This is the first copy of the Bible with such an error found in the Southern Hemisphere.
A copy of the Bible was found in New Zealand, in which a mistake was made in which she encouraged adultery. The “immoral” Bible, published in 1631, became famous because it omitted the word “no” in the seventh commandment, as a result of which it commanded believers to “commit adultery,” according to The Guardian.
In all, thousands of copies of this test were published, which became known as the “Bible of Sinners” or the “Bible of Adulterers.” The mistake was discovered only a year later. Printers Robert Barker and Martin Lucas were then summoned to King Charles I and tried for negligence. They were deprived of their printing licenses and fined £ 300, which they had to pay for many years, although it was later revoked. Most of the texts have been destroyed, leaving about 20 in circulation.
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Periodically, copies of the Bible of Sinners were put up for auction, mostly in Great Britain and the United States. At the same time, the new discovery was the first time such a Bible was discovered in the Southern Hemisphere, according to the University of Canterbury.
The university learned about the existence of this copy in 2018, but kept the find a secret, which allowed researchers to study it, as well as take measures to preserve it.
A copy of the Bible was given to Chris Jones, an associate professor at the University of Medieval Studies, by his former student. According to her, her family bought the book two years earlier at the sale of the deceased's property. The late owner was British bookbinder Don Hampshire, who moved to Christchurch from the UK in 2009. According to Jones, Hampshire never told anyone that he had a copy of the Bible of Sinners. “It's not an ordinary thing you bring to the office just by going to a Christchurch sale. But I looked at her and thought, “Wow, that's exactly what my former student said, it's the Bible of Sinners.” I was stunned, “Jones admitted.
He added that copies of this edition of the Bible are known to exist in Britain, Ireland and Canada. “Australia says it has a Bible, but it's not true,” he added. There is a version that a typographical error could have been deliberate sabotage by a competing printing house. But Jones believes that's not true. According to him, the printers simply saved on the editors.
The way the copy of the Bible before it arrived in New Zealand remains a mystery. Usually such books contain many genealogies, dates, places, as well as records of births and deaths. But this copy of the Bible of Sinners contains only one unintelligible name.
The book was found to be in relatively poor condition: there was no cover, the pages were flooded, and some were missing. However, this Bible has other features. It is one of the few copies with more decorative red and black ink, as well as a more complete version than other discovered copies.
