God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James BibleHarper Collins, 2009 M10 13 - 336 pages NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK “This scrupulously elegant account of the creation of what four centuries of history has confirmed is the finest English-language work of all time, is entirely true to its subject: Adam Nicolson’s lapidary prose is masterly, his measured account both as readable as the curious demand and as dignified as the story deserves.” — Simon Winchester, author of Krakatoa In God's Secretaries, Adam Nicolson gives a fascinating and dramatic account of the era of the King James Bible and its translation, immersing us in an age whose greatest monument is not a painting or a building but a book. A network of complex currents flowed across Jacobean England. This was the England of Shakespeare, Jonson, and Bacon; the era of the Gunpowder Plot and the worst outbreak of the plague. Jacobean England was both more godly and less godly than the country had ever been, and the entire culture was drawn taut between these polarities. This was the world that created the King James Bible. It is the greatest work of English prose ever written, and it is no coincidence that the translation was made at the moment "Englishness," specifically the English language itself, had come into its first passionate maturity. The English of Jacobean England has a more encompassing idea of its own scope than any form of the language before or since. It drips with potency and sensitivity. The age, with all its conflicts, explains the book. This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more. |
From inside the book
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... ( London ) " Nicolson tells the King James Version's story so well that his book may prove to be the King James Version's indispensable companion for years to come . " -Booklist ( starred review ) " So few documents have survived this ...
... digently compared and reused by hir Masterpersall Comandément Aspointné sebered in Churcher . Imprinted at London by Robert Barker Printer to the King mofe Cxcellent Mar ANNO DOM 1611 GOD'S 23 SECRETARIES ab The Making of the King James.
... London and the Thames , 1616 , ( detail ) by Claes van Visscher . © Guildhall Library , Corporation of London / Bridgeman Art Library . Hampton Court Palace ( detail ) by Anthonis van den Wyngaerde , c . 1544. © Ashmolean Museum Oxford ...
... London growing like a hothouse plum , the sons of gentle- men crowding as never before into the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge , plants and fruits from all over the world arriving in its gardens and on its tables but the rigid ...
... London , the Secretary of State , little shrunken Robert Cecil , his back humped like a lute , his wry neck holding his head to one side , his twisted foot giving him an awkward stance , read out the proclamation of the new king at four ...
Contents
1 | |
2 | |
20 | |
He sate among graue learned and reuerend | 42 |
Faire and softly goeth | 62 |
am for the medium in all things xi I | 84 |
20 | 85 |
The danger never dreamt of that is the danger | 105 |
The grace of the fashion of | 198 |
Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut vp his tender mercies? | 216 |
APPENDICES | 228 |
A The Sixteenthcentury Bible | 247 |
Chronology | 261 |
62 | 274 |
105 | 276 |
ལུ༠ཚŞརྗེནི ཝིཛྫིཥྞཾ 117 137 147 | 277 |
O lett me bosome thee lett me preserve thee next to my heart | 117 |
We have twice and thrice so much scope for oure earthlie peregrination | 137 |
When we do luxuriate and grow riotous in the gallantnesse of this world | 147 |
True Religion is in no way a gargalisme only | 173 |
173 | 278 |
216 | 280 |