LONDON -- A famously controversial (and very rare) edition of the Bible that features an awkwardly placed typo is going up for auction in London next month.
The "Wicked" Bible misses out the word "not" in the Seventh Commandment, resulting in the sentence "Thou shalt commit adultery" and inadvertently instructing readers to have affairs in order to obey the word of God. The auction price is set at £10,000-£15,000 ($15,447-$23,170), according to a press release sent by Bonhams to Mashable.
A thousand copies of the Wicked Bible were originally printed in 1631 by royal printers Robert Barker and Martin Lucas, who were promptly stripped of their printing licenses and fined £300 after the mistake was discovered.
Although most of the books were recalled and destroyed, there are thought to be around nine surviving copies still in circulation.
"There are a few theories about how the error made it into print," an expert from Bonhams, Simon Roberts, told the Daily Mail. "It may have been a simple slip-up but others think it was a plot to sabotage Barker's reputation.
"It does seem rather unlikely that a mistake of this enormity could be made and not spotted before it was printed. Whether intentional or not, the scandal did contribute to Barker's downfall and he eventually died in debtors' prison in 1645."
The "Wicked" Bible will be put up for sale as part of a Fine Books, Maps and Manuscripts auction on Nov. 11 at Bonhams in Knightsbridge, London.