KJV “THE WICKED BIBLE”!!!!
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encyclopedia
The Wicked Bible, sometimes
called Adulterous Bible or Sinners' Bible, is the Bible published in 1631 by Robert Barker and Martin Lucas, the royal printers in London,
which was meant to be a reprint of the King James Bible. The name is derived from a mistake made by the compositors:
in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:14),
the word not in the sentence "Thou shalt not commit adultery"
was omitted, thus changing the sentence into "Thou
shalt commit adultery". This blunder was spread in a number of
copies. About a year later, the publishers of the Wicked Bible were called to
the Star Chamber and fined £300 (£44,614 as of 2015)[1] and deprived of their printing license.[2]
The fact that this edition of the Bible contained such a flagrant mistake outraged
Charles I and George
Abbot, the Archbishop
of Canterbury, who said then:
I knew the time when great care was
had about printing, the Bibles especially, good compositors and the best
correctors were gotten being grave and learned men, the paper and the letter
rare, and faire every way of the best, but now the paper is nought, the
composers boys, and the correctors unlearned.[3]
The majority of the Wicked
Bible's copies were immediately cancelled and burned, and the number of extant copies remaining today, which are
considered highly valuable by collectors, is thought to be relatively low.[4]
One copy is in the collection of rare books in the New York Public Library and is very rarely made accessible; another can be seen in
the Dunham Bible Museum
in Houston, Texas, USA.[5]
The British Library in London had a copy on display, opened to the misprinted
commandment, in a free exhibition until September 2009.[6]
The Wicked Bible also appeared on display for a limited time at the Ink and
Blood Exhibit in Gadsden, Alabama, from August 15 to September 1, 2009. A copy
was also displayed until June 18, 2011 at the Cambridge
University Library exhibition in England, for the
400-year anniversary of the KJV.
Contents
Background
Historically, the omission of
"not" was considered quite a common mistake. Until 2004, for example,
the style guide of the Associated Press advised using "innocent"
instead of "not guilty" to describe acquittals, so as to prevent this eventuality.[7]
The Wicked Bible is the most prominent example of the bible errata which often have absent negatives that completely reverse the
scriptural meaning. [8]
Public
reaction
1631
The title page of The Wicked
Bible
Apart from the contempt within the church,
the case of the Wicked Bible was commented on by historians soon after the
printing:
His Majesties Printers, at or about
this time, had committed a scandalous mistake in our English Bibles, by leaving
out the word Not in the Seventh Commandment. His Majesty being made
acquainted with it by the Bishop of London, Order was given for calling the
Printers into the High-Commission, whereupon Evidence of the Fact, the whole
Impression was called in, and the Printers deeply fined, as they justly
merited. With some part of this Fine Laud[9] caused a fair Greek Character to be
provided,[10]
for publishing such Manuscripts as Time and Industry should make ready
for the Public view.
Modern
times
As of 2010, a copy of the Wicked
Bible was being offered for sale online, priced at $89,500.[11]
See
also
References
1.
·
UK CPI
inflation numbers based on data available from Gregory Clark (2015), "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present
(New Series)" MeasuringWorth.
·
·
Kohlenberger, III, John R (2008). NIV Bible Verse Finder. Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan. p. viii. ISBN 978-0310292050.
·
·
Ingelbart, Louis Edward (1987). Press Freedoms. A Descriptive
Calendar of Concepts, Interpretations, Events, and Courts Actions, from 4000
B.C. to the Present, p. 40,
Greenwood Publishing. ISBN 0-313-25636-5
·
·
Gekoski, Rick (23 November 2010). "The Wicked Bible: the perfect gift for
collectors, but not for William and Kate". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
·
·
"English Bibles," Dunham Bible Museum, http://www.hbu.edu/About-HBU/The-Campus/Facilities/Morris-Cultural-Arts-Center/Museums/Dunham-Bible-Museum/Tour-of-the-Museum/English-Bible.aspx
·
·
Stockdale, Nicole (12 May 2004). "AP style updates". A Capital Idea. Blogspot. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
·
·
Russell, Ray (October 1980). "The Wicked Bibles". Theology
Today 37 (3): 360–363. doi:10.1177/004057368003700311.
·
·
Timperley, Charles Henry (1842). Encyclopaedia of Literary and Typographical
Anecdote. p. 484 [1].
Bibliography
- Eisenstein, Elisabeth L Rewolucja Gutenberga, translated by: Henryk Hollender, Prószyński i S-ka publishing, Warsaw 2004, ISBN 83-7180-774-0
- Ingelbart, Louis Edward. Press Freedoms. A Descriptive Calendar of Concepts, Interpretations, Events, and Courts Actions, from 4000 B.C. to the Present, Greenwood Publishing 1987, ISBN 0-313-25636-5
- This page was last modified on 26 July 2015, at 13:34.
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