An extremely rare bible famous for an unfortunate error that encourages adultery has been discovered in New Zealand.
The 1631 “Wicked” Bible, as it has become known, omits the word “not” from its seventh commandment, informing readers “thou shalt commit adultery”. One thousand copies of the text, which also came to be known as the Adulterous or Sinners’ Bible, were printed, with the error only discovered a year later.
Upon discovery of the mistake, the printers Robert Barker and Martin Lucas were summoned by King Charles I and hauled before the court, where they were admonished for the scandalous typo and sloppy workmanship. They were stripped of their printing licence, had a £300 fine held over their heads for years (though it was eventually quashed) and most of the texts were destroyed. Only about 20 remain in circulation.
The bibles do come up for auction from time to time mostly in Britain or US, but this is the first time one has been discovered in the southern hemisphere, says the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. The university was first informed of its existence in 2018 but chose to keep the discovery under wraps until now to allow researchers and book conservers enough time to study and preserve the book.
“It’s a mystery, it’s fascinating and it has made its way halfway around the world,” Chris Jones, an associate professor in medieval studies at the university and fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in London, said on Monday.
A former student of Jones’s brought the copy into to him in 2018 after her family had acquired it two years earlier at a deceased estate sale. The late owner was bookbinder Don Hampshire, who arrived in New Zealand in the late 1950s from the UK and died in Christchurch in 2009, but as far as Jones can tell, Hampshire had never told anyone a thing about owning it.
Jones’s former student told him she believed it was a “Wicked” Bible, but he was “very disbelieving because these are not common items”.
