Gift idea for friend

November 27, 2011 5:25 PM

Need a gift idea for someone close to me who has a deep interest in the "original" King James (1611) Bible, this person studies the bible all the time and is very computer literate. Was hoping for some ideas.
posted by sandyp to religion & philosophy (11 answers total)

National Geographic photo?
posted by Ideefixe at 5:37 PM on November 27, 2011

Maybe some Bible study software - something like this. (I don't know anything about that particular product, but something that has the text and commentaries, concordances, etc. would probably be really nice.)
posted by la petite marie at 5:54 PM on November 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

Not sure what your budget is like, but if he's a fairly scholarly guy, BibleWorks is pretty much the industry standard for high-level Bible-study software.
posted by AngerBoy at 5:59 PM on November 27, 2011 [2 favorites]

How about a facsimile copy?
posted by Jahaza at 6:15 PM on November 27, 2011

You might be able to find some interesting things because it is the 400th anniversary of the KJV, such as this book.

I don't know where you live, but a trip to the "Manifold Greatness: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible" exhibit at the Folger Library in Washington DC would be fantastic. They are showing some really beautiful copies that are usually difficult to see, and lots of other related material.
posted by apricot at 6:21 PM on November 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

There are several new histories of the KJV out in time for its birthday, most of which have been reviewed quite well--e.g., Gordon Campbell's Bible (he's also done this spiffy new edition of the text itself) or David Norton's The King James Bible.
posted by thomas j wise at 6:23 PM on November 27, 2011

I thought these two books were good:

The Book of Books: The Radical Impact of the King James Bible 1611-2011: A History of the King James Bible (Melvyn Bragg).

When God Spoke English: The Making of the King James Bible (Adam Nicolson).

Here's a review of the Bragg book wch indicates that it's a bit populist (and recommends some other books - the Crystal one should be good).

And a review of the Nicolson book (under its previous title).
posted by paduasoy at 7:11 PM on November 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

God's Secretaries: The Making of The King James Bible was pretty good on how it was put together.
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 9:29 PM on November 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

(Wait - that's all the same book: "Power and Glory"/ "When God Spoke" / and "God's Secretaries" are ALL variant titles for the Adam Nicholson book subtitled "The making of the King James bible".)
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 9:33 PM on November 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

The always-interesting Melvyn Bragg has a new book out onthe KJV called "Book of Books." It covers the historial and culturl influence of the KJV, and sounds like a good read.

He also did a two-part series for the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zmc6f, not online anymore) which lead to this speech, and then he did an appearance at the 2011 Edinburgh Book Festival (which went from scholarly to impassioned and nearly ranting at the end, possibly due to time pressures).
posted by wenestvedt at 7:21 AM on November 29, 2011

(Dang, I skimmed right past paduasoy's comment. Sorry!)
posted by wenestvedt at 7:21 AM on November 29, 2011