The 1613 King James Bible (First Black Letter Quarto Edition), cataloged bibliographically as Herbert 323, is one of the earliest, rarest, and most historically significant small-format printings of the Authorized Version. Printed in London by Robert Barker, the King's printer, this edition translated the massive 1611 folio pulpit Bible into a compact, portable "quarto" size intended for personal study, home use, and daily reading. This 1613 printing is highly prized by antiquarians because it is a "close reprint" of the original 1611 Folio "He" Bible. Crucially, it retains the famous typographical error in Ruth 3:15, which reads: "And he went into the citie."

T H E

H O L Y B I B L E,

Containing the Old Testament,

and the New:

¶ Newly Translated out of the Original Tongues:

And with the former Translations diligently compared

and revised, by his Majesties speciall commandment.

¶ I M P R I N T E D A T L O N D O N

BY ROBERT BARKER,

Printer to the Kings most

Excellent Majestie,

A N N O

1 6 1 3 .

About this Particular Bible

This specific printing represents a pivotal evolutionary step in the democratization of scripture, transforming the massive, restricted church pulpit Bible into an accessible format designed for private home study. Historically significant as a direct, uncorrected link to the earliest textual tradition of the 1611 translation, it serves as the absolute final issue to retain the famous typographical anomaly in Ruth 3:15, which mistakenly uses the masculine pronoun "he" instead of "she" when describing entry into the city. Because this iconic error was permanently corrected immediately following this print run, surviving copies of this Gothic black-letter volume are exceptionally rare, highly prized by antiquarians, and stand as a remarkable testament to the human hand behind early printing history.

The Exterior

This Bible features a period-style, full dark calf leather binding over heavy wooden boards. The exterior presents a deeply patinated and textured look, adorned with 17th-century style brass hardware, including protective corner plates, a raised central diamond boss, and ornamental clasp catches. In the early colonial era, these defensive metal embellishments served a vital dual purpose: protecting the valuable leather from abrasive surfaces and keeping the text block tightly compressed against humidity and dust. To ensure long-term preservation, the Bible has undergone a professional conservation reback repair; the spine has been masterfully rebacked with color-matched leather and five traditional raised bands, seamlessly tucked beneath the original front and back cover boards to restore total structural integrity while fully preserving its historical aesthetic. Enclosed in this majestic armor of brass and leather, the Bible retains a captivating, timeless aura that honors both its sacred contents and its long journey through history.

The Interior

A^8 Preliminaries, A-Z^8, Aa-Zz^8, Aaa-Sss^8 The Bible, (A-K^8 L^2) Complete: This volume consists of three distinct parts across a total of 1,186 leaves. It opens with an unnumbered eight-leaf preliminary section signed A⁸. The main body of the work is a comprehensive Bible text, which spans three complete alphabetical signature sequences: a single-letter sequence from A–Z⁸, a double-letter sequence from Aa–Zz⁸, and a triple-letter sequence concluding at Aaa–Sss⁸. Each of these gatherings contains exactly eight leaves. Following the biblical text, the volume concludes with a separate concordance section. This final portion runs from A–K⁸ with eight leaves per gathering, and terminates with a shortened gathering L² containing only two leaves.

Detailed Report:

This Bible has what appears to be original pastedowns and Fly Leaves. The Fly Leaves appear to contain notations regarding previous ownership regarding purchasing and gifting of this Bible at some point in its history, dates suggest sometime around 1789-90. The following Fly-Leaf contains additional notations regarding ownership and bares the date of 1880. The Bible opens up to A1, General Title Page, the leaf has heavy chipping to the upper and lower fore-edge of the leaf and is consideribly aged with minor notations to the recto, The verso features what appears to be fine 18th century calligraphy of a name repeated. A2-A3, contain the "Dedication to the King", on the verso of A3 begins "The Translators To The Reader" and completes on A7. A8, Contains "The Names and Order of all Bookes" and concludes the preliminaries. A1, begins the Olde Testament being The First Booke Of Moses, Called Genesis, the leaf does contain a small period style signature at the top of the leaf (recto). The inital group of leaves A1-A8 have a small chip at the upper fore-edge, not effecting text. A2, has lite staining, text remains legible. L2 has an old signature at the bottom of the leaf, which has since been smudged out, not effecting text. M2, has small hole to outer margin, not effecting text. R2, has small period calligraphy on the fore-edge, not effecting text. S2, has small chip at upper & lower fore-edge, both very slightly effecting text at the catchword and the chapter heading. X2, has small chip at lower corner of the fore-edge, not effecting text. X6, has some old style calligraphy on the fore-edge of the verso, not effecting text. Y1, has small closed tear to the lower margin near the gutter, not affecting text. Y2, has small writing marks at the outer margin, not effecting text. Y5, has tiny hole at lower, outer margin, not effecting text. Z8, has early style writing, toward the outer margin, it appears the writer was repeating the word "Robe", in one are slightly running into the scritural text, but not effecting readability. Aa7, has early style writing, toward the outer margin, it appears the writer was repeating the word "Robe" once again, the writing is smudged but legible, not effecting text. Cc2, has a small ink smudge at the outer margin, not effecting text. Dd5-Dd6, both leaves have ink spots, apparently effeting both leaves, slightly effecting text. Ee5, has small inscriptions to the outer margin, not effecting text. Ff5, has small chip to lower margin, not effecting text. Ii8 (recto - Isaiah Ch. 50 / verso - Isaiah Ch. 53), has a 4" closed tear, effecting text, without loss. Kk1-Kk2, both leaves appear to have been replaced with leaves from another exact bible, demonstrating different aging patterns and different cropping from the rest of the block; they are nicely tipped in. Kk2, has a burn hole at the outer margin, with text loss to marginal notes. Kk3, has 2 small closed tears, approx 1" each, effecting text without loss, also has a minor surface scorch at outer margin. Kk4-Kk6, has tiny closed tear at lower margin, not effecting text. Mm5, has corner tear at lower, outer margin, not effecting text. Pp5, has small numeric writing in the outer margin on recto and small letter inscription on inner margin on verso. Qq5, has small numeric writing at outer margin. Ss3, has tiny chip at lower outer margin. SS6, has inscription dated 1698 on verso, also the last leaf of the Olde Testament. Ss7, has small illegible inscription on outer margin, not effecting text. Tt6-Tt7, has small dampstain at inner margin, near gutter. Zz2, has minor staining at inner margin, near gutter. Zz8-Aaa, has small ink stain at the top margin, effecting chapter heading, text remains legible. Bbb3, has minor ink stain, text still legible. Bbb5, has tiny hole at lower margin, not effecting text. Ccc3, has tiny hole through leaf, not effecting text. Eee2, has small inscription on verso stating "The End of Apocrypha". This marks the end of the Apocrypha. Eee3, The New Testament Title Page, has small chip at upper, outer margin. Eee4-Eee5, has small chip at upper, outer margin, not effecting text. Iii7, has tiny closed tear, not effecting text. Kkk2, has a name inscribed in old ink "Luke", at the outer margin, along with a few minor characters at the lower margin, not effecting text. Kkk3, has a tiny ink mark at the outer margin, having bled through from the previous leaf. Kkk4, has minor chipping along the lower edge of the leaf. Lll, has tiny bur hole, effecting two words on recto & verso, still quite legible. Lll2 (John Ch.7 - recto / John Ch.8 verso), has a chip at the lower margin, effecting tyhe last two lines of scripture on recto and last line on verso. The leaf also has minor to moderate chipping on outer edge, effecting about 50% of the outer edge. Lll7, has a chip at lower margin, effecting ther last line of scripture on the recto (minor loss) and the last line of text on the verso (no loss). Oo08, has ink stain at top margin, effecting scripture without loss and still quite legible. Ppp5, has a small tear at the upper, outer margin, effecting text without loss. Qqq, has a tiny chip at the upper, outer marging, not effecting text. Qqq6, has a small chip at the upper, outer margin, without loss. Rrr7, has numeric inscriptions along the outer margin, not effecting text. End of New Testament. Now begins "Two right profitable and fruitfull Concordances". B7-B8, have minor ink marks at lower and upper margins, not effecting text. E5, has small illegible inscription at the bottom of the leaf. F4, has a small chip at the lower, outer edge, not effecting text. G1, has a small, illegible inscription at the lower edge of the margin. I8, is partially torn away from the gutter and appears to be missing a small portion of the leaf at the gutter, appears it could be tipped back in without loss. K8-L2, has chipping along the top margin, with some text loss to the top margin of L1-L2. This is the end of the Concordance.

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