The Holy Bible: King James Version, Quatercentenary Edition

The chap who said "Never judge a book by its cover" probably never ended up selling a single book. I could easily have walked by this Bible in a shop, which from the outside, looked unremarkable except for its size, and concealed in a dowdy maroon cloth covered slip-cover.Yet the Anglican Journal uses superlatives like "Physical splendour" to describe this "Quartercentenary Edition, an exact reprint in Roman Type, page for page, line for line and letter for letter of the KJV otherwise known as the Authorized Version published in the year 1611 with an anniversary Essay by Gordon Campbell." "Quartercentenary" triggers off a spell-check alert, and it is a good thing we all understand that this does not mean 25 years.(Thanks to a comment one year after this review: its QUA-, not quaR-. My spelling error in adding the "R", not the publisher's, so QUAtercentenary unambiguously means 400 years.)The real burgundy leather over hard board covers has simple but solid gold stamping. It does not grab appeal. It slowly grows on you, very slowly I must add. The burgundy colour is a refreshing departure from the regular black covers. It is not a hip bible and its majesty took me some time to appreciate.This bible is huge. The statistics of 11.3 x 9.1 x 2.4 inches and 6.3 pounds does not strike you as large until you are actually holding it. Of course, it is small in comparison to the original KJV, which is 17 inches tall, 30 pounds in weight, which may actually require two people to lift into the pulpit.In a world of vertically longish bibles, it is rare to find one so exquisitely proportioned. The width of the bible being slightly over 0.8 times the height is the ideal W:L ratio. It is the width, which gives this bible a distinct presence. When it is open, it is a magnificent sight as a book with such a wide "wing-span" is very rare. To read this bible, the support of a table or a bed is needed. I prefer the bed.The bible opens up flat. The margins are really wide, which adds to the aesthetics, and a great help to post-it users like me. The uncluttered layout makes the "bland" parts of the Old Testament easy to read.For this review, I have bent the bible backwards to examine the binding "crash", "mull" or that thingy which supports the stitching. It looked even and nicely done when viewed with a fibre-optic light. The binding - the first book part to give way and also the least visible - looks strong and the hinges of the covers likewise. Some additional effort made to secure the hinges was visible. The binding will resist the shearing forces in the hands of those more accustomed to handling small "i"-phones than very big books. I think this bible was built to last. There is nothing which says that it is acid-free, although it looks like acid-free paper is used.The pages are glare-free even under the strongest (halogen) or uneven lighting (like from a bedside lamp). The pages are thick matt-white, and do not stick together. Every leaf feels strong and does not crinkle easily. Not much of yellow highlighter ink seeps through to the reverse page of a leaf. The Apocrypha is between the New and Old Testaments so opening the bible in the centre does not find Psalms. Amazon describes one ribbon, but my copy has two claret red ribbons, one over Esther and another over Isaiah, so they are both symmetrical around the centre. The gold paint on the gilded edges do not appear to be thick enough as the fore-edges look whitish when the bible is open.There is quite a bit of artwork in the earlier pages of this bible. The Title Page art is impressive.The calendar retains some of the Gothic typeface of the original 1611 KJV. There are 33 pages of illustrated Genealogy in different artistic layouts. This 400th anniversary edition is large enough to have a Map of Canaan over two opposing pages, but the details are hard to make out, since this is not the original 30 pound KJV. The artwork in the Capital Letter block in the beginning of each chapter is really interesting. There are a lot of "A"s, as in "And it came to passe...", but it is amazing how many artistic variations there are for the capital "A" alone. There can be three different types of artwork for three separate "A"s appearing on the same spread. I estimate that there must be at least 100 different basic block artwork for the letter "A" alone, and I think I see some tiny variations in similar blocks.The 11 ½ page essay by Gordon Campbell at the end of the text block gives a summary of the history of the KJV including how the Apocrypha (included in this bible) got excluded later. Very intriguing is Gordon Campbell pointing out that there are thousands of differences between the 1611 KJV and the present day bookshelf KJV. 1611 KJV Matthew 16:16 "thou art Christ" changed to "thou art the Christ", "the words of Jesus" Matthew 26:75 became "the word (singular) of Jesus".Even a comma changed 2 Corinthians 5:2 from "for in this we grone earnestly, desiring to be clothed" to "for in this we grone, earnestly desiring to be clothed". There were 350 "typo"s, 250 in the text and 100 in the marginal notes. Mostly inconsequential, like Gel: for Gal:, or "plaine" in Leviticus 13:56 which should read "plague". Gordon Campbell then appends a separate 2-page list of some typos, like "brothe" for "brother" in Matthew 12. He does not go into errors in translation, and wisely too.I note some comments about this bible being printed in China. Most of the 400th Anniversary ones are printed in China, and they are well done. I see it as a step forward. PRC will never allow politically sensitive material to be printed in China, and I sense that China is realising that persecuting Christians today is becoming a lost communist cause. I once commented that the most attentive listeners of sermons in Church are the government agents. To which a friend retorted, "Hallelujah, at least some in the secret police may still be Saved." Likewise, at least some in the bible making industry in China may still be Saved.Book making has long been outsourced, and it is pretty tedious work with low profit margins. Unlike some branded goods, at least the savings on bibles have been passed on to consumers. The similar sized large print Dake KJV (also very large and heavy) is printed in Korea, while the compact Dake is printed in China. As China is getting less competitive, printing is moving to Vietnam and Indonesia. Gordon Campbell was very decent in claiming only a "moral right" to his essay, rather than a copyright.A bible of "physical splendour" at a bargain price.2011 Thanksgiving update: I notice that the cover has changed from the dowdy maroon to a more impressive black cover with more stamped embellishments. The old Amazon illustration was just a maroon rectangular blob. They said it was going to be a limited print edition. I suppose it is the classic maroon one is limited. I would never begrudge more of this bible being printed. Apparently the demand is high. For those in the USA entitled to Free Shipping from Amazon, this can be considered a further discount. It exceeds the standard weight and international buyers incur a weight surcharge on this heavy item.

The King James Bible is, without a doubt, a staple in Christianity. Many lives have been touched and souls saved in the past through the words found in this version, and this continues down through to the present day. In my opinion, every Christian ought to own and read the King James Version at least once for tradition's sake, no matter what translation one normally prefers. Being a Christian, this includes me, and so I decided that when my first time to read it comes, I want to go hardcore with the 1611 text!I looked at several 1611 reprints of the KJV, and when I saw this one, it had exactly what I wanted in this type of Bible...it looked fantastic on the outside and inside based on the pictures I saw, it included the several books of the Jewish Apocrypha used by the Roman Catholic Church (the Orthodox Church uses many more of them), and most of all, it looked to stay true to the original text by not correcting errors or modernizing it in any way. It was getting close to Christmas, so I bought one.When it got to my house, I quickly unwrapped it and I was speechless. I went and showed it to my family, and they all thought it was excellent as well. Let me tell you, the pictures do absolutely no justice to this Bible AT ALL! It's very well made on the outside. The cover is durable enough, but it even comes with a slip-case when it is being stored! The pages are some of the best quality I have ever seen in a book, and they even have that "printing press scent" to them (which many people other than me noticed when turning the pages)! The headings and first letters of chapters are quite fancy, and it really gives this Bible an "old time" feel. The Bible includes an introduction, the letter to the reader from the translators, some genealogy charts of important Biblical characters, and even an appendix with some extra info from the publisher of this Bible and a page listing all of the mistakes present in the 1611 text!I haven't gotten a chance to get to read it all the way through yet, but I've read bits and pieces of it. It is significantly more complicated to read than the 1769 KJV we have today, as the lettering was different back then. For example, the letter "v" was used in places where "u" would be used today, so you have words like "unto" being spelled "vnto". Some words were spelled much differently as well, such as "son" being spelled "sonne". Still, it's far from impossible to read. My dad (who is used to the NASB, his favorite translation) actually read a little bit of it when I showed it to him, and he said he could understand it fairly well.I think it's pretty clear what I think of this Bible. I would wholeheartedly recommend it to Christians, Bible Scholars, and book-lovers in general. It would especially be an awesome gift to give to anybody who falls under those categories. I've decided over the last few months that I want to start collecting Bibles from here on out. This was a great addition to my collection! Highly recommended!

This bible is fantastic in quality, reproduction, and content. The book is large and the pages/text are large enough to read without glasses. It has 2 silk bookmarks and the edges of the pages are gilded.The beginning of the bible has a description from the original translations of how they translated this text, there are maps, many many family trees, and the first letter of each chapter has is "illuminated" with a large drawing.It is written in modern English characters rather than the original black letter (gothic) font but otherwise is still the original 1611 printing, including errata. Most people dont realize that the KJV bible had at least 4 revisions before landing on the final 1769 Oxford edition that many people use today. From what I have researched, the KJV translation is some 80% a direct copy from Tyndale's work with the rest a mix and match from Textus Receptus and other sources. There are quite a few websites you can find these days that talk about how the KJV came to be and how the Geneva bible had to be outlawed just to stop it. I recommend that any serious bible reader also try and find a 1560 or 1599 copy of the Geneva bible for further study.

This is an amazing Bible. I finally have a Bible that tells the true word of God. The 1611 has not been altered and changed by men. It’s very anointed. The print is easy to read and I am very happy with my purchase.

It’s the digital version of the Bible.

Depois de tantas reclamações, enfim uma Bíblia perfeita. Impressão sem falhas, acabamento redondo, caixa para acondicionamento na estante e a seriedade do conteúdo, uma perfeita reimpressão da KJV em tipologia latina elegantérrima, um espetáculo para os olhos. Vale o preço. Amém!

This Bible is history. Written in Old English - from 1611. I got goose bumps when I opened it. Quality is terrific. Everything is exactly like in the pictures. I bought it not so much for reading it (for study I have another KJV) but for just having it. In my opinion it's like having the original one. I paid about 70 EUR (including premium shipping). This is ridiculous! I'm so happy for just having one now.

Item essencial para uma biblioteca clássica.

Absolutely gorgeous. From the paper to the art, this really is a traditional style book.