KING JAMES "HE" BIBLE.


The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New. London: Robert Barker, 1611. Folio (407 x 276 mm). 3 leaves (title page, first preliminary and final leaf of text) supplied in facsimile. Early calf, with decorative borders stamped in blind, brass cornerplates and centerpieces, catchplates and clasps, straps renewed, rebacked, new endpapers. Some minor paper restoration and repair, mostly to first and last few leaves.FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE OF THE KING JAMES "HE" BIBLE, with the erroneous reading "and he went into the citie" in Ruth 3:15, corrected to "...she went..." in all subsequent printings of the Bible. One of the most influential texts in the English language, Thomas Macaulay anointed it "a book, which if everything else in our language should perish, would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power" (PMM 114). The official work of translation was undertaken by nearly 50 scholars over the span of 1604 to 1611, but it can be seen as the culmination of nearly a century of work, beginning with William Tyndale's New Testament translations, and including the bibles of Coverdale and Whitchurch, the Bishops' Bible, the Geneva Bible, and the Rheims New Testament. "Appointed to be read in Churches," the Great "He" Bible was exposed to public usage (on lecterns) and almost all surviving copies have suffered some manner of damage or loss. The present copy, despite its missing leaves, is a handsome specimen of a book now rare in commerce and private hands. David Norton, the distinguished Bible historian, calls the 1611 King James He Bible "the most important book in English religion and culture." ESTC S122347; Herbert 309; Pforzheimer 61; PMM 114.