Power and Glory: Jacobean England and the Making of the King James Bible. Adam Nicolson
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POWER AND GLORY
Jacobean Englandand the Making of the King James Bible
ADAM NICOLSON
HarperPress An imprint of HarperCollinsPublisbers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
This edition published by Harper Perennial 2004
First published by HarperCollins Publishers 2003
Copyright © Adam Nicolson 2003
Portrait/Literature by Committee copyright © Sam Leith 2004
Adam Nicolson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780007108947
Ebook Edition © JULY 2015 ISBN: 9780007380701 Version: 2016-12-07
âThis fascinating story is told with brilliance by Adam Nicolson.â
Glasgow Herald
âAn engaging and moving account ⦠marvellous.â
Economist
âPower and Glory ⦠pays that Bible eloquent tribute, not least in its passionate homage to the power of language as, and in, history. His own words give us not only the rich history but a moving commemoration of the Bible that has so much shaped our utterances and lives.â
Independent
âNicolsonâs portraits of Jacobean intellectuals, theologians, politicians and princes overlay the lasting achievement that underpins this book. His approach to personalities humanises the beauty and ceremony of the biblical prose that still transcends its makers.â
The Times
âConversational, witty and engaging. It is extraordinarily readable ⦠Adam Nicolson gives us a swashbuckling and fastmoving account of the accession of King James I of England and VI of Scotland in 1603 ⦠he catches the spirit of the age in his own literary style ⦠There is power and glory here in spadefuls, and a great deal of kingdom too.â
The Tablet
âOne wouldnât think an account of the translation of the Bible would prove an enthralling read, but Adam Nicolsonâs narrative has a sweep of grandeur at which a brief review like this can only hint. This is history with masterly writing and a cast of bizarre characters. Highly recommended.â
Irish Examiner
âIt is a popular book as popular books used to be, a breeze rather than a scholarly sweat, but humanely erudite, elegantly written, passionately felt ⦠Nicolsonâs excitement is contagious.â
New Yorker
âNicolson shows us in captivating detail how the diverse translators of the King James Bible captured compelling debates that remain relevant to this day.â
Newsweek
âA readable, immaculately researched book ⦠The author has a clear understanding of the time, the issues involved and, above all, of the people who made the King James Bible. He could not have told his story more compellingly.â
Country Life
âAdam Nicolsonâs stunning history of the Authorised Version is really a prosopography, a study of the dynamic group of scholars who put together what some call the best book in the English language. Nicolsonâs focus on the words these men left behind enables him to combine scholarship with a greater emotional sensitivity.â
Observer
âAdam Nicolsonâs book is unobtrusively learned, rich in curious and purposeful detail, an ideal balance between fervent enthusiasm and elegantly witty detachment. The story of the translationâs origins and production is a subject which, one always felt, would be nice to hear from a really sparkling and sharp guide. This volume strikes me as exactly that, a brilliantly entertaining, passionate, funny and instructive telling of an important and gripping story.â
PHILIP HENSHER, The Spectator
âAdam Nicolson has a nose for quirks, follies and ironies ⦠Nicolson fascinatingly demonstrates how these translators took the plain, sinewy prose of the fugitive martyr William Tyndale â written 80 years previously â and polished it to gem-like brightness, looking for words which would resonate with passion and ring sonorously amid the solemnity of worship ⦠He has written a marvellous book: there are few more stylish or sensitive introductions than this to the personalities, the sights and the smells, as well as to the words, of Jacobean England.â
Sunday Telegraph
âNicolson really deserves at least an 18-gun salute. Power and Glory is a fine piece of history, ecclesiology and literature all rolled into one and, whatâs more, like the Authorised Version itself, it sings.â
Guardian
âThis is an easygoing, companionable exploration of Elizabethan and Jacobean England ⦠will delight the general reader, for whom it was written ⦠Nicolson takes one back to the Bible with a fresh eye and ear, which is not easily done these days.â
New Statesman
âThe story of the seven years between commissioning and printing fascinates from start to finish. It is told in a way which combines scholarship and entertainment.â
Independent on Sunday
âVivid, exhilarating, consistently intelligent, you can almost taste the air breathed by these Jacobean heroes, who gave English its most famous book. History at its best.â
SIMON JENKINS
âNicolson vividly evokes many aspects of Jacobean England: the secret police, religious passions, a profligate