A first printing edition of the King James Bible opened to a page with text about the First Book of Moses alongside an elaborate family tree diagram.

First printing of the King James Bible
London: Robert Barker, 1611
Rare Book Division

First printing of the King James Bible

The King James Bible is recognized as the most influential and widely published English-language book. Produced under the aegis of its namesake, King James I of England, the King James Bible represents the culmination of eight years of work by a team of 47 scholars. Its text is based heavily on the earlier, unauthorized Tyndale Bible, the first English translation of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew sources, and also the first to be issued in a mass-produced printed edition.



Beyond its broad scriptural reach, the King James Bible’s distinct phrasing—its cadences, imagery, and syntax—has exerted an outsized influence over the development of the English language itself, and has inspired literary works by writers as diverse as John Milton, William Blake, and Herman Melville.

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