INFALLIBLE ?.................... PERHAPS NOT !
A typo in some copy for this edition of St Oswald ’ s magazine set me thinking about other unfortunate failures of the printers ’ art !
Everyone makes mistakes , even the folks who print Bibles . Over the years , these people have made some mindtwisting typographical errors .
Here are a few errors that have turned up in various editions of the Bible :
A Bible printed in 1562 contains the following mistake in Mark 5:9 – “ Blessed are the placemakers , for they shall be called the children of God .” The correct word , of course , is “ peace-makers .”
A Bible printed in 1653 reads : “ Know ye not that the unrighteous shall inherit the Kingdom of God ?” The passage , Corinthians 6:9 , should read “ shall not inherit .”
A Bible printed in 1862 botched a passage in Revelation , recording the number of the Beast , or Antichrist , as “ 999 ” instead of “ 666 ”
A Bible printed in 1914 listed “ Thou shalt kill ” as one of the 10 commandments . Of course , it should have been “ Thou shalt not kill .”
Oddly enough , a Bible printed in 1631 blew another commandment , which led to the most famous typo of all : “ Thou shalt commit adultery .”
Coined “ The Wicked Bible ”, it was meant to be a reprint of the King James Bible . The publishers were punished with a £ 300 fine ( around £ 35,000 at today ’ s value ) and their printer ’ s license revoked . King Charles I was incensed , and George Abbot , the Archbishop of Canterbury , said :
“ I knew the tyme when great care was had about printing , the Bibles especially , good compositors and the best correctors were gotten being grave and learned men , the paper and the letter rare , and faire every way of the beste , but now the paper is nought , the composers boyes , and the correctors unlearned .”
Almost all the Wicked Bible ’ s copies were burned , but eleven survived . One copy is in the collection of the New York Public Library and another in the Bible Museum in Branson , Missouri .
If you ’ re really interested , a copy was recently sold for £ 15,000 in London .... so not all bad – if you find one !
Anon
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