King James Bible (First Edition, 1611): Home

“This Booke of Starres”: 400 Years of the King James Bible

An exhibit of early books at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, 330 Elizabeth Dafoe Library

October 2011 - April 2012

“This book of starres lights to eternall blisse”  George Herbert, The Temple, 1633

On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the first printing of the King James Bible, we present the 1611 first edition KJB along with other books selected from the St Johns College and University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections, to give us a window into the history of this remarkable book.

To further mark the anniversary, our copy of the King James Bible has been digitized and the complete book is now available to view online:

The digitized 1611 King James Bible

The story of the King James Bible is, in an important sense, the story of the Bible in English in the century before 1611. And the story of the Bible in English in that century is the story of a text that was the site of intense activity in scholarship, politics, popular religion, printing, and commerce. The story of the particular bibles in this exhibit is a story that extends into the 19th century and to today, the story of St John’s College and the University of Manitoba and the textual resources at the heart of these institutions.

Accompanying the exhibit is a video compilation featuring pages from books on display with textual and historical information. Watch it now on Archives & Special Collections' YouTube channel.

Select from the links below to learn more about our first edition King James Bible:

Historical Overview (Paul Dyck)

The Text (Gordon Zerbe)

How the Bible Looks (David Watt)

The King James Bible and the King’s Printer (Jason Peters)

Winnipeg and the King James Bible (Shelley Sweeney)

Visit our King James Bible page in the Rare Books section to view selected images of the bible and links to further information.