B1611

B1611 is a commonly used shorthand designation for the original 1611 edition of the King James Version of the Bible, also known as the Authorized Version. Commissioned by King James VI and I, the translation was produced by forty-seven scholars organized into six committees in England. The first edition was printed in 1611 by Robert Barker and company, and it presented the completed text of the Hebrew and Greek scriptures, with the Apocrypha included as a separate section and the familiar chapter and verse divisions that later editions would retain.

Textual features of the 1611 edition include archaic spellings, typographic practices such as the long s, italicized words added by the translators, and marginal notes. It relied on the Textus Receptus for the New Testament and the Masoretic Text for the Old Testament. The edition became the standard English Bible for centuries, shaping religious practice and influencing the English language through its cadences and phrasing. Subsequent revisions, notably the 1769 Oxford edition prepared by Benjamin Blayney, corrected errors and modernized spelling while preserving the text’s essential content.

Today, B1611 serves as a bibliographic reference for the original text and is used in scholarly study and by enthusiasts for textual comparison. Facsimile reproductions, digital scans, and scholarly editions preserve the 1611 typography and marginalia. The label B1611 is used on some digital platforms to distinguish the original 1611 text from later revisions, aiding comparison across editions.