources into English. In the case of Magna Carta, Redman collaborated with the courtier and poet, George Ferrers (d. 1579), who had been educated at Cambridge and Lincoln’s Inn, and was associated with Thomas Cromwell’s household. Ferrers’s translation was regarded as having a number of errors, which were compounded by printer’s mistakes. Subsequent editions, for example that by Thomas Petyt (d. 1565/6) in 1542, announced that ‘a great deal of care’ had been taken to correct the text. Ferrers’s corrected English translation of Magna Carta ran to many editions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The boke of Magna Carta, with diuers other statutes ... translated into Englyshe (by George Ferrerz). ff. 193. Robert Redman: London, 1534. Source: C.112.a.6, f.1. Language: English.

The first printed English translation of the Magna Carta was published in 1534 by Robert Redman (d. 1540). A rival of Richard Pynson, Redman eventually adopted Pynson’s premises and printer’s emblem in Fleet Street. Like Pynson, Redman’s production was dominated by legal titles, but with innovations such as the inclusion of alphabetical indexes and the translation of the sources into English. In the case of Magna Carta, Redman collaborated with the courtier and poet, George Ferrers (d. 1579), who had been educated at Cambridge and Lincoln’s Inn, and was associated with Thomas Cromwell’s household. Ferrers’s translation was regarded as having a number of errors, which were compounded by printer’s mistakes. Subsequent editions, for example that by Thomas Petyt (d. 1565/6) in 1542, announced that ‘a great deal of care’ had been taken to correct the text. Ferrers’s corrected English translation of Magna Carta ran to many editions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The boke of Magna Carta, with diuers other statutes ... translated into Englyshe (by George Ferrerz). ff. 193. Robert Redman: London, 1534. Source: C.112.a.6, f.1. Language: English.

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