A Century of Bibles

William John Loftie (1839-1911) wrote prolifically on topics related to travel, art, architecture, and history. In this 1872 work, his stated desire was to investigate those editions of the Authorised Version published in the century following the initial 1611 text. Noting that other historians had 'stopped short' when reaching that acknowledged culmination of English biblical scholarship, he went further, claiming it was 'no exaggeration to assert that our modern Bible is altered throughout from its original, for the better in some places, for the worse in some'. His catalogue and discussion of the various texts involved included those from the British and Bodleian Libraries together with additional lists from scholars Lea Wilson and Francis Fry. Surveying English editions of the Bible published during a sometimes contentious century, Loftie's work reveals how printing and editing practices did, over time, affect even the seemingly static Authorised Version of the Bible.