Lightfoot, revision of the New Testament, 1872

LIGHTFOOT, J.B. On a Fresh Revision of the English New Testament. By J. B. Lightfoot D.D. Canon of St Paul’s; and Hulsean Professor of Divinity, Cambridge. Second edition. London and New York: MacMillan and Co. 1872. Cambridge: Printed by C. J. Clay, M. A. At the University Press.
 
Full leather, deeply engraved, with five raised bands, gold foliage stamps, and title plate on spine. Red page edges. Marbled end papers. 19th century inscription on first blank. Otherwise free of internal markings. Half title and full title pages present. Text in English but interspersed with Greek, Hebrew, and Syriac. Clean, bright, and tight throughout with ample margins. Hinges intact inside and out. Mild superficial scuffing along perimeters of front and rear boards. Measures: 7 3/8 x 5 1/8 x 1 1/8 inches. 
 
The Authorized Version (King James Version) of the Bible had held pride of place among English Bibles since the early 17th century, and, in all honesty, held the monopoly over the market such that it became the only English Bible in common circulation (minor competing translation efforts did come and go occasionally). The King James version actually incorporated already-outdated English when it was published in 1611. It also relied on Greek source material which was iteratively challenged over the following centuries. By the late 19th century, the English language had evolved sufficiently, and Greek Biblical scholarship had advanced sufficiently, that momentum for an updated English Bible had been achieved. The Revised Version of the New Testament was published in 1881 (the Old Testament followed in 1894). 
 
Joseph Barber Lightfoot (1828 – 1889) was an English Bishop who published works on philology, patristics, and Bible commentaries.