Well-Sorted Version, an alphabetical Bible.


The Well-Sorted Version of the King James Bible takes all the letters in the Bible, preserves the order of upper- and lower-case letters, sorts the letters into alphabetical order, and "pours" the sorted letters back "into all the structure of books, chapters, verses, paragraphs, and words." Peter Harkins, who created the Well-Sorted Version, is accepting pledges to order the book in a limited, $300 edition, with cleat-sewn, acid/lignen-free paper bound into hot-foil-stamped leather, produced by the Grimm Bindery in Madison, WI, which will go into production if there's sufficient interest. There are also plans for cheaper hardcover/paperback editions and a $20 PDF version.

I once handled and enjoyed a similarly prepared edition of Joyce's Ulysses. It was a surprisingly great read.

Though it seems like gibberish at a glance, the book rewards careful examination. Capitals are not distributed but come and go in waves, giving clues to the content. Unsurprisingly, there are far more capital Js than lowercase. The capital K's appear in clumps as a name or the title 'King' is used. And there are exactly 7 uppercase Qs.

Well-Sorted Version
(via JWZ)