Editorial Reviews

Book Description
John Drury's clear, marvelously erudite, and richly detailed introduction to the Everyman's Library edition of The New Testament reminds us why the King James Version, first published in 1611, has been the favorite of English readers for centuries. Despite a plethora of new translations in the second half of the twentieth century, the King James Version retains its power and appeal because "it has the intrinsic value of a classic and is an enduring masterpiece."

Drury outlines the fascinating history of this magisterial translation, marveling at the "patient generosity" with which the translators sifted through and distilled a century of previous scholarship. He points out that their work has endured not only because of the astonishing care they took to reflect faithfully the syntax of the original Hebrew and Greek–which enabled them to dispense with the densely entangled prose style that characterized English writing at the time–but also because...

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Product Description

John Drury's clear, marvelously erudite, and richly detailed introduction to the Everyman's Library edition of the New Testament reminds us why the King James Version, first published in 1611, has been the favorite of English readers for centuries. Despite a plethora of new translations in the second half of the twentieth century, the King James Version retains its power and appeal because "it has the intrinsic value of a classic and is an enduring masterpiece."

Drury outlines the fascinating history of this magisterial translation, marveling at the "patient generosity" with which the translators sifted through and distilled a century of previous scholarship. He points out that their work has endured not only because of the astonishing care they took to reflect faithfully the syntax of the original Hebrew and Greek--which enabled them to dispense with the densely entangled prose style that characterized English writing at the time--but also because of their concern to writers from Milton to Coleridge to George Eliot. From the doctrinal richness of the letters of St. Paul to those four masterpieces of storytelling, the Gospels, the New Testament has served as a source of inspiration for centuries. To quote George Steiner on the centrality of the Bible: "What you have in hand is not a book. It is the book. That, of course, is what 'Bible' means. It is the book which, not only in Western humanity, defines the concept of a text. All our other books, however different in matter or method, relate, be it indirectly, to this book of books . . . All other books are inhabited by the murmur of that distant source."

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #984161 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-02
• Released on: 1999-03-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 512 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780375405501
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Inside Flap
John Drury's clear, marvelously erudite, and richly detailed introduction to the Everyman's Library edition of the New Testament reminds us why the King James Version, first published in 1611, has been the favorite of English readers for centuries. Despite a plethora of new translations in the second half of the twentieth century, the King James Version retains its power and appeal because "it has the intrinsic value of a classic and is an enduring masterpiece."
      Drury outlines the fascinating history of this magisterial translation, marveling at the "patient generosity" with which the translators sifted through and distilled a century of previous scholarship. He points out that their work has endured not only because of the astonishing care they took to reflect faithfully the syntax of the original Hebrew and Greek--which enabled them to dispense with the densely entangled prose style that characterized English writing at the time--but also because of their concern to writers from Milton to Coleridge to George Eliot. From the doctrinal richness of the letters of St. Paul to those four masterpieces of storytelling, the Gospels, the New Testament has served as a source of inspiration for centuries. To quote George Steiner on the centrality of the Bible: "What you have in hand is not a book. It is the book. That, of course, is what 'Bible' means. It is the book which, not only in Western humanity, defines the concept of a text. All our other books, however different in matter or method, relate, be it indirectly, to this book of books . . . All other books are inhabited by the murmur of that distant source."

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Customer Reviews

A somewhat disappointing edition due to font size
Because Amazon can sometimes link items in odd ways, let me make it clear that I'm reviewing the Everyman Library edition of The King James Version of The New Testament. I ordered this from Amazon sight unseen based on how happy I have been with every other Everyman edition I've ever bought. Let me make it clear: I love the Everyman Library. Whenever I order a classic work, I always check to see if there is an Everyman edition. Slight aside: there was an earlier Everyman Library that was launched in 1906. This were cheap hardback copies of important works. The size roughly correlates to what we would today call mass market size, though perhaps very slightly larger. These are generally poorly bound books, not very attractive, but frequently valuable because they are often the only readily available editions of certain titles, even if they are out of print. For instance, I recently purchased a very lovely used Everyman edition of Samuel Butler's EREWHON and EREWHON REVISITED. But this older edition lacks the sturdy binding, the acid free cream-colored paper, and appealingly large font of the new Everyman Library, which was restarted in 1991. Basically, if I can get a book in the Everyman edition I will (with certain exceptions -- there are a couple of editions I prefer in the Library of America, such as the large Dashiell Hammett volumes, which if think are nicer than the large Everyman Hammett volumes).

Which explains why I ordered the Everyman edition of the KJV NT. It does have the beautiful paper and the wonderful cloth exterior, but the font is simply not very large. The font is far smaller than what you get with most Everyman editions. Let me give an example. My Everyman PRIDE AND PREJUDICE has substantially larger print. As a result, a relatively short book ends up running to 368 pages, not counting front matter. The KJV NT, which is a much, much longer text, runs to only 421 pages, excluding front matter. I recently decided to reread Trollope's Barsetshire series, and given how beat up and yellowed my old Penguin copies were, I decided to upgrade to the Everyman. DR. THORNE probably has close to the total words found in the NT. But it has the large, lovely font that PRIDE AND PREJUDICE has and as a result runs to a luxuriant 633 pages, again excluding front matter.

My pet peeve with virtually all editions of the Bible, whether containing both halves together or separating them into the OT or the NT as Everyman does, is the size of the font. I often in my daily commute see people reading editions of the Bible that ought to be banned by law. Yes, they are handy-sized and quite tiny, but so is the font. I honestly don't think God wants us to ruin our eyesight by reading the Bible. I got this edition of the KJV with the hopes that it would be both a handy size and that it would have a nice, large font. Unfortunately it did not. It is, however, otherwise very lovely. I'll keep it as a back up copy.

For the record, my favorite reading copy of the KJV remains one of the Cambridge editions. The ISBN number, in case you want to look up this precise edition, is 052116334X. It possesses a very large, easy-to-read font in an otherwise perfectly beautiful Bible. It is, in fact, so beautiful that I had hoped to lessen its use by having another KJV.

Well printed.
This is good because it is a well printed hard cover version. It's a little expensive for that reason and also because of the introduction which I'm fairly certain wasn't in the original King James Version. But you don't have to read the introduction so I give it five stars.

Majestic!
The most majestic version of the Holy Bible's New Testament in existence. The Authorized Version of 1611, a.k.a., the King James Version.