The earliest known English translation is The Alcoran (1649) which is attributed to Alexander Ross, chaplain to King Charles I.
[1] Thomas Jefferson had a copy of Sale's translation, now in the Library of Congress, that was used for House Representative Keith Ellison's oath of office ceremony on 3 January 2007.
Wallace Fard Muhammad, the founder of the Nation of Islam, exclusively used Ali's translation.
The Koran Interpreted (1955) by Arthur Arberry was the first English translation of the Quran by an academic scholar of Arabic, Islam, and Sufism.
Arberry attempted to maintain the rhythms and cadence of the Arabic text.