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The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament and the New. Newly Translated Out of the Originall Tongues: And with the former translations diligently compared and revised, by his Maiesties Speciall Comandement…
Summary
The third of the five distinct pulpit folios of the King James Version. A textually complete copy with the Genealogies by John Speed, at a fraction of the price of the first edition.
Description
General title page (1617) in facsimile. Calendar printed in red and black. The Genealogies by John Speed with title page. The double-page map in facsimile. Text in large two column black letter type with 59 lines to the full column and within a ruled border. With the reading “and she went into the citie” in Ruth 3:15. New Testament title page (1617) with the twelve tribes of Israel on the left and the twelve disciples on the right. The four evangelists with their gospel symbols around the letterpress with the Tetragrammaton, the dove, and the slain Lamb at the center.
Collation
A^6 (-A1), B^4, C^6, D^4 [prelims]; A-C^6, D^2 (-D^2) [Genealogies and map], A-Z^6; Aa-Zz^6, Aaa-Zzz^6, Aaaa-Zzzz^6, Aaaaa-Ccccc^6 [Old Testament and Apocrypha]; A-Z^6, Dddddd^6 [New Testament]. Complete Bible text with general title page and the map supplied in facsimile.
Binding
Professionally rebound in brown calf. Covers paneled in gilt and blind. Spine with five raised bands, gilt and blind tooling to compartments, and with two gilt-lined red morocco labels and the words “Holy Bible” and “1611 3rd issue” lettered in gilt. Endpapers renewed.
Condition
A2-C1 of prelims with marginal corner repair; 5D1-2 (NT title and first leaf of Matthew) with a few ink blots; 5G2 with ink blot to text obstructing a few letters on recto; 6A-6D with lower corner reinforced to margins; final two leaves of Revelation with loss to border and one letter of text; final leaf soiled and frayed to edges; overall a very nice copy with great margins.
Note
The 1611 King James Bible was printed in a 59-line folio format in 1611, 1613, 1617, 1634, and in 1640/39. The 1611 He Bible constituted a distinct edition with the reading “and hee went into the citie” in Ruth 3:15. The second edition 1613 She Bible was printed in subsequent years (1613, 1617, 1634, 1640/39) with the variant “and she went into the citie.” The second edition is frequently found in a variant state with leaves mixed in from different years.
Arguably the most important book ever published in English. Its influence can best be summed up by G.M. Trevelyan who stated that "for every Englishman who had read Sidney or Spenser, or had seen Shakespeare acted at the Globe, there were hundreds who had read or heard the Bible with close attention as the words of God. The effect of the continual domestic study of the book upon the national character, imagination and intelligence for nearly three centuries to come, was greater than that of any literary movement in our annals, or any religious movement since the coming of St. Augustine." Macaulay said of it, “If everything else in our language should perish, [the King James Bible] would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power” (PMM 114).
References
Herbert 319. PMM 114.