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King James Bible

Pforzheimer library receives proactive conservation assessment

April 29, 2015 - Kate Contakos

‘The golden boke of Marcus Aurelius’ by Antonio de Guevara, London, 1546. One image shows the title-page with the facing page made up of printed binders’s waste, complete with hand-written annotations. The close-up image shows both printed and manuscript binders waste.

In 1986 when the Ransom Center acquired the Carl H. Pforzheimer library of early English literature, with books dating from 1475 to 1700, the book world gasped. The Pforzheimer library was the outstanding private collection of early English books available, and the acquisition of this exceptional private library of carefully selected rare, and in some cases, unique books in extraordinary condition, represents one of the Ransom Center’s great achievements in book collecting.

The Ransom Center first acquired Pforzheimer’s copy of the Gutenberg Bible in 1978, one of the most interesting of the 49 known copies of the bible. Rich in both provenance (early annotations place our copy in a fifteenth-century Carthusian monastery) and textual variations (including unique type settings), it is one of the greatest treasures here at the Ransom Center. When the Pforzheimer library arrived eight years later, it continued to impress. It contains the first book printed in English, by William Caxton, titled Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, all four Shakespeare folios, deep holdings in Chaucer, Milton, and Spenser, three copies of the King James Bible from 1611, and the 1535 Coverdale Bible, which is the first bible printed in English, just to name some of the highlights.

The Pforzheimer books are significant bibliographically, intellectually, and culturally, thus the conservation department is proactively looking after their preservation needs. The conservation department has performed previous condition surveys on this collection, but this time we wanted to have a more comprehensive approach. The previous efforts were analyzed, the current curator of the collection was consulted, and the new survey was designed for a wider capture of information that will inform not only conservation needs but curatorial interests such as bibliographical data, bindings, provenance, and metadata. This particular survey will examine all 1,100 books in the collection, in order to address its conservation needs. The survey will be complete by the end of 2015, and the results will be shared publicly.

The Pforzheimer Library is the most frequently used early book collection at the Ransom Center, with many teaching faculty in the humanities using the collection for their classes and several visiting fellows researching within this collection. And with the arrival this year of the new curator, Gerald Cloud, the collection’s use is certain to increase and attract a broader audience.

Click on thumbnails to view larger images.

‘King Richard II’ by William Shakespeare, London, 1634. Stab-sewn, uncut and in-tact text as it would have been originally issued and sold in St. Paul’s Cathedral courtyard in the early 17th century.
‘King Richard II’ by William Shakespeare, London, 1634. Stab-sewn, uncut and in-tact text as it would have been originally issued and sold in St. Paul’s Cathedral courtyard in the early 17th century.
‘Axiochus” by Edmund Spenser, London, 1592. The only complete copy known, it is a modern binding sympathetically styled after a late 16th century binding to protect the text and respect the period.
‘Axiochus” by Edmund Spenser, London, 1592. The only complete copy known, it is a modern binding sympathetically styled after a late 16th century binding to protect the text and respect the period.
‘Recuyell of the historyes of Troye’ by Raoul LeFevre, Bruges, 1475(?). Printed and translated by William Caxton, this is the first book printed in the English language.
‘Recuyell of the historyes of Troye’ by Raoul LeFevre, Bruges, 1475(?). Printed and translated by William Caxton, this is the first book printed in the English language.
‘The History of Don-Quichote’ by Miguel de Saavedra Cervantes, London, 1620. Published by Edward Blount (one of the publishers of Shakespeare’s first folio), and translated by Thomas Shelton, this is the first English printing of Don-Quichote.
‘The History of Don-Quichote’ by Miguel de Saavedra Cervantes, London, 1620. Published by Edward Blount (one of the publishers of Shakespeare’s first folio), and translated by Thomas Shelton, this is the first English printing of Don-Quichote.
‘The golden boke of Marcus Aurelius’ by Antonio de Guevara, London, 1546. One image shows the title-page with the facing page made up of printed binders’s waste, complete with hand-written annotations. The close-up image shows both printed and manuscript binders waste.
‘The golden boke of Marcus Aurelius’ by Antonio de Guevara, London, 1546. One image shows the title-page with the facing page made up of printed binders’s waste, complete with hand-written annotations. The close-up image shows both printed and manuscript binders waste.
‘The golden boke of Marcus Aurelius’ by Antonio de Guevara, London, 1546. One image shows the title-page with the facing page made up of printed binders’s waste, complete with hand-written annotations. The close-up image shows both printed and manuscript binders waste.
‘The golden boke of Marcus Aurelius’ by Antonio de Guevara, London, 1546. One image shows the title-page with the facing page made up of printed binders’s waste, complete with hand-written annotations. The close-up image shows both printed and manuscript binders waste.

Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts, Conservation Tagged With: Books, Carl H. Pforzheimer, Chaucer, Conservation, Coverdale Bible, Gerald Cloud, Gutenberg Bible, King James Bible, Milton, Pforzheimer Library, preservation, preservation week, preservation week 2015, Spenser, survery, William Caxon

Helen Moore shares insight about Oxford and the making of the King James Bible

July 11, 2012 - Jennifer Tisdale

In April, Helen Moore, Fellow and Tutor in English at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford, spoke about the history of the King James translation at the Harry Ransom Center. The talk is now online on YouTube.

Moore was lead curator of Manifold Greatness: Oxford and the Making of the King James Bible, an exhibition held at the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford in 2011. Her illustrated talk addressed the role played by Oxford in the translation of the King James Bible, the methods used by the translators, and some of the items displayed at the Oxford exhibition.

The event was co-sponsored by Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford and The Wall Street Journal.

The Ransom Center’s related exhibition The King James Bible: Its History and Influence is on view through July 29.

Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts, Exhibitions + Events Tagged With: Bodleian Library, Corpus Christi College, Helen Moore, King James Bible, Manifold Greatness: Oxford and the Making of the King James Bible, The King James Bible: Its History and Influence, University of Oxford, Wall Street Journal

In the Galleries: Anatomy of the King James Bible title page

June 5, 2012 - Io Paulo Montecillo

Anatomy of the title page in the King James Version.

The title page of the 1611 King James Bible is the first title page of an English Bible to feature a depiction of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Though this Bible is traditionally called the “King James,” the title page does not announce the king’s patronage by featuring his image.

The imposing architectural frame, suggestive of a church edifice, is full of human figures, including Moses and Aaron, the Evangelists, and the Apostles. Traditionally, Jesus had twelve Apostles, but the thirteen depicted here include Matthias, who replaced Judas after his betrayal (Acts 1:26), and Paul, who described himself as an Apostle in Romans 1. Each apostle is represented by a symbolic attribute, though not all are easily identifiable.

The first edition’s title page and other materials pertaining to the King James Bible are on view in the exhibition The King James Bible: Its History and Influence through July 29.

Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts, Exhibitions + Events Tagged With: bible, Exhibitions, King James Bible, literature, The King James Bible: Its History and Influence

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