Is the 1894 Revision Considered "Best" KJV version?

Beginning around the year 2000, some Zondervan KJV editions used the 1873 Cambridge edition edited by Scrivener as their basis although they did make at least a couple spelling changes to it. I am not sure if they still use it since I have seen a recent edition that did not it or if they may print some present editions with its text and some without.

Some present KJV editions printed by Hendrickson Publishers use the 1873 Cambridge edition for their text.

That 1873 Cambridge edition is one of the most highly praised KJV editions ever printed by Cambridge.

 

The 1873 KJV is one of the most highly praised and acclaimed editions ever printed by Cambridge. KJV defender Edward Hills noted: "In the 19th century the most important edition of the King James Version was the Cambridge Paragraph Bible (1873), with F. H. A. Scrivener as its editor" (KJV Defended, p. 217). David Norton indicated that Scrivener was “more conservative” as an editor than Blayney was (Textual History, p. 124). Norton described this 1873 edition by Scrivener as “by far the most substantial and responsible work on the text after the work of the translators themselves” (p. 122). W. F. Moulton maintained that "the Cambridge Paragraph Bible, edited by Dr. Scrivener, is the classic edition of the Authorised Version, and is a monument of minute accuracy and unsparing labour" (History of the English Bible, p. 211). Dean John Burgon wrote: “English readers are reminded that Dr. Scrivener’s is the only classical edition of the English Bible” (Revision Revised, p. 238 note). In its review of this 1873 Cambridge edition in 1878, The London Quarterly Review stated: “The true restorers are critics like Dr. Scrivener, who set themselves to remove modern additions and bring out the original fabric in its ancient form and outline. Such a work demands high qualifications of learning, judgment, and discriminative skill, as well as great care and labour; and of all these the present work furnishes conspicuous proof” (Vol. 49, p. 451). J. Boyes asserted: “The Cambridge Paragraph Bible, edited by Dr. Scrivener, has been rightly designated the classic edition of the authorised version, and certainly seems to have reached as high a pitch of excellence as the version is capable of attaining” (Englishman’s Bible, p. 121). In 1885, P. W. Raidabaugh wrote: “The most accurate edition, in all respects, of the Authorized Version ever published is the one issued from the Cambridge Press in 1873, under the editorship of the Rev. F. H. Scrivener” (History, p. 62). In 1912, John Brown asserted that Scrivener’s 1873 edition “has ever since been regarded, as for correctness, the standard text of the Authorised Version” (History, p. 111). William Mounce maintained that this 1873 edition is “the best English KJV text” (Greek for the Rest of Us, p. 169). Donald Brake wrote: “Scrivener’s edition was the most accurate of all the Authorized Bibles” (Visual History of the English Bible, p. 215). David Daniell referred to this 1873 edition as an “important and elaborate attempt to publish a trustworthy text of King James’ version” (Bible in English, p. 691). Henry Barker wrote: “The best modern critical edition of the Authorized Version of 1611 is Dr. Scrivener’s Cambridge Edition of 1873” (English Bible, p. 187). The introduction of the 2001 Strongest Strong's Concordance identified it as "the best modern edition of KJV" (p. x). This introduction noted that "Scrivener was commissioned by Cambridge University Press to create a standardized edition of the KJV to eliminate all of the errors and inconsistencies that had crept into the text" (p. x). In Oxford University Press’s new book entitled Bible The Story of the King James Version 1611-2011, Gordon Campbell maintained that “the quality of Scrivener’s text in the Cambridge Paragraph Bible is high” (p. 180).

In a footnote, David Norton noted that this 1873 edition “was used as the text for the finely-printed Doves Press limited edition of 1905” (Textual History, p. 123). Edwin Rumball-Petre described the 1903-1905 Doves Press Bible edited by Scrivener as “one of the typographical masterpieces of all time” (Rare Bibles, p. 24). The text of this 1873 KJV edition was also used as the text in The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges that was printed in the early 1900‘s. In his history of Bible printing at Cambridge, W. H. T. Wredesuggested that Scrivener’s edition “remains the standard of the Authorised Version text at Cambridge” to his present day (Short History, p. 18). In his 1902 Book of Psalms, A. F. Kirkpatrick referred to Scrivener’s as “the standard edition of the A.V. from which the text in this edition is taken” (p. lxi). Jack Lewis maintained that “Blayney’s [1769] edition became the standard edition until the publication of the Cambridge Paragraph Bible, edited by Scrivener in 1873” (English Bible, p. 39).

 

Read the Introduction to the Cambridge Paragraph bible here.

Rob