In the days of Edward I, who ruled England in the thirteenth century, the price of a fairly well written Bible was 37 pounds, or approximately $184. The hire of a laborer was a penny and a half a day. The purchase of a copy of the Bible would have taken such a person 4,800 days, or thirteen years and fifty-five days, of continuous labor. Excluding the Lord’s days, something more than fifteen years and three months of constant labor would have been required to compass the price.
By Alfonso N. Anderson, Signs of the Times, November 25, 1930. Dale Galusha WIT & WISDOM – August 24, 1998