Sunday, June 19, 2016

It's Sunday

Just as baseball card collectors seek out error cards, collectors of rare books seek out books containing typos and misprints. And when it comes to misprinted books, the 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken error card of the rare book world is the "Wicked Bible". Printed by Robert Barker and Martin Lewis in 1631, this edition of the King James Bible is prized by collectors because of a most unfortunate typographical omission: In the Ten Commandments, the word "not" was accidentally dropped from the commandment prohibiting adultery, thus changing the sentence into "Thou shalt commit adultery".

Barker was sent to prison for this error, where he ultimately died. It is believed that only eleven copies of this "Wicked Bible" exist today. But the Wicked Bible is not the only rare Bible sought after by bibliophiles because of a printing error.

  Journal of the Bizarre
There are more at that link: the "Sin on" Bible; the wife beater's bible (edited to include a footnote for husbands of disobedient wives to "beate the fere of God into her heade, that thereby she may be compelled to learne her dutye"); the bug bible; the cannibal's bible; the unrighteous bible; the murderer's bible; and the owl husband bible.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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