The most widely read book in English literature history now has new information as to how it came to be.
Jeffrey Alan Miller, an assistant professor of English at Montclair State University in New Jersey, was in England at the University of Cambridge looking for an unknown letter of a man named Samuel Ward. Ward was known to have worked as part of a collection of men commissioned by King James that translated the Old and New Testaments into a definitive English-language bible for the Church of England--but, alas, Miller just wanted to find a letter.
Instead, while combing through the archives, Miller stumbled upon a small book belonging to Ward, wrapped up and cataloged nearly 30-years ago as "verse-by-verse biblical commentary" with "Greek word studies, and some Hebrew notes." When Miller dove into the book he realized it wasn't just any old collection of biblical notes--but an early draft of portions of the King James Bible, which was published in 1611.
Ward's draft must have been worked on between the years of 1604, when King James commissioned the work, and 1608, when drafts were required to be submitted to a committee for review. That means Ward's small, humble little book is the earliest known document of the King James Bible ever to be found.
"There was a kind of thunderstruck, leap-out-of-bathtub moment," Miller told the New York Times. "But then comes the more laborious process of making sure you are 100 percent correct."
In all likelihood, Miller is correct, say his fellow scholars, and will be verified in the coming months.
And as for the unknown letter of Ward's that Miller was looking for?
He found that, too.
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