Red letter edition

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The term red letter edition is used to describe bibles in which words spoken by Jesus, commonly only while he was on the Earth, are printed in red ink. The red letter edition was invented by Louis Klopsch, then editor of The Christian Herald magazine in 1899, and first published in 1900. This style of bible instantly became popular, and is sometimes favored by Christians in the United States. Especially in King James Bibles, this format can be useful as quotation marks are not used.

The idea of printing the words of Jesus in red originates in Luke 22:20, which says: This cup is the new testament in my blood, which I shed for you. This inspired Klopsch to ask his mentor what he thought of printing the words spoken by Jesus in red, to which he replied, "It could do no harm and it most certainly could do much good."