English Protestants fleeing the persecution of Queen Mary had settled in Geneva, including a group of scholars and theologians who sought to produce a translation of the Bible that "faithfully rendered the text, and in all hard places most sincerely expounded the same." This is the first English translation of the entire Old Testament to be made on the basis of the Hebrew text. From Geneva, copies of this Bible were smuggled into England. Later, when Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne, printing of this Bible moved to England and continued well past the introduction of the 1611 version authorized by King James. In total over 140 separate printings of the Geneva Bible were produced.

In addition to the biblical text, the Geneva Bible includes an extensive system of introductions to individual books, study notes, cross-refer-ences, maps, and other aids to reading and interpretation. This remarkably complete copy of the 1560 edition preserves several original features. The Apocrypha, retained in this copy, was often physically removed and, in some later printings, not included at all. The pages were not trimmed during binding as much as other copies, resulting in a taller than normal size. While both title pages and the five separate maps are present in this copy, the main title page and three of the five maps are repairs. It was not unusual for later users of the Geneva Bible to remove maps and title pages. In addition, 26 engravings of biblical scenes were produced in the original edition.