The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Newly Translated Out of the Originall Greeke: and with the former Translations diligently compared and revised, By his Majestys speciall commandement. Imprinted at London by Bonham Norton and John Bill, Printers to the Kings most Excellent Majesty, 1621. [Together with] Two Right Profitable and Fruitfull Concordances, 1619.
AN INCREDIBLE EARLY SURVIVING KING JAMES BIBLE, PRINTED IN THE YEAR 1621, A VERY RARE EXAMPLE IN A VERY EARLY BINDING WITH MANY MISPRINTS!
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This very early antique King James Bible was printed in 1621 and has several misprints, some of which include the signature D4 being printed as C4, the heading on 3P2 reads "Coaninthians" instead of "Corinthians", the preface misspells "THE" for "EHE", in Mark 14:46 the word "on" is missing, as well as several other misprints.
Despite how many were printed, very few copies survive in early or original bindings as with this copy. Since these Bibles were usually the prized possession of any family wealthy enough to be able to afford one, they were very frequently read and appreciated, usually every day for centuries. As such, the condition of all surviving copies is usually very rough and are almost always recently rebound and repaired. Incredibly, the very early binding of this Bible has not been restored and so is as it would have been read in the 1600s. This copy is also full of provenance information relating to previous owners, with handwritten dates going all the way back to near the time of publication and likely from the circle of the original owners. These owners would have experienced the most important events in the history of English Christianity - the 1660 restoration, the 1662 revision of the Book of Common Prayer, etc, and this book would have been read to aid their journeys through the faith.
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Provenance:
Inscription declaring the baptism of Aggnes Stroot dated May 28th 1665, presumably from an owner who was from the family of the original purchaser in 1621.
Henry Elliot, born 21st May 1700 with his childhood signature at the bottom of a final blank.
John Elliot born 12th May 1702, presumably the same John Elliot as the inscription from 1772.
Stephen Elliot born 23rd October 1705 with an inscribed prayer written below.
Ownership inscription, illegible name but dated 1718.
Ann Elliot, born March 9th 1724, with her ownership inscription to the final blank.
Mary Elliot, born 5th February, year illegible, presumably circa 1720s.
Large ownership inscription of Thomas Gray dated 1728, perhaps the famous English poet or a relation.
John Elliot ownership inscription, born 1772, with the writing "When I am dead and (?) and all my bones are rotten when this you so remember me that I be not forgotten, John Elliot."
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Size: 161 x 209 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[3ff (blanks), a2-a8, A1-3E2; 3E5-3S8, A1-M3, 1ff (blank)]
Contemporary full calf binding with stamped four line decorations running vertically along the boards. Lacks clasps. Leather rubbed but generally significantly better than typical. Joints rubbed, exposed at the foot of the front side, with both boards securely attached, the binding secure and without shelf lean. Page edges very good. Shelf wear with minor deformation to corners. Pagination runs consecutively through the Old Testament, Apocrypha, and New Testament, resetting only for the Concordances at the rear. Lacks a1, 3E3 and 3E4, aka the Old and New Testament title pages and the first leaf of Matthew else collates as complete. The Tables at the back collate as complete and are dated 1619 to the title page and 1620 to the colophon as per Herbert's bibliography. G3 and 2C2 torn lacking at most about 3cm of text at the foot. S4 torn losing about 4 verses on each side. Closed tear to Z3 without text loss. 2F7 torn with a small amount of loss, roughly 2 verses on each side, 2P8 torn with small loss of about half a verse to each side. 3B5 torn losing a small amount of text at the foot. 3E5 torn, early repair backing paper to it, circa 1700s. Very small amount of loss to 3F1. Some loss at the upper part of 3G2 losing a verse or two on each side (Mark 6). 3M7 with some loss at the foot. 3S8 (colophon) torn lacking the bottom third without text loss. A little loss to the bottom outer corners of the last few leaves as pictured. Dampstaining through the text block as typical, occasionally slightly obscuring a few letters of text. Some of the marginalia is trimmed away for the binding, also occasionally catching a signature or catchword. A few early leaf edge 'repairs'. A lovely example of this very rare early King James Bible.
[Herbert 379].
