19.10.2011
400th Anniversary of King James Bible Exhibition launched at Christ Church Cathedral
‘the best of books’
An exhibition to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible
The year 2011 marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the Authorised Version of the Bible, also known as the King James Bible. At a meeting in Hampton Court palace, convened in January 1604 by James I it was resolved to compile and publish a new English translation of the Bible which would correct the perceived problems of earlier English translations. The earlier translations had irked the more puritan elements within the Church of England.
Since 1525 when William Tyndale produced his English translation of the New Testament there had been a steady flow of Bible translations. The Great Bible of 1539 was intended to be read aloud in churches and contained much of the translations used by Tyndale. In 1557, the Calvinist Geneva New Testament in English was published, which was followed in 1560 by a complete Geneva Bible containing both Old and New Testaments. In 1568, the Geneva Bible was superseded in England by the official Bishops’ Bible, although the Geneva Bible remained readily available. The Hampton Court conference of 1604 launched the project to produce a new Bible, which we know today as the Authorised or King James Bible.
The publication of the King James Bible was a remarkable event. King James appointed forty–four scholars to assist in the translation. Six companies of translators were employed, two meeting at Westminster under the supervision of Dean Lancelot Andrews who concentrated on the translation of the Old Testament from Genesis to II Kings and the Epistles. The second company of translators worked in Cambridge and undertook the translation of Chronicles to the Song of Songs and the Apocrypha. The third company worked in Oxford on Isaiah to Malachi, the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles and Revelation. The translators used all available original sources and also the Tyndale, Coverdale, Geneva and Rheims Catholic translation of the New Testament, compiled in 1582.
The resulting Bible was considered a masterpiece and a triumph for its compilers. It was acclaimed by Milton and Wordsworth; it influenced William Shakespeare and was praised by Jonathan Swift who wrote that it was ‘the only literary masterpiece to have been produced by a committee’!
To celebrate the 400th anniversary the cathedral Culture Committee has organised a special exhibition which will open in mid–October charting the history of the King James Bible. The exhibition will be launched after evensong on Sunday 16 October and will run during the winter months. A collection of 30 Bibles have been brought together, the earliest of which dates from 1595. The exhibits include a folio Geneva Bible (1689) in French, the Luther Bible (1789) in German, a folio Bible (1793) printed in Edinburgh, the Holy Bible (1823) in Irish, a Geneva Bible from 1611, a reprint of the Coverdale Bible (1535) and a reprint of the 1611 King James Bible.
An interesting feature of the exhibition is the result of a partnership between the Culture Committee and Cumann Gaelach na hEaglaise. The exhibition catalogue has been produced in both Irish and English editions and it is hoped this bilingual initiative will attract much interest from school groups and cultural organisations alike.
Please do visit the exhibition when you next visit the cathedral and enjoy this opportunity to see so many different editions of the Bible gathered together in one place. The exhibition title ‘the best of books’ comes from a 19th century book for children entitled ‘The Bible.’ In it Mrs Mary Martha Sherwood tells her young readers ‘Dear children… you must not allow any thing however good and pleasant to lead you from the Bible, which is the best of books…’