The People's Bible by Derek Wilson

Author:Derek Wilson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lion Hudson
Published: 2010-06-21T16:00:00+00:00

The sole printing of the bible and testament, with power of restraint in others, to be of right the propriety of one Matthew Barker… in regard that his father paid for the amended or corrected translation of the bible £3,500: by reason whereof the translated copy did of right belong to him and his assigns.12

Sadly, any such judgement came too late to save Robert Barker. He footed the bill for the new Bible and for several years had to fight against the appearance of pirate versions. Then he became involved with rival printers who contested the monopoly rights he held in certain other books. In 1635 he was committed to the King’s Bench prison. He was still there when he died some nine years later.

Back in 1610 when he was dispensing large sums in wages and equipment to get the King James Version printed, Robert Barker was, understandably, in a hurry to deliver copies to the shops. This must be the reason why the book was published with undue haste. Two editions were rushed off the presses. Not only was there no uniform text; sheets from each version were bound up together. Proofreading was perfunctory. Errors and variant readings abounded. At Ruth 3:15 one version read “she [Ruth] went”, while the other stated “he [Boaz] went”. More alarmingly in Matthew 26:36 “Judas” was substituted for “Jesus” in one printing. Luke 23:32 recorded that Jesus was crucified along with two “other” malefactors. It would, however, be 1631 before the most notorious misprint appeared: at Exodus 20:14 the word “not” was omitted from the command “thou shalt not commit adultery”. What may have upset the scholar-translators more than such typos was the dog’s dinner made of the scholarly apparatus. They had spent years comparing ancient and modern texts and providing the reader with marginal notes and other devices for identifying where English words had been added to enhance the flow and where variant readings were admissible. In addition they had provided the text with chapter summaries, paragraph signs, cross references, and philological notes. When the first editions left Barker’s premises, several of these aids to study were discovered to be missing or jumbled.

All in all, it cannot be said that the King James Version had enjoyed an auspicious launch. In fact, its appearance was something of an anticlimax.

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