Cinderella moment for 400yr old Wiltshire Bible

Amateur historians in Wiltshire got a happy surprise recently when their researches unearthed a previously unknown 1611 copy of the King James Bible which had hitherto been sitting unnoticed on a shelf...

The Bible was brought to light by residents researching the history of St Laurence Church in Hilmarton, near Calne.

Geoff Procter, a member of the parochial church council, said that they had read about a 'fine chained Bible in a glass case' at the church. They then made the link with a Bible that had been sitting on a shelf at the church for a number of years.

There are fewer than 200 original printings of the King James version known to exist, and it is believed that the rediscovered Bible is one of the few remaining editions printed in 1611.

The residents now plan to display the discovery in a special glass case - partly for security and to protect it for future generations but also because the history books say it was kept in one.

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Tyndale's Million Pound Bible...

Hear the inside story of the book the British Library calls "the most important printed book in the English language" - this rare surviving copy of Tyndale's 1526 New Testament...

The British Library's copy of this Bible - one of only two to survive intact from the original Worms print run of 3,000 - is thought to have belonged to a wealthy merchant - and is beautifully illuminated throughout.

The book was acquired in 1994 for a sum in excess of one million pounds, and since then has been a star attraction of the collection.

Click our podcast link below to follow the story of this powerful and beautiful work, as curator Moira Goff explores what was so different - and dangerous - about this ground-breaking - pocket-sized - translation.

You can zoom in for a closer look and also read more about this sacred text on the British Library's website - as well as access turn-the-pages online texts of other collection treasures such as the Lindisfare Gospels, the Luttrell Psalter and the Lisbon Bible.

Ramona Garcia