The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1858-08-18
THE OLDEST BIRLE ON THE CONTINENT

THE OLDEST BlRLE ON THE CONTINENT.
The articles which have lately appeared
from time to time in the Free Press, in re-
gard to old Bibles, have had the effect to
bring to our notice one of the rarest and most
valuable specimens Of biblical literature in
the world. This is a volume of six hundred
pages, containing the whole Bible in the
Latin language. Il belongs to the Rev. DR..
Dufield, Of this city. The book is made
entirely of velum, and the printing is all
done by hand with pen and ink. Every
letter is perfect in its shape, and cannot be
distinguished, by any imperfections in form,
from the printed letters of the present day.
The shape Of the letters is Of course different
from those now in use, but in no other re-
spect can they be distinguished from printed
matter. The immense amount of labor may
be conceived from the fact that there are two
columns on each page, each Of which lacks
only about six letters of being as wide as the
columns of this paper. They will average
sixty lines to the column. The columns
numbering 30, we have about $4,000 lines
in the whole book. Nothing short of life
time could accomplish such work.
The date of this book is A. ID. $50. twas
consequently made 500 years before printing
was invented, and is 92s years old. There
is probably nothing on this continent, in the
shape Of a book, equal to it in age. The
vellum upon which it is printed is of the
finest kind, and is made of the skin of young
lambs and kids, dressed and rubbed with
pumice stone until it is very thin. 1t is
somewhat thicker than common paper, being
medium between that and the drawing pa
per now in use. The fine veins in the skin
are distinctly visible in many places. A
pencil mark was drawn by the operator to
guide the construction of each line. Many
pages have these lines visible on the whole
surface, no effort having been made to rub
them out. Two lines running up and down
divide the columns with mathematical accu-
racy. At the beginning Of each chapter,
highly colored ornamental letters are plcaed.
These are the only marks Of the division of
chapters. There are no subdivisions into
verses, the chapters running through in one
paragraph to the end, and no descriptive
headings.
This invaluable relic was presented TO DR..
Dufield by Lewis Cass, Jr., our Minister
Resident at Rome. lie procured it of a
Greek monk who brought il from the Greek
convent Of st. Catharine, at the foot Of Mount
Sinai. Mr.. Cass befriended this monk, who
was in trouble; and he, in return, presented
him with the volume which we have describ-
ed. According to his story, it is the work
oi one of the ancient monk scribes in the con-
vent above named. When it became known
that Mr. Cass was parting with it, AMI that
il was going out of the country, the round
sum Of 5000 was offered him for it bv the
monks of the city of Rome. This was OF
course refused, for the pleasure Of placing so
inestimabe a relic in the hands OF one who
can appreciate its value so well as our learn
ed divine, DR.. Duflield. At the time of the
late fire in the Doctors house, this book was
thrown into the street among Others, and
came very near being lost. II was picked
up on the sidewalk by one who recognized
il as one Of DR.. Duffield's most yaluble relics,
and preserved il. D,tnoa Fs,s Press.