Rare 400-year-old Bible sold for £23k at auction

9 December 2025

Andrew BartonYorkshire

News image — An edition of the King James Bible, printed in 1611, was sold for more than five times its estimated value

Duggleby Stephenson The photograph shows a dark haired woman wearing a black, long-sleeved, mesh-patterned top, holding a large, old book open across her lap. The book has thick, yellowed pages. The open pages display printed text arranged in columns. There is also a framed certificate hanging on the wall and glass display cabinets. — An edition of the King James Bible, printed in 1611, was sold for more than five times its estimated value

A rare 400-year-old Bible has been sold at auction for £23,000, more than five times its initial guide price.

The Bible, one of the very first printings of the 1611 King James Bible, was bought by book dealer Simon Finch from Norfolk.

The first edition is coveted due to a printing error in a passage about Ruth, which reads "and he went into the city" rather than "and she went into the city".

Asked how he felt about paying £23,000 for a book that originally cost 10 shillings, Mr Finch said: "It's a wonderful thing. I really was happy to pay the money."

Duggleby Stephenson A woman's finger with a painted red finger nail points onto a page of a large old book with copper plate printed words on old yellowed paper. — The word "he" instead of "she" marks the bible as one of the first copies off the presses, experts said

He said: "I'm very pleased that I decided to drive up to Yorkshire to actually see it and have the time to examine it properly ahead of the auction. Without that, I probably would not have have got involved in the bidding.

"I was delighted with what I saw. It's a very good copy, which has not been mucked about.

"The fact that the map and the title page are missing is not a great concern - there are very few surviving copies that have not lost the map and some pages."

Duggleby Stephenson The photograph shows a dark haired woman wearing a black, long-sleeved, mesh-patterned top, looking down at the open pages of a large, old book. The book has thick, yellowed pages. — Ms Thomson said the artefact lacked a map and a title page so was initially given a pre-sale guide of £2,000-£4,000

Duggleby Stephenson specialist Coralie Thomson said: "This English translation of the Bible was commissioned by King James in 1604 and was a seven-year project involving almost 50 of the country's leading scholars.

"It was finally published in 1611, but the first copies to come off the presses contained printing mistakes, one of which came to be the marker for an early copy - a verse in the book of Ruth, which read 'and he went into the city' rather than 'and she went into the city'."

She added: "The error was quickly corrected, but first editions are today known as 'He' versions, the most rare, or 'She' versions."

The auctioneer said the book was initially given a "cautious" pre-sale guide of £2,000-£4,000, but a flood of advance offers saw bidding start at £10,500 and quickly rise to £23,000.

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