Bodleian Libraries launches King James Bible app

The Bodleian Libraries have launched their first ever app on the making of the King James Bible.

The app has been created in conjunction with Toura, a leading solution for cloud-based mobile app development.

Its launch coincides with the 400th anniversary of the completion of the Bible and the Bodleian’s summer exhibition, Manifold Greatness: Oxford and the Making of the King James Bible, which runs until September 4.

The app features over 60 items from the exhibition and brings together, for the first time, many of the books and documents that lay behind the King James Bible translation.

It traces the history of the book, particularly the role of Oxford, and the influence of the translation in England up to 1769.

1769 was the year in which the King James Bible was first revised - resulting in the 'Oxford Standard' version that the world knows today.

Highlights on the app include concise commentary from the curators of the exhibition, written exclusively for the app, narration from leading church historian Diarmaid MacCulloch, and images of the exhibition items, including the only surviving copy of the forty 1602 Bishops’ Bibles distributed to the translators for their use, and Anne Boleyn’s velvet-bound 1534 copy of William Tyndale’s English Translation of the New Testament (on loan from the British Library).

Richard Ovenden, Deputy Librarian, Bodleian Libraries, said: "A key aspect of the Bodleian cultural strategy is to share our renowned collections with the general public locally and internationally.

"The new technology is giving us the opportunity to reach out to people worldwide and we are pleased we can make our treasures available in this format as well."

The app is available for purchase on apps.toura.com/bodleian-library-at-oxford/the-making-of-the-king-james-bible