The Holy Bible, According to the Authorized Version; with Notes, Explanatory and Practical; Taken Principally From the Most Eminent Writers of the United Church of England and Ireland.
First edition of the Holy Bible printed For The Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge at the Clarendon Press
The Holy Bible, According to the Authorized Version; with Notes, Explanatory and Practical; Taken Principally From the Most Eminent Writers of the United Church of England and Ireland.
$2,800.00
Item Number: 140219
Oxford: Printed For The Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge at the Clarendon Press by Bensley, Cooke, and Collingwood, Printers to The University, 1817.
First edition of the King James Bible printed For The Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge at the Clarendon Press for the use of families. Quarto, 4 volumes (including a duplicate of vol. I) bound in full contemporary polished calf by W. Hayes of Oxford, gilt titles and ruling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, illustrated with nine engraved maps (including two folding) and 55 plates. In very good condition. Family register to the front free endpaper of volume I. A very attractive presentation.
The Bible has had an unprecedented influence on literature and history, especially in the Western World, where the Gutenberg Bible was the first book printed using movable type. According to the March 2007 edition of Time, the Bible “has done more to shape literature, history, entertainment, and culture than any book ever written. Its influence on world history is unparalleled, and shows no signs of abating.” "From about the middle of the seventeenth century until the appearance of the Revised Bible of 1881-5, the King James' version reigned without rival" (Herbert 319). 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.