In Folio: Rare Volumes in the Stanford University Libraries

The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New: Newly Translated out of the Originall Tongues: & with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Reuised, by His Maiesties Speciall Comandement.

Imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, printer to the Kings most Excellent Maiestie, Anno Dom. 1611.

Known variously as the King James Bible and the Authorized Version, this remarkable achievement was the result of more than forty scholars’ laboring for years, working from previous translations in English and other texts from original languages. John Reynolds (1549-1607), of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, proposed this new translation at a conference convened by King James I at Hampton Court in 1604, between the High Church and Low Church parties. The king agreed to the proposal. The revisers, drawn from the most eminent scholars of the day, were divided into teams, with each team assigned various books of the Bible; each team’s revisions would be submitted to others for critical review. Responsibility for printing the new Bible was given to Robert Barker, the King’s Printer. As befitted such a grand success of the Church, the Crown, and the university scholars, the first edition was issued in folio in 1611; in the same year the New Testament was issued in twelvemo; by the end of the year 1612 the entire Bible would be issued in both quarto and octavo. The translation shines with the brightness and richness of the English language, and remains without question one of the greatest productions in the English language. This Authorized Version would be generally accepted as the standard edition of the English Bible until the appearance of the Revised Standard Version in the middle of the twentieth century.

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