- Printing and the Bible
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- "Of making many books there is no end..."
- -Ecclesiastes XII: 12
The Bible is by far the most printed of all books. Since 1947, over 9 billion Bibles have been printed. World wide, the Bible has been translated and printed in approximately 2000 different languages. Since the invention of printing, no other work has consumed so much of the printer's effort. Indeed, the development of printing and the spread of religion go hand in hand.- But printing has not always been so highly regarded by those of the religious persuasions. Johann Gensfleisch Gutenberg was on the verge of completing his forty-two line Bible when he was sued by Johann Fust for payment of loans to finance the project. Fust acquired the equipment and the 210 copies of the Bible. He began to sell the Bibles promptly. Gutenberg and he had tried to keep the process a secret. In Paris, where he attempted to pass them off as hand copied manuscripts, it was noticed that the volumes had a certain conformity and witchcraft was charged. Fust had to confess his scheme to avoid prosecution, but in some circles the witchcraft charge stuck.
- The followers of John Wycliffe made the first English translation of the Bible in the late 14th century. Handwritten copies of the Wycliffe Bible were very popular and copies of the New Testament were sold for six months wages by "itinerant bible-men" to the few nobles who could read. Bibles and books were so expensive they were sometimes chained down to prevent theft. In dusty or humid castles they were bound with wooden boards and boxed in cases to be protected after reading. Today, we still call a hard back book "case bound".
- The earlier written manuscripts didn't escape association with the devil. The very fact that "messages" could be deciphered from the strange markings made the illiterate peasants superstitious. Such extreme care and time was taken in the hand copying of the manuscripts that an entire industry developed around the accurate copying techniques. Rooms of monk scribes were put to work pains takingly lettering the words of a reader. Those churchmen faced with "layoffs due to automation" may have helped the printer's "magic" inherit the evil accusation. Even the poor apprentice became known as "the printer's devil."
- But soon the churches were the chief publishers of Bibles. Some of the monks made the transition to the new technology by becoming the illustrators or illuminators of the highly decorative initial letters and designs.
- At an early point the Bible was still undivided into chapter and verse. Various translators undertook different types of divisions. It is said one printer riding horseback to and from work marked the manuscript as he road. Theologians have attributed some peculiar chapter breaks and numbering to the horse stumbling.
- The Geneva Bible of 1560 was the first attempt to incorporate both chapter and verse numbering. This Bible became know as the "breeches Bible", because it describes Adam and Eve as sewing together breeches for themselves.
- Other Bible editions also achieved fame in the hand of the printer:
- The so called "Wicked Bible" of 1632 left out the word "not" from the seventh commandment making it read, "Thou shalt commit adultery".
- The "Vinegar Bible" of 1717 got its name when the "Parable of the Vineyard" was typeset "the Parable of the Vinegar".
The "Printer's Bible" so called because of the Psalmist complaint that the "printers have persecuted me without cause", as opposed to princes.
The King James translators were prophetic when they translated one Greek passage "And this gospel shall be published in all the world..." - The "Vinegar Bible" of 1717 got its name when the "Parable of the Vineyard" was typeset "the Parable of the Vinegar".
Copyright © 1996, Frank Granger
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