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The Story of Our King James Bible. The 18 th Century. John Baskett. Obtained half share rights as the queen’s printer in 1710 (Anne) Bought 1/3 of the rights to print in Scotland Leased rights to print books published by Oxford Published 12 editions of the KJV in his career
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The Story of Our King James Bible The 18th Century
John Baskett • Obtained half share rights as the queen’s printer in 1710 (Anne) • Bought 1/3 of the rights to print in Scotland • Leased rights to print books published by Oxford • Published 12 editions of the KJV in his career • Cambridge didn’t resume printing until 1743
His 1st edition is the best known • 2 volumes, 15 X 22 inches • A beautifully bound and printed version, it contained many printing errors • The most common was heading the parable of the vineyard as “the parable of the vinegar.”
Baskettwent heavily into debt to obtain printing rights • Filed about 40 lawsuits to protect those rights • Including one against Cambridge in 1731 • The suit dragged on for years, being settled in Baskett’s favor in 1761—16 years after his death • His son took over, but the quality of printing was poor
John Baskerville • Was appointed printer of Cambridge in 1758 • Permitted to print one edition of the Bible • His 1763 folio (4 pages on one sheet of paper) is believed to be the most elegant edition printed
F. S. Parris • Authorized by Cambridge (in 1740) to “to serve the public with a more beautiful and correct edition than can easily be found.” • Parris sought to correct textual errors, as well as make changes in grammar and word meanings. • It was published in 1743
He changed “man,” to “men” in Genesis 47.6 • “Words of Jesus” becomes “word of Jesus,” Matthew 26.75 • “Hands of the Angel” becomes “hand of the angel,” Acts 7.35 • “the feast of Passover” becomes “the feast of the Passover,” Exodus 34.25 • “thou art Christ” becomes “thou are the Christ,” Matt. 16.6
He updated words • Changed “no” to “not,” I Cor. 13.2 • “neesed” became sneezed, II Kings 12.18 • “Crudled” became “curdled,” Job 10.10 • Changed “fourscore” to “eightieth” in I Kings 6.1 • Also attempted to more consistently use “ye”
Benjamin Blayney • Worked at Oxford • He was asked to produce for Oxford an edition based upon the principles used by F.S. Parris • His edition was published in 1769 • Cambridge soon adopted it for their Bibles
The KJV had its fans and detractors (in the 18th century) • Jonathan Swift (priest and author) wanted to use the KJV as a “norm” for English language • Others argued that its language was old, inaccurate, and obscure • Blayney’s text helped end the “obsolete” criticism of the KJV