Bible, English.- [The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New: Newly translated out of the Originall Toungues], woodcut illustrations, initials and head- and tail-pieces, double page map, double column in blackletter 72 lines, Kalendar in red and black, lacking general title but with New Testament title within woodcut border, lacking 6 initial ff. (all before B2, and B4) and final 4ff., some spotting and staining throughout, initial and final leaves heavily creased or defective at margins, several loose, contemporary boards, all leather missing, binding stitching largely present, corners worn, [STC 2226, Herbert 322], [Robert Barker], folio, [1613].

⁂ An example of the 'She-Bible' version of the King James Bible, distinguishable from the other folio version of 1613 by its smaller type in 72 lines per column. The She-Bible nomenclature stems from the typographical difference in Ruth 3:15 between early printings of the King James Bible, in some the verse reading 'and she went into the city', while in others it is 'he' who went into the city, known as the 'He-Bibles'. This discrepancy, being the most famous of several such examples, has sparked comment ever since.

The desired rapidity and quantity of the print roll out of the King James Bible led Barker, whose family had previously been granted monopoly of royal authorised bible production by Elizabeth I, to subcontract printing out to two further publishing houses, soon resulting in dispute and fervent competition. Thus, it has often been assumed that the She-Bibles are the result of a 'correction' by a typesetter, compositor or proof-reader at some point during the printing process in one or other of the presses; 'she' seems to make more sense in the narrative flow and subsequently became the dominant translation. Such interpretation supports the view that the editio princeps is indeed the He-Bible, but not necessarily as is often consequently thought, because the male pronoun is an original error. Considering the biblical text of Ruth 3:15 in its ancient languages is also obscure since Hebrew and Syriac manuscripts, the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate offer alternative translations. The 40 or so biblical scholars responsible for the King James Old Testament, however, based their efforts on the Masoretic Hebrew texts (the canonical Hebrew as established c.1000AD), which provide the strongest support for the male 'he' translation. Thus the He and She-Bible phenomenon offers scholars of biblical history and book production a continuing historical mystery, touching as it does upon unanswerable questions over the complex material production process of the King James Bible, as well as upon an ancient query of translation.