The King James Version Bible: Translation by Committee

English 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 Revised by His Majesties Special Comandement.
London: Robert Barker, 1611. (00037)

The King James Version originated with the Hampton Court conference in January 1604. Desiring an authoritative English Bible to replace the competing versions of the “Geneva Bible” (1560) and the “Bishops’ Bible” (1568), King James I (r. 1603–1625) appointed a committee of fifty-four scholars to the task of translation. The goal was to combine authoritative scholarship with respect for tradition. In 1609 a smaller committee of twelve editors met in London to revise the manuscript submitted to the printers. Although the original 1611 Bible contained numerous misprints, it has endured for centuries as a masterpiece of English prose and scholarly biblical research.