Wicked Bible

Errors

The Wicked Bible is best known for the omission of the word "not" in the sentence "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (), thus changing the sentence into "Thou shalt commit adultery".

The 1886 Reports of Cases in the Courts of Star Chamber and High Commission (which gives the Bodleian Library manuscript Rawlinson A 128 as its source) lists this as one of the "two grossest errors", among "divers other faults". The other is a misprint appearing in Deuteronomy 5: the word "greatness" appearing as "great-asse", leading to a sentence reading: "Behold, the our God hath shewed us his glory and his great-asse". Gordon Campbell reports that there are no surviving copies of the book that contain the second error ("great-asse"), but that in three of the surviving copies there is an inkblot where the missing "n" would be, suggesting such a mistake may have been covered up in these copies. He also notes that, at the time of the Wicked Bible's publication, the word "asse" only had the sense of "donkey". Rob Ainsley of the British Library, in a 2009 letter to the London Review of Books, suggested that the existence of this second error was highly dubious.

Diana Severance, director of the Dunham Bible Museum at the Houston Baptist University, and Gordon Campbell have suggested that the potential second error could indicate that someone (possibly a rival printer) purposely sabotaged the printing of the Wicked Bible so that Robert Barker and Martin Lucas would lose their exclusive licence to print the Bible. However, Campbell also notes that neither Barker nor Lucas suggested the possibility of sabotage in their defence when they were arraigned.

About a year after publication, Barker and Lucas were called to the Star Chamber and fined and deprived of their printing licence.

The Wicked Bible is the most prominent example of the bible errata which often have absent negatives that completely reverse the scriptural meaning.

Public reaction

The case of the Wicked Bible was commented on by Peter Heylyn in 1668:

The "... £300 fine ... was eventually quashed ... [but] most of the texts were destroyed."

The Archbishop of Canterbury, George Abbot expressed anger at both errors.

Origin of the name

The nickname Wicked Bible seems to have first been applied in 1855 by rare book dealer Henry Stevens. As he relates in his memoir of James Lenox, after buying what was then the only known copy of the 1631 octavo Bible for fifty guineas, "on June 21, I exhibited the volume at a full meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of London, at the same time nicknaming it 'The Wicked Bible,' a name that has stuck to it ever since."

Remaining copies

The majority of the Wicked Bible's copies were immediately cancelled and destroyed, and the number of extant copies remaining today, which are considered highly valuable by collectors, is thought to be relatively low. One copy is in the collection of rare books in the New York Public Library and is very rarely made accessible; another can be seen in the Dunham Bible Museum in Houston, Texas.

The British Library in London had a copy of the Wicked Bible on display, opened to the misprinted commandment, in a free exhibition until September 2009.

In 2023, a researcher at the University of Canterbury identified a potential copy held at the National Central Library of Rome. This copy was digitised in 2013 and is available online on Google Books.

There are fifteen known copies of the Wicked Bible today in the collections of museums and libraries in Britain, North America and Australasia:

Britain (seven copies)

• The British Library
• University of Glasgow Library
• University of Leicester David Wilson Library
• Cambridge University Library
• University of Oxford, Bodleian Library
• University of Manchester, John Rylands Library
• The Library at York Minster

North America (seven copies)

• New York Public Library
• Yale University, Sterling Memorial Library
• Houston Christian University, Dunham Bible Museum
• D.C. Museum of the Bible
• University of Toronto, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
• The Lilly Library, Indiana University Bloomington
• Princeton University Library, Special Collections

New Zealand (one copy)

• University of Canterbury, owned by the Phil and Louise Donnithorne Family Trust. A digital facsimile was published in 2024 by Canterbury University Press and the UC Arts Digital Lab.

A number of copies also exist in private collections. In 2008, a copy of the Wicked Bible went up for sale online, priced at $89,500. A second copy was put up for sale from the same website which was priced at $99,500 as of 2015.

In 2014, William Scheide donated his library of rare books and manuscripts to Princeton University, with a copy of the Wicked Bible among its holdings.

In 2015, one of the remaining Bible copies was auctioned by Bonhams, and sold for £31,250 ().

In 2016, a copy of the Wicked Bible was auctioned by Sotheby's and sold for $46,500. The same copy was auctioned again by Sotheby's in 2018, selling for $56,250.

References

Bibliography

References

1. (1886). "Reports of Cases in the Courts of Star Chamber and High Commission". Nichols and Sons.
2. "New museum's 'Wicked Bible': Thou Shalt Commit Adultery".
3. (23 October 2015). "Thou Shalt Commit Adultery: A rare copy of the so-called Wicked Bible of 1631, which omitted a rather important "not" from the 10 Commandments, is going on auction in the U.K.".
4. Ainsley, Rob. (6 August 2009). "Great Arse". London Review of Books.
5. (2010). "Bible: The Story of the King James Version 1611 — 2011". Oxford University Press.
6. Kohlenberger, John R. III. (2008). "NIV Bible Verse Finder". Zondervan.
7. Russell, Ray. (October 1980). "The Wicked Bibles". Theology Today.
8. "Challenges in Printing Early English Bibles". Brigham Young University.
9. Corlett, Eva. (2 May 2022). "Rare 'Wicked' bible that encourages adultery discovered in New Zealand". The Guardian.
10. Ingelbart, Louis Edward. (1987). "Press Freedoms: A Descriptive Calendar of Concepts, Interpretations, Events, and Courts Actions, from 4000 B.C. to the Present". Greenwood Publishing.
11. Stevens, Henry. (1886). "Recollections of Mr James Lenox of New York and the Formation of His Library". Henry Stevens & Son.
12. Gekoski, Rick. (23 November 2010). "The Wicked Bible: the perfect gift for collectors, but not for William and Kate". The Guardian.
13. Turner, Allan. (31 August 2015). "Historic Bibles ‑ even a naughty one ‑ featured at Houston's Dunham Museum". Hearst Newspapers.
14. "Wicked Bible on free public display in British Library, London".
15. Jones, Chris. "The Wicked Bible – The Story".
16. "English Short Title Catalogue".
17. Dixon, Simon. "Who owned the Wicked Bible?". University of Leicester.
18. "University of Cambridge". iDiscover.
19. Lewis, Stephen. (29 November 2008). "The treasures of York Minster Library". York Press.
20. "The Wicked Bible".
21. "Special Collections".
22. Corlett, Eva. (2 May 2022). "Rare 'Wicked' bible that encourages adultery discovered in New Zealand". The Guardian.
23. "The Wicked Bible – Digital Edition".
24. "Greatsite.com Platinum Room".
25. (15 December 2015). "Platinum Room".
26. "Alumnus William Scheide leaves 'lasting legacy' to Princeton".
27. (1631). "The Holy Bible: Containing the Old Testament and the Neuu". Robert Barker and Assigns of John Bill.
28. Flood, Alison. (21 October 2015). "Extremely rare Wicked Bible goes on sale". The Guardian.
29. "The 'Wicked Bible', 1631".
30. (5 December 2016). "Bible in English [The "Wicked" Bible]".
31. (28 June 2018). "Bible in English [The "Wicked" Bible]".