According to Amazon.co.uk among others, two weeks ago Hodder & Stoughton published an Anglicised edition of the NIV 2011 update:

NIV Popular Bible (Bible Niv) [Hardcover] …

Product details

• Hardcover: 1280 pages
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (26 May 2011)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 1444701487
• ISBN-13: 978-1444701487
• Product Dimensions: 20.2 x 13.4 x 2.4 cm

The price is £10.69, and if you buy through this link to Amazon.co.uk, or through the Gentle Wisdom store, a small part of that price will come my way.

But no one seems to have told the publishers’ publicity department about this book they are publishing. There is no mention at all of this on the Hodder Faith website, even on their Popular Size Bibles genre page. And their browser page for the same genre shows no Bibles at all, which is probably because the database underlying their site has been non-operational for more than 24 hours. But Hodder Faith can’t just blame passing technical issues: I found a Google cache of their page for this Bible, dated 21st May, showing that they did intend some kind of publicity but also that this page has not been available for weeks. This morning I contacted Hodder Faith about their technical issue but have received no reply.

The NIV Bible must have been one of Hodder & Stoughton’s best selling books for more than 30 years. Sales may have been flagging in recent years, but this updated edition has the potential of re-establishing NIV’s strong market position for the next few decades. So it is very strange that Hodder Faith have not made a major event out of this release. Instead they seem to be attempting an oxymoron: a secret publication.

Amazon.co.uk is also taking pre-orders at a bargain price of £3.39 for a paperback NIV Anglicised Gift and Award Bible with the 2011 text, to be published on 21st July.

I haven’t seen the text of this Anglicised edition. I would expect the differences to be similar to those between the American and Anglicised editions of other recent Bibles, which I discussed in a 2007 post British and American Bible version differences at Better Bibles Blog. As NIV 2011 is quite similar to TNIV, probably the Anglicisation work is rather similar, but I hope they have avoided the mistake in the Anglicised rendering of Hebrews 4:15.