The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testament. Newly Translated out of the original tongues and with the former translations diligently compared and revised by his Majesties special Command.

$7,200.00

Item Number: 146832

London: N.p, 1672.

Rare 17th century edition of the King James version of the Holy Bible in folio, with Geneva Bible notes. Herbert 708; Wing B2285. Folio, 2 parts bound into one in three quarter speckled calf over marbled boards with elaborate gilt stamping to the spine in seven compartments within raised gilt bands, burgundy morocco spine label lettered in gilt, engraved additional title page, text largely double-column, ribbon bound in. In very good condition. A very rare folio edition of the King James Bible.

"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.