In the United Kingdom, the privileged presses are Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. They are called this because, under letters patent issued by the Crown defining their charters, only they have the right to print and publish the Book of Common Prayer and the Authorised Version of the Bible in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Cambridge University Press charter from 1534 gives it the right to print “all manner of books,” and Oxford University Press received a similar right when it was chartered in 1634. In addition both presses, by virtue of a separate set of letters patent, hold the explicit right to print the Authorised Version.
In most of the world the Authorized Version (also known as King James Version in America) has passed out of copyright and is freely reproduced. This is not the case in the United Kingdom where the rights to the Authorized Version are held by the British Crown under perpetual Crown copyright. Publishers are licensed to reproduce the Authorized Version under letters patent. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the letters patent are held by the Queen’s Printer, and in Scotland by the Scottish Bible Board. The office of Queen’s Printer has been associated with the right to reproduce the Bible for centuries, the earliest known reference coming in 1577. In the 18th century all surviving interests in the monopoly were bought out by John Baskett. The Baskett rights descended through a number of printers and, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Queen’s Printer is now Cambridge University Press, who inherited the right when they took over the firm of Eyre & Spottiswoode in 1990.
Other royal charters of similar antiquity grant Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press the right to produce the Authorized Version independently of the Queen’s Printer. In Scotland the Authorized Version is published by Collins under licence from the Scottish Bible Board. The terms of the letters patent prohibit any other than the holders, or those authorized by the holders, from printing, publishing or importing the Authorized Version into the United Kingdom. The protection that the Authorized Version, and also the Book of Common Prayer, enjoy is the last remnant of the time when the Crown held a monopoly over all printing and publishing in the United Kingdom.
The task of translation was undertaken by 47 scholars, although 54 were originally approved. All were members of the Church of England and all except Sir Henry Savile were clergy. The scholars worked in six committees, two based in each of the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and Westminster. The committees included scholars with Puritan sympathies, as well as High Churchmen. Forty unbound copies of the 1602 edition of the Bishops’ Bible were specially printed so that the agreed changes of each committee could be recorded in the margins. The committees worked on certain parts separately and the drafts produced by each committee were then compared and revised for harmony with each other. The scholars were not paid directly for their translation work, instead a circular letter was sent to bishops encouraging them to consider the translators for appointment to well paid livings as these fell vacant. Several were supported by the various colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, while others were promoted to bishoprics, deaneries and prebends through royal patronage.
Another upholder of the truth on scene was the Trinitarian Bible Society (TBS). They survived crisis and issues with the Roman inspired compromises in the translations and gradually developed in the nineteenth century. Today it follows a most commendable policy in respect of the Scriptures. Its present Law and Regulation No. III states:
This Society shall circulate the Holy Scriptures as comprised in the Canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, without note or comment to the exclusion of the Apocrypha; the copies in the English language shall be those of the Authorized Version (AV – King James Bible). In promoting and editing new translations, and selecting versions in foreign languages, the competency of the translators employed, and the faithfulness and Christian character of the versions, shall be ascertained by the Committee, before the publication or circulation of such versions is in any way aided by this Society. The Trinitarian Bible Society, Cambridge, and Oxford stood very firmly for the distribution of the King James Version, and stood steadfast when the Catholic church sought to change the translation of the Bible in the 1820’s and 1840’s.
As upholders of Truth, by God’s grace let us stand for God’s downtrodden law and show forth the standard of God, and stand for that which these faithful men and women stood for.
Adapted from Wikipedia and Cambridge University and Translations Unmasked by Dr. Colin Standish, and Dr. Russell Standish
Picture 1: The headquarters of the Cambridge University Press (The Pitt Building) in Trumpington Street Cambridge. The CUP also has a bookshop in the centre of Cambridge (claimed to be the oldest site for a bookshop in the UK), and a main office, printing house and distibution warehouse near Cambridge railway station.
Picture 2: The title page to the 1611 first edition of the Authorized Version Bible by Cornelius Boel shows the Apostles Peter and Paul seated centrally at the top. Moses and Aaron flank the central text. In the four corners sit Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, authors of the four gospels, with their symbolic animals. The rest of the Apostles stand at the top.
Picture 3, 4: Cambridge’s Pitt Bibles were originally launched in the 1930s (Published at the Pitt Building), in the wake of the typographic revival which took place in England after the First World War. They were notable for their slimness – achieved by using a typeface specially cut by the famous Times typographer Stanley Morison for Cambridge University Press. The Pitt Minion was of popular choice to soldiers in the war because of it’s ability to take up minimal room in sacks.
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I have a collection of Cambridge Bibles and they are by far the best in the world! Love this history on Cambridge and Oxford. “…for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” 1 Samuel 3:30
They sure are! Great to know that you like them. Thanks for the comment!
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