The King James or The
Authorized Version of the
Bible
A Short History of the BOOK in English up
through the 17th Century
A Disclaimer
Timeline of The English
Bible Translation
995: Anglo-Saxon (Early Roots of English Language) Translations of The New Testament
Produced.
1384: Wycliffe is the First Person to Produce a (Hand-Written) manuscript Copy of the
Complete Bible; All 80 Books.
1455: Gutenberg Invents the Printing Press; The First Book Ever Printed is Gutenberg's
Bible in
Latin.
1516: Erasmus Produces a Greek/Latin Parallel New Testament.
1522: Martin Luther's German New Testament.
1526: William Tyndale's New Testament; The First New Testament printed in the English
Language.
1535: Myles Coverdale's Bible; The First Complete Bible printed in the English Language
(80
Books: O.T. & N.T. & Apocrypha).
1537: Tyndale-Matthews Bible; The Second Complete Bible printed in English. Done by
John "Thomas Matthew" Rogers (80 Books).
1539: The "Great Bible" Printed; The First English Language Bible Authorized for Public
Use (80 Books).
1560: The Geneva Bible Printed; The First English Language Bible to add Numbered
Verses to Each Chapter (80 Books).
1568: The Bishops Bible Printed; The Bible of which the King James was a Revision (80
Books).
1609: The Douay Old Testament is added to the Rheims New Testament (of 1582) Making
the First Complete English Catholic Bible; Translated from the Latin Vulgate (80 Books).
1611: The King James Bible Printed; Originally with All 80 Books.
The Apocrypha was Officially Removed in 1885 Leaving Only 66 Books.
1782: Robert Aitken's Bible; The First English Language Bible (KJV) Printed in America.
1791: Isaac Collins and Isaiah Thomas Respectively Produce the First Family Bible and
First Illustrated Bible Printed in America. Both were King James Versions, with All 80
Books.
1808: Jane Aitken's Bible (Daughter of Robert Aitken); The First Bible to be Printed by a
1833: Noah Webster's Bible; After Producing his Famous Dictionary, Webster Printed his Own
Revision of the King James Bible.
1841: English Hexapla New Testament; an Early Textual Comparison showing the Greek and 6
Famous English Translations in Parallel Columns.
1846: The Illuminated Bible; The Most Lavishly Illustrated Bible printed in America. A King
James Version, with All 80 Books.1885 AD: The "English Revised Version" Bible; The First
Major English Revision of the KJV.
1901: The "American Standard Version"; The First Major American Revision of the KJV.
1971: The "New American Standard Bible" (NASB) is Published as a "Modern and Accurate
Word for Word English Translation" of the Bible.
1973: The "New International Version" (NIV) is Published as a "Modern and Accurate Phrase
for Phrase English Translation" of the Bible.
1982: The "New King James Version" (NKJV) is Published as a "Modern English Version
Maintaining the Original Style of the King James.”
2002: The English Standard Version (ESV) is Published as a translation to bridge the gap
between the accuracy of the NASB and the readability of the NIV.
Consider the following textual comparison of the earliest
English translations of John 3:16
1st Ed. King James (1611): "For God so loued the world, that he gaue his only begotten Sonne: that
whosoeuer beleeueth in him, should not perish, but haue euerlasting life.”
Rheims (1582): "For so God loued the vvorld, that he gaue his only-begotten sonne: that euery one that
beleeueth in him, perish not, but may haue life euerlasting”
Geneva (1560): "For God so loueth the world, that he hath geuen his only begotten Sonne: that none that
beleue in him, should peryshe, but haue euerlasting lyfe.”
Great Bible (1539): "For God so loued the worlde, that he gaue his only begotten sonne, that whosoeuer
beleueth in him, shulde not perisshe, but haue euerlasting lyfe.”
Tyndale (1534): "For God so loveth the worlde, that he hath geven his only sonne, that none that beleve in
him, shuld perisshe: but shuld have everlastinge lyfe.”
Wycliff (1380): "for god loued so the world; that he gaf his oon bigetun sone, that eche man that bileueth
in him perisch not: but haue euerlastynge liif,”
Anglo-Saxon Proto-English Manuscripts (995 AD): “God lufode middan-eard swa, dat he seade his ancennedan sunu, dat nan ne forweorde de on hine gely ac habbe dat ece lif."
Anglo-Saxon Bible ca.990
The Wessex Gospels (also known as the West-Saxon Gospels)
are a full translation of the four Gospels from the Latin text.
Only seven manuscript copies survive.
The text of Mathew 6:9-13, the Lord’s Prayer, is as follows:
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum, si þin nama gehalgod. To
becume þin rice, gewurþe ðin willa, on eorðan swa swa on
heofonum. Urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg, and forgyf us
ure gyltas, swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum. And ne gelæd þu
us on costnunge, ac alys us of yfele. Soþlice.[1]
Wyciffe Bible 1384
The First English Manuscript of the Complete Bible with all 80 Books
William Tyndale, d 1536
New Testament 1526
Myles Coverdale 1488-1569
The First Complete Bible printed in the English Language (80
Books: O.T. & N.T. & Apocrypha) 1535
Matthew Bible
The Second Complete Bible printed in English. Done by John "Thomas
Matthew" Rogers (80 Books) 1537
The Great or Cranmer’s Bible 1539
The First English Language Bible Authorized for Public Use (80 Books)
Geneva Bible 1560
The First English Language Bible to add Numbered Verses to Each
Chapter
(80 Books).
Albion Geneva Bible
Gift of Longstreet
The Bishop’s Bible Printed 1568
(80 Books)
Rheims / Douay Bible 1582
The First Complete English Catholic Bible
Timeline for the KJV

1601 - 16 May, a meeting of the General Assembly of the Church of
Scotland took place in the Parish Church of Burntisland, Fife, attended by
King James VI of Scotland. It was at this meeting that the proposal to have
a new translation of the Bible was first discussed.

1603 Accession of James 1 and VI.

Puritan petition with 1,000 signatures (millenary petition) presented to King
James on route to London.

1604 (January) James assembled Hampton Court Conference on the future
of the church and to consider the petition.

Puritan leader John Rainolds on the second day proposed a new translation
of the Bible.

Appealed to James despite resistance of Bishops
The Plan for the KJV
 James I and Richard Bancroft, Bishop of London, later to
become Archbishop of Canterbury, drew up instructions for
the translators which would ensure that the new version
would conform to the theology of the Church of England.
 Six Companies of Translators were established (54
translators):

The First Westminster Company, directed by Lancelot Andrewes
(Dean of Westminster then Bishop of Chichester, then Ely, then
Winchester; finally Dean of Chapel Royal), translated: Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth,
I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings and II Kings
The Plan continued
 The First Cambridge Company, directed by Edward Lively (Regius
Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge, prebendary at Peterborough
then rector of Purleigh, Essex), translated: I Chronicles, II
Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon
 The First Oxford Company, directed by John Harding (Regius
Professor of Hebrew, President, Magdalen College, Oxford then
Rector of Halsey, Oxfordshire), translated: Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah,
Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai and
Malachi
The Plan continued
 The Second Cambridge Company, directed by John Duport (rector
of Fulham, then precentor of St Paul's, Master of Jesus College,
finally prebendary of Ely) translated:
The Apocrypha
 The Second Oxford Company, directed by Thomas Ravis (Dean of
Christ Church then Bishop of Gloucester then London)
translated:
The Gospels, Acts of the Apostles and Revelation
 The Second Westminster Company, directed by William Barlow
(prebendary of Westminster, when Lancelot Andrewes was
Dean, then Dean of Chester, Bishop of Rochester then Lincoln)
translated:
the New Testament Epistles
The Rules

There were 15 rules that the companies were charged to follow.

Later these were summarized to 8 rules.

The most important were probably:

1. The ordinary Bible read in the church, commonly called the Bishop’s
Bible, to be followed, and as little altered as the truth of the original will
permit.

No marginal notes except for the explanation of the Hebrew or Greek
words.

The translators were not being asked to create a new version of the Bible,
but rather to revise the established version, removing any blemishes or
inaccuracies.

These translations to be used when they agree better with the text than the
Bishop’s Bible: Tyndale’s, Matthew’s, Coverdale’s Whitchurch’s, Geneva.
Timeline continue
 1608 - the various sections were finished.
 1610 - Meeting to discuss the translation at the Stationers
Hall, City of London.
 The Bishop of Gloucester, Miles Smith, wrote the Preface,
which acknowledged the new translation's debt to its
predecessors, but set out the hope that "out of many good ones"
there would now be "one principal good one" used by everyone.
 1611 - The King James Bible was published, despite
considerable problems printing it.
 He and She versions of first printing, etc.
The Albion College KJV
st
1 edition

Provenance
A handwritten note from William R. Longstreet, the donor of this volume and
of a great many of the other items in the College’s Historical Bible Collection,
was found inserted into the middle of this Bible. It identifies this Bible as
belonging to the second issue of the first edition of the King James Version,
sometimes called “The Great ‘She’ Bible”, since Ruth 3:15 reads (correctly) and
she went into the citie instead of the erroneous reading in the first issue of the
first edition, which read and he went into the citie.
This issue is also sometimes called the “Judas” Bible because in Matthew 26:36
it reads Judas instead of Jesus in the verse: Then cometh Judas with them into a
place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit yee here, while I goe
and pray yonder. Curiously enough, an attempt has been made to erase the word
Judas in this copy, but it can still be read.
In a continuation of Longstreet’s note, he says: This Bible reached Saginaw from
Manchester England in Early Summer 1941 during Second Great War.
Longstreet.
Albion copy of
cont.
st
1
ed.
 William Longstreet also gave many other historic Bibles.
 Including 2 second editions of KJV 1613
 First quarto edition of KJV, a She version.
 Remained uncataloged until 1990s.
 The Frank Frick descriptive catalogue.
 Catalogued to OCLC.
 Condition is the issue.
Help Save Albion's
1st edition of the
KJV
Broken front board, electrician tape,
lacks a title page
What can be done?
 Do nothing.
•
Leave these as they are and preserve in special boxes as we
have done
 Sell them.
•
Individual pages are selling for $300 to $1,000
•
Sell some to help restore others
 Restore the 1611
•
We have an estimate to restore of $6500 to $7000
A List of Useful Resources
1.
Bloom, Harold. The Shadow of a Great Rock, A Literary Appreciation
of the King James Bible. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011.
2.
Brake, Donald L. A Visual History of the English Bible, The Tumultuous
Tale of the World’s Bestselling Book. Grand Rapids: Baker Books,
2008.
3.
Campbell, Gordon. Bible, The Story of the King James Version 16112011. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
4.
Frick, Frank. [Descriptive catalog of selected items in the Albion
College Bible Collection]
5.
Hammond, Gerald. The Making of the English Bible. Manchester,
Eng.: Carcanet New Press, 1982.
Thanks
 Nicole Garrett, Albion College Archivist; who amidst a
busy schedule provided assistance to this project
 Marie Baxter, Scholar, Albion alumna, and Schleg
Lecturer; thanks for her photographs
 Marion Meilander, Coordinator Library Serials; thanks
for her encouragement
 Frank Frick, Professor of Religious Studies, deceased;
whose work with the collection showed it value and
importance as a resource