, 1859-03-11
From the Detroit Free Press.
The Oldest Bible on the COntnent-A Book over
900 Years Old

| the UldeSt Bible on lle COnllnent-A bOOh OVER
900 Years Old
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 litera-
ture in the world. This is a volume of six
hundred pages, containing the whole bible
in the Latin language. 1t belongs to the
Rev Dr. Duflield of this city. The book
is made entirely of velum, and the printing
is all done 10y hand with a pen and ink
Every letter is perfect in its shape, ~sQd
cannot be distinguished by any imperfee-
tions 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 respect can they be distin-
gushed from printed matter. The letter
is of about the same size as that in which
this article is printed, which will give some
idea of the difficulty Of forming so perfect
work. The immense amount OF labor
may be conceived from the fact 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 1900, we have about
72, 900 lines in the whole book. Nothing
short of life time could accomplish such
work.
The date Of this book is A. D. $50. 1t
was consequently made $50 years before
printing was invented, and is 928 years old
There is probably nothing on this CONT
nent, in the shape Of book, equal to it in
age. The vellum upon which it's 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 paper now in use. The Gne
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 their whole surface, no effort
having been made to rub them out. Two
lines running up and down divide the col
umn with mathematical accuracy. At the
beginning Of each chapter, highly colered
ornamental letters are placed. These are
the only marks Of the division Of chapters.
There are no subdivisions into verses, the
chapter 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 Minis
ter Resident at Rome He procured it Of
Greek monk who brought it from the
Greek convent Of St. Catharine, at the foot
Of Mt Sinai Mr.. Cass befriended this
monk, who was in trouble, and he, in re-
turn, presented him with the volume which
We have described. According to bis story,
it is the work of one of the ancient monk
scribes in the convent above named. When
it became known that Mr.. Cass was part
ing with it, and that it was going out of
the country, the round sum of $1,000 was
offered him for it by the monks of the city
of Rome. This was OF course refused, for
the pleasure of placing so inestimable
relic in the hands of one who can appreciate
its value so well as our learned divine, DR..
DuHield. At the time of the late FIRE in
the Doctors house, this book was thrown
into the street among 0thers, aud came
very near being lost. 1t was picked up on
the sidewalk by one who recognized it as
one OF DR.. Dufield's most valuable relics,
and preserved it.