Features of The New Edition
Using such sources as the first edition published in 1611, a manuscript preserved from the first stage of the KJV men's work (known as Lambeth Palace MS 98), and a complete Bishops' Bible annotated by them (known as Bodelian Library Bibl. Eng. 1602 b. 1), Norton re-edited the KJV. His edition:
- divides the text into paragraphs (and poetic line-divisions for poetic portions like the Psalms);
- introduces modern spelling in preference to that of the 18th century—"assuaged" rather than "asswaged," "music" rather than "musick," "show" instead of "shew," etc.;
- adds quotation marks for dialogue and words indicated as spoken in the Bible text;
- restores certain readings of the 1611 edition that were modified by later editions.
At the same time, Norton's recension is for the most part quite conservative. For example, no readings are introduced from the above-mentioned manuscripts that occur only in them, though the annotations they contain are used to support 1611 first edition readings as demonstrating a deliberate decision by the original translators that has been overruled by subsequent hands. Norton writes in the introduction, "Except where there are good reasons to think that the first edition does not represent the readings the translators decided on, first edition readings are restored" (2005, p. ix). Also, other than the quotation marks, the punctuation—where changed from that of the current standard KJV text—mainly provides a simple restoration of 1611's punctuation.
One of the more radical changes is to eliminate the main text's differentiation of the "supplied words" usually printed in italics in current KJVs. (Such words are, however, intentionally retained in the marginal notes.) Norton points out that the original edition's supplied words, printed in Roman type in 1611 as opposed to the black-letter of the main text, were very inadequately marked; although many subsequent editors have tried to revise them (especially Scrivener), Norton feels that they are misunderstood by most readers and are ineffective even for those who know their purpose.
In summary, the New Cambridge Paragraph Bible is a valuable edition of the KJV text, and Prof. Norton's editing represents an important contribution to both religious and English literature. Although it may be too soon to measure the full impact of this volume, it seems safe to say that Norton's work, and his companion study in Textual History, will necessarily have a far-reaching influence on any subsequent scholars who deal with the King James Version's history or its text.
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