I guess most folks will know that Britain’s Queen Elizabeth will celebrate her 60 years as Head of State in June this year. Her Diamond Jubilee will bring joy to a lot of people around the world and an excuse for a party or two. My son will get married in London on the same day that the Queen will be riding in her special barge on the River Thames a bouquet’s throw away.

R.L. Allan will also be celebrating 60 years since the beloved KJV Longprimer Bible was first published in 1952 by both Oxford and Allan. Its beautiful setting was designed and typeset by the craftsmen at Oxford University Press.

At that time the #53 Bible cost £3.50 or $9.60 .  How times have changed! But the Bible, thank goodness, hasn’t.

We hope to bring out a celebration edition of just 60 copies to mark the Diamond Jubilee of this beautiful Bible. It will indeed be a Bible fit for a Queen!

Nicholas

When I first published the British edition of  the New King James Version way back in 1984 under the venerable Samuel Bagster imprint, we struggled to come up with the right British name for this fresh revision of the AV Bible.  How could you simply add New onto the KJV ?  So we decided on the ‘Revised Authorised Version’ … and it sank like a stone. Fact was that New King James Version filled the bill nicely and it has gone from strength to strength ever since.

So I’m delighted that Thomas Nelson have now given their blessing for R L Allan to produce a NKJV edition in a premium binding. We’ll be using the best NKJV setting we know – B & H’s large print two column reference edition – and presenting it in our top quality leather-lined bindings later in the year.

What are the publishers calling the new New International Version?  Not Todays’ NIV anyway, and the TNIV sank like  a stone too!  Better to stick to the name that everyone knows, the good old/new  New International Version. By the way Allan’s latest reference NIVs are just coming into stock, with the revised text. Well worth waiting for.

Nicholas

On Wednesday 16th November I was in Westminster Abbey, London, for a national celebration of  the 400th anniversary of the KJV Bible. Queen Elizabeth, The Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles were sttting 20 row in front of me. She had a very white hat but that is about as much as I saw of Her Majesty!  There were 2000 worshippers in the Abbey and the singing was magnificent.

As Allan customers will know, we are the Queen’s Bible Publisher for Scotland. Four valuable and beautiful first editions of the 1611 Bible were processed to the high altar along with a modern ‘People’s Bible’ which we had made here in Glasgow for the occasion. It took pride of place on a red cushion between the 400 year old Bibles on either side.

So it was a great honour to be there and to thank God for the heritage of the Authorized Version of the Bible in the presence of the Queen who holds the copyright to the KJV in the United Kingdom.

Nicholas

I’m struck , in this 400th anniversary year of the birth of the King James Bible, how much Cambridge University Press have been doing to fly the KJV flag around the world. They have an honourable history of publishing and printing this most majestic of English versions. Indeed some KJV enthusiasts swear ( under their breath of course!) by the  ‘Pure Cambridge Edition’ – whatever that may be.

However, historically, the source of all modern KJV Bibles is the Blayney revision of 1769,  published by Oxford University Press. This is the settled text which the American Bible Society adopted and which Cambridge also came to accept as the standard. (Allan enthusiasts will know that their KJV Bibles tend to have Oxford-originated settings.)

Cambridge’s latest KJV editions, especially the new Clarion single column reference editions combine a wonderfully clear, readable 10 pt type within a handy format. The Clarion is sure to become a classic rendering of the traditional KJV Bible text.

The innovative Transetto format will appeal to a younger readership who are not bound by traditional books.

Well done, Cambridge!  King James would be delighted.

Nicholas

 King James VI ( of Scotland) and I (of England) was born in a room next to where this famous oil painting of the King now hangs at Edinburgh Castle. His mother was Mary Queen of Scots, whom her cousin Elizabeth of England  later beheaded for alleged treason. A  few feet away are the Scottish crown jewels arrayed in all their regal spendour and guarded by stern men in kilts.

You watch the news on TV or read it in the press. You view with horror the tsunami and earthquakes in Japan and the devastation they cause. You feel deeply for the people whose lives have been affected.

And then you move on… to the next bit of bad news.

 Then it catches up with you. Turns out that the unique India paper for the wide margin Bible that you had planned to print in Holland from the French paper supplier is to be made in their Japanese  mill. And suddenly that earthquake is affecting R.L.Allan  in ways no-one had imagined. It’s a very small world and we’re all interconnected.

So our wide margin KJV Bible will have to be delayed for a few months by earthquake, wind and fire. I ask myself: Do I feel worse about the paper delay or for the poor people who are suffering in Japan?  

Nicholas

Is the Bible the unchanging Word of God?

There is a fierce debate about the text of particular Bible versions. It took over 150 years for the KJV Bible to settle into a fixed form and even now readers seek the ‘Pure Cambridge Edition’, the supposedly authorized, authorized version from the mists of time around 1900.  Those of us who also publish Oxford settings are not too delighted with that notion!

It worries me that the Bible text changes. In the pre-digital age of the 1970s to 90s, modern Bible translations were quietly updated every seven years or so. No fuss was made about it. Now it seems that they are being updated almost every time they are reprinted, in the same way that cell phones, cameras and computers are upgraded year on year.

If the Bible changes, where are we? If the Bible is the authoritative rule for our faith and conduct, are we moving from a stable understanding to a moving target? What Bible can we trust anymore? Only the latest revision?

The NIV is being updated for 2011, the first time since 1984. The ESV has had several updates in its short life and the NLT has had seen some pretty sweeping changes since it first was published in 1996. All for good translation reasons no doubt.  And a bit of marketing hype, perhaps? 

But is it wise? Should Bibles be a matter of fashion?  Should we change our Bible every couple of years to keep up with the revisions?  Should we be saying  ‘Enough already?’

What do you think?  Please let me know your thoughts.

Nicholas

Robert Allan, company founder, circa 1860.

This is a hand-painted photo of the company founder and Bible publisher Robert Allan. It was taken around the time that R.L.Allan & Son was first  established in 1863. He used such photographs as visiting cards, as was the custom at the time.

In mid November some parcels purporting to contain cartridge ink were sent in planes from Yemen to the USA. Instead of harmless cartridge ink, they concealed explosives. One of these parcels bound for the USA turned up on aircraft in Scotland. Fortunately, none exploded and no-one has been hurt.

Ever since, airports in the USA and Europe have been on high alert for other terrorist bombs concealed in planes. As a result the US Department of Homeland Security required that every incoming parcel over one pound in weight be indiviually screened for explosives. As a result, it’s caused huge disruption to our delivery schedules to our American customers since November. Our normal, very reliable delivery times of 7 – 10 days is now typically up to four weeks.

We’re so sorry for the longer wait that some of our customers are experiencing just now. Safety is a worldwide concern and the threat is real and present. Royal Mail and USPS are working hard to find safe and faster ways through the US postal systems. They assure us that all orders will be delivered, but since our airmail postal service is not a tracking one, we can’t tell when exactly orders will come.

We are hoping for a relaxation of the stringent security measures after the busy Christmas period and the threat subsides. There will be a backlog before our normal reliable delivery schedules are happening again.

Thank you for your patience during this difficult time. We know why there are delays but they are outside our control Our prayers are heart-felt , that things will get back to normal again soon.

Nicholas

As you may know, R.L. Allan have a reputation for making larger format, hand-finished Bibles.  But what is the smallest Bible you have ever seen? Can you beat mine?

I have a tiny KJV Bible which is only one and a quarter inches high and just over one inch wide! It is beautifully bound in brown calfskin and the whole Bible is completely legible with the aid of a tiny magnifying glass which is kept in a pocket inside the front cover.

I produced this tiny marvel at a meeting of librarians this week and immediately they told me “This is a Bryce Bible, named after the printer, which was printed in 1901 for the historical Empire Exhibition in Glasgow”.  I enquired about its likely value. “Not much,” they said, “only about £300″ ! I was flabbergasted. That something so wee should be so precious.

I kept my tiny brown Bible in a desk drawer and thought of it simply as a novelty item. No longer! I must think of it as a treasured Bible, whose words are priceless. Much, much more than $500!

I wonder if you have some old Bibles in the house which are special to you?  Do please let me know about them and why they mean so much to you.

Nicholas

ps.  The KJV will be 400 years old next year. What other terms are there for a 400-year-anniversary?