"THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK EVER PRINTED IN ENGLISH"
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 special Commandement. Appointed to be read in Churches. London: Robert Barker, 1613, folio.
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SECOND EDITION of the King James Bible, with the reading "she went into the citie" in Ruth 3:15. This is the true 1613 pulpit folio edition, with 72 lines to the full column, preceded only by the very rare 1611 folio, here reprinted with slight textual and typographical variations - the largest variation of course being 72 lines per page rather than 59. A phenomenal example of this very rare second edition of the King James Bible in one of the best obtainable conditions, complete with both original title pages and the beautiful extensive engraved genealogies.
"Appointed to be read in Churches", the original King James Bible was printed for use in the pulpit and therefore exposed to continual public use on lecterns, often for centuries. Subsequently, practically all surviving copies are significantly damaged, usually lacking a large number of pages, and are almost always lacking one or, more commonly, both title pages. This example is one of the most remarkable surviving copies to surface and has clearly been incredibly well looked after through its over 400 year lifetime.
The King James Bible in its original pulpit folio format was printed in 1611, 1613 (as here), 1617, 1634, and 1640. All of these original pulpit folio editions are extremely rare to find in acceptable condition, owing to their extensive ecclesiastical use.
This is widely regarded as the greatest literary translation of the Bible ever produced and is arguably the single most important and influential book ever published in the English language. It is an essential book for any significant collection of antiquarian books and/or Bibles to own, and this is one of the earliest printings in incredible condition. This particular printing has many misspellings, mistakes, etc, as with all of the early KJV printings, including some rather serious mistakes such as the complete omission of verses 13-14 of Ecclesiasticus 16:13-14, among others.
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Size: 285 x 414 mm (approx.)
*note, very large
Condition:
[(1), A-B4, C6, D4, A-C6, A-Z6, Aa-Zz6, Aaa-Zzz6, Aaaa-Mmmm6, [Nnnn(4)], (1)]
Contemporary full calf, the boards decorated in blind, rubbed, with some scuffs. Rebacked circa 2010 with a very attractive backstrip, showing very nicely on the shelf indeed, similar restoration to board corners. Both boards are securely attached, the binding is secure, and stands without shelf lean. The binding is not overly tight and functions very well as a book should, without issue. An excellent binding, benefitting from contemporary 17th century boards, as well as the practicality of the rebacking making the book fully functional without risk of damage. Remnants of some early ties to both front and back. Pastedowns are original. Modern blanks. Hinges reinforced. Main title leaf remounted, some contemporary writing on the verso.
The Preliminaries and the Genealogies are extremely bright, generally clean, and overall in near fine condition, collated as complete. Old Testament collated as complete and extraordinarily bright and clean. Apocrypha collated as complete, similarly excellent condition. New Testament collates as complete, also exceptionally bright and clean, with the final few leaves of Revelation supplied in 18th century manuscript facsimile (4N2-4) and so lacks the originals of these last three leaves, the facsimile leaves occupy the collation up until 4N6, but the originals would only occupy 3 leaves with the collation terminating at 4N4 as per the bibliographies, and so only 3 leaves are lacking at the end, and not more. The collation continues uninterrupted from Genesis through to Revelation, but resets after the preliminaries & calendar and then again after the Genealogies. C1 (Jan-Feb calendar) with some loss at the foot of the leaf with some minor restoration. The cherubim in the printer's device at the foot of d4 (preliminaries) are nicely coloured by a contemporary hand. Small stain to B1-2 (OT), and R2 (OT) not obscuring text. Some very minor dampstaining in the outer blank marginal space of the F gathering (OT), not affecting text. Some minor small stains at the head of Uu3, not obfuscating textual legibility (OT). Repair of a tear to Iii2 (OT), very finely done, not affecting text, practically unnoticeable. 3T6 is the New Testament title page and so the Apocrypha ends at 3T5. Marginal repair to two leaves 4F3-4 (NT) to include some slight loss to text in the bottom right, generally only catching a few letters at the end of the lines. Some toning to leaves in the 4H gathering (NT), not affecting any legibility, and is practically imperceptible. Minor repair to the bottom right corner of 4M6 (NT), not touching any text. 4N1 (NT) torn with loss to the bottom quarter of the leaf, with the originals for 4N2-4 lacking and provided in circa 18th century manuscript facsimile (NT). In a small number of places, generally in the preliminaries, there are a few contemporary ink marks, not obscuring any text, legibility, etc. The full text block is free of marginalia, underlining, writing, etc. An exceptional text block. This edition was never issued with a map when printed (Fry's No.13).
Truly one of the best obtainable examples of this important edition of the King James Bible, exceptionally rare in such excellent condition, particularly to be complete with both title pages, and the full genealogies, etc. This is the single greatest copy of a Pulpit folio KJV we have ever encountered or are ever likely to encounter, particularly desirable for its earliness, being the second edition of the KJV.
[Herbert 322; D&M I, 248].
