The King James Bible: A Short History from Tyndale to Today
Unlike previous books we have talked about, this is not really a popular book but a scholarly one. English professor David Norton must be one of the leading authorities on the AV. His interest appears to be a purely academic one but he certainly has a number of interesting facts at his fingertips that others seem not to have.
The book is not an easy read but it is very thorough and well judged. Like others, Norton begins by dealing with the AV's predecessors and its drafting. Chapter 3 looks at the translators and Chapter 4 the actual work. Chapter 5 considers the first edition. A long penultimate chapter deals with the printing, editing and development of a standard text. Perhaps the most interesting chapter is the final one (Reputation and future). A digest of previously produced material of his, it charts the slow but almost inexorable rise of the AV to its present state.
So an excellent and thorough piece of work, the one to get.
I notice that Norton's book on the textual history of the AV can be found here.
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