Critical edition of 1611

[tebel]

I wondered if Accordance had any plans to produce a critical edition of the 1611 King James Bible, that is, a text with the original spelling and marginal notes of the translators? One might imagine that such an edition would include variants between the first and second printings. My interest in 1611 is purely academic. I think that from an academic point of view it is time that the Bible Software companies produced a series of critical editions of the English Bible, including a critical 1611 KJV. This has never been done before. New editions of KJV have been produced; facsimiles have been produced, replicas have been produced (Pollard, Wright) but never a critical edition. This would entail as I see it: the entire text in original spelling (without errata!) notes and headings, et al. There is a database that offers a 1611 text but it is riddled with errata. One would also include critical variants (there are a number of significant variants among copies of 1611) as well as the corrections introduced into the second and third editions. One could do the same with the Bishops' and Geneva Bibles, which underwent several editions. All editorial revisions would be reflected in a single edition. Many electronic editions of the KJV contain no information about which 1611 edition is being used and there are no marginal notes, no original headings, etc. This is understandable because the target audience is not the scholar of 1611 but the scholar of the Bible or the pastor. However, I think the time is ripe for reliable and critical editions of our English heritage.

 

rari

Edited January 6, 2013 by luoar