The first edition of the King James Version was printed in 1611 by Robert Barker in London. It appears that two issues were published that year, the printing being done possibly in two different shops to meet the expected large demand. The first two printings were large folio Bibles for use in churches, but smaller editions were soon produced for personal use, starting in 1612. With the proliferation of printings, early printer errors crept into the editions. For instance, the word “not” was left out of the seventh commandment, in what eventually came to be called the “Wicked Bible,” which said “Thou shalt commit adultery.” As well, if some printed sheets were left over from one printing, they were incorporated into another. Almost no two existing “original 1611" King James Bibles are exactly the same. Eventually there were various calls for the need to correct and revise the King James Version because of printer’s errors over the years and the changes in spelling and word usage.
Corrected editions were published by the Cambridge University Press, the first being in 1629, followed by another in 1638. Several of the revisers were part of the original group of translators of the KJV.
Carelessly printed copies continued to appear, some even printed on the European continent in Holland.
Thus in 1762, the most significant corrections were completed in an edition overseen by Dr. Thomas Paris of Trinity College in Cambridge.
The work of Dr. Paris was refined by Benjamin Blayney in 1769; this edition then became the standard King James Bible in use up to today. There were almost 1000 editions printed from 1611 to 1769, all with minor corrections. No comprehensive revision of the King James Version was undertaken again until the middle of the 19th century.
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