Holy highlight at PBA Galleries' rare books sale: a first edition King James Bible

PBA galleries completed its Rare Books & Manuscripts sale earlier in the week. One highlight stood out:

This was a copy of the legendary King James Bible, commonly known as the Authorized Version, undoubtedly the most influential of all English language versions of the Bible. The first edition is known to exist in two issues, known as the Great "He" Bible and the Great "She" Bible.

He said, she said... the St James Bible

This is despite the common belief that most of the text of both issues was printed concurrently. The accepted first issue of the Bible had the reading in Ruth 3:15,"...and he went into the citie," and in the accepted second issue, the passage reads correctly "...and she went into the citie."

The King James Bible is sometimes described as 'the only literary masterpiece ever to have been produced by a committee' and was the work of nearly fifty translators, organized in six groups. This She Bible (or the first edition, second issue) brought $14,400.