The Holy Bible Ornamented with Engravings by James Fittler From Celebrated Pictures by Old Masters. [With] The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and Other Rites and Ceremonies of The Church, According to the Use of the Church of England.

Item Number: 137046

London: The Letter Press by Thomas Bensley. Published by R. Bowyer, Historic Gallery, Pall Mall, & J. Fittler, No. 62, Upper Charlotte Street, 1795.

First edition of the “Killer Bible, referred to as such for the typographical error in Mark VII, verse 27: “Let the children be killed” rather than “filled.” Uniformly bound with a first edition of The Book of Common Prayers, and Administration of the Sacraments [London: Printed for Millar Ritchie, For J. Good, Bond Street, and E. Harding, Pall Mall, 1794]. Quarto, three volumes bound in full straight-grain morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, illustrated with 62 copper engraved plates by James Fittler after the works of Dürer, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Rubens, and others. In near fine condition. A very attractive example of this rarity.

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. Commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611 under the sponsorship of James I and VI, the King James Version of the bible, or Authorized Version, includes the 39 books of the Old Testament, an intertestamental section containing 14 books of the Apocrypha, and the 27 books of the New Testament. Noted for its "majesty of style", the King James Version has been described as one of the most important books in English culture and a driving force in the shaping of the English-speaking world. It was first printed by John Norton and Robert Barker, both holding the post of the King's Printer, and was the third translation into English approved by the English Church authorities. The first had been the Great Bible, commissioned in the reign of King Henry VIII (1535), and the second had been the Bishops' Bible, commissioned in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1568). In Geneva, Switzerland the first generation of Protestant Reformers had produced the Geneva Bible of 1560 from the original Hebrew and Greek scriptures, which was influential in the writing of the Authorized King James Version. This Bible is oftern reffered to as the "Killer Bible" for its typographical error in Mark VII, verse 27: "Let the children be killed" rather than "filled." However, it is more extraordinary for its artistic design by some of England's most skilled book artists of the period. James Fittler (1758-1835), who exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1788 to 1824 and was marine engraver to George III, is also known for his engravings for the Boydell Shakespeare and Dibdin's Aedes Althorpinae, though this Bible was probably his most ambitious literary project. Thomas Bentley, who printed the text, was known for his fine editions of plate books.