This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/15/king-james-bible-earliest-draft-cambridge
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Earliest known draft of King James Bible found in Cambridge | Earliest known draft of King James Bible found in Cambridge |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The earliest known draft of the King James Bible, regarded as the most widely read work in English, has been unearthed among ancient papers lodged in a Cambridge college. | The earliest known draft of the King James Bible, regarded as the most widely read work in English, has been unearthed among ancient papers lodged in a Cambridge college. |
| The American scholar Jeffrey Miller announced his year-old discovery in the Times Literary Supplement this week, saying it would help fill in gaps in understanding how the Bible, published in 1611, came to be. | |
| Miller found a notebook, dating from 1604 to 1608, in archives at Sidney Sussex College, containing about 70 pages of almost illegible handwriting. They included biblical commentary, with Greek and Hebrew notes. | Miller found a notebook, dating from 1604 to 1608, in archives at Sidney Sussex College, containing about 70 pages of almost illegible handwriting. They included biblical commentary, with Greek and Hebrew notes. |
| “There was a kind of thunderstruck, leap-out-of-the-bathtub moment,” Miller, of Montclair State University in New Jersey, told the New York Times. “But then comes the laborious process of making sure you are correct.” | “There was a kind of thunderstruck, leap-out-of-the-bathtub moment,” Miller, of Montclair State University in New Jersey, told the New York Times. “But then comes the laborious process of making sure you are correct.” |
| The King James Bible was the work of 47 translators working in teams, or “companies”, working in London, Oxford and Cambridge. They had been charged by King James I to produce an authorised version of the bible that would support the Church of England over Puritan influence in earlier texts. | The King James Bible was the work of 47 translators working in teams, or “companies”, working in London, Oxford and Cambridge. They had been charged by King James I to produce an authorised version of the bible that would support the Church of England over Puritan influence in earlier texts. |
| Related: Rare copy of first Bible printed in English to be auctioned | Related: Rare copy of first Bible printed in English to be auctioned |
| Its poetic language has won plaudits from secular literary critics, and it has been described as one of the greatest influences on English literature alongside the works of Shakespeare. Common phrases in English, such as “salt of the earth” and “drop in the bucket”, originate from the King James Bible. | |
| But there has been an incomplete understanding by scholars of the composition process. Following Miller’s discovery, a number of gaps “can at last begin to be filled”, he wrote in the TLS. | But there has been an incomplete understanding by scholars of the composition process. Following Miller’s discovery, a number of gaps “can at last begin to be filled”, he wrote in the TLS. |
| The notebook belonged to Samuel Ward, one of a team of seven men in Cambridge working on translation. “For centuries, Ward’s paper in the college lay almost entirely neglected and uncatalogued,” wrote Miller. As he examined the notebook, “the manuscript’s true significance suddenly came into focus”. | The notebook belonged to Samuel Ward, one of a team of seven men in Cambridge working on translation. “For centuries, Ward’s paper in the college lay almost entirely neglected and uncatalogued,” wrote Miller. As he examined the notebook, “the manuscript’s true significance suddenly came into focus”. |
| The true value of Ward’s draft lies in what it “helps to reveal about one of the 17th century’s most extraordinary cultural achievements. It points the way to a fuller, most complex understanding than ever before of the process by which the KJB, the most widely read work in English of all time, came to be.” | The true value of Ward’s draft lies in what it “helps to reveal about one of the 17th century’s most extraordinary cultural achievements. It points the way to a fuller, most complex understanding than ever before of the process by which the KJB, the most widely read work in English of all time, came to be.” |