"King James Bible"
[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 cõmandement : appointed to be read in churches]
[London, Robert Barker, 1611]
St John's College, BS 185 1611 L65

This is a first edition of the magisterial translation that is still widely used today. In the early seventeenth century, King James commanded a new translation of the Bible to replace the numerous translations in use, including the popular but Puritan Geneva Bible and the authorized but somewhat ineffectual Bishop's Bible. The King James Bible was printed both as a smaller book (in quarto format) and as a large folio, such as this one. In this copy, some front matter, including the title page, as well as some end matter, is missing. Most of the front matter, however, remains, including the John Speed's illustrated tables of genealogy which have been inserted at the time of binding, as well as complex lectionary calendars. One major point of difference between this Bible and the Geneva Bible is in marginal commentary. The Geneva Bible is full of such commentary, written from a Puritan perspective. The King James Bible, on the other hand, was produced in order to unite a theologically diverse nation, and so scrupulously avoids commentary. This said, it does include many tools for scriptural study, such as marginal cross-references.