Found in a village church the 'Great She Bible' worth £250k: 400-year-old Holy book containing spelling mistake was discovered in a dusty cupboard
- Copy of the original King James Bible found in St Mary's Church,Gisburn
- In Book of Ruth mistakenly reads 'She went into the city' instead of 'He'
- They were printed in 1611 and are known as the Great She Bibles
- Can be worth up to £250,000 and has been put on display at the church
Vicars
who found a dusty Bible in their village church were stunned to find it
is worth a fortune – as it contains a rare 400-year-old spelling
mistake.
It
is one of a handful of the original King James Bibles, printed in 1611,
in which a line in the Book of Ruth mistakenly reads ‘She went into the
city’ instead of ‘He’.
Volumes with the error are known as the Great She Bibles and can be worth up to £250,000.
This original King James Bible, printed in 1611, has been found in St Mary's Parish Church in Gisburn, Lancashire
Reverend Anderson Jeremiah and Reverend Alexander Baker with the 400-year-old bible
The
latest copy – only the sixth known in the UK – was found in a cupboard
at the back of St Mary’s Parish Church in Gisburn, Lancashire, by the
Reverends Anderson Jeremiah and Alexander Baker. Its historical
significance had not been noticed, so it had been stored in a cupboard
at the back of the church.
Mr Baker said: ‘It was a really exciting thing to discover – it looks just like something out of Harry Potter.
‘One
of the wonderful things about worshipping in a church as old as ours is
the sense of history that oozes from its walls and discovering the
treasures it has to offer. But we were stunned to discover a treasure as
rare as this.
‘We knew as soon as we saw the date of the New Testament that it was a significant find.’
Dr
Jeremiah added: ‘It’s amazing to think we are able to hold a book
printed as the direct result of the command of King James 400 years
ago.’
St
Mary’s Bible has been assessed and authenticated by the Blackburn-based
Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association and went on display at the church
yesterday.
It
is called a Great She Bible because Chapter 3, Verse 15 of the Book of
Ruth in the Old Testament refers to Boaz, a man, as ‘she’.
The other Great She Bibles are at Oxford and Cambridge universities, and at Salisbury, Exeter and Durham cathedrals.
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