The Newtown bee., 1880-03-10
X Thousand. I ear.s,ld Bible.

It Was in 1850, writes 8 correspondent of the Rochester EGpress, that I met, in Mobile, Ala, the owner of this book Dr. J. k. Witherspoon, grandson of President Witherspoo,i, one of the sign CTS of the Declaration of Independence. The doctor was an educated gentleman, and urged me, if I ever came in the re- zion of Greensboro, Ala., to be sure and call on him and he would show me his wonderful Bible. was not slow to ac- cept his invitation, and rode on horse back some dozen miles out of my way to | see the greatest wonder of the age, of l this kind of book.
 I found the venerable doctor living elegantly on broad acres, and with his | slaves about him. The book was soon brought out from careful keeping, and sure enough, though had seen for years the great Van-Ess library, with Bibles having chain attached that once held them to a pulpit, and the Bible of Philip Melancthon with his autograph, I had never seen any such Bible as this.
 I took it in my hand with awe, for it was written in the days of King Alfred, and by monk of Cornwall, England, who worked at it forty years-almost a lifetime-and was evidently on the very finest of parchment, little inferior to satin. How such finish could be put upon the skin of any beast in the days So long ago, when the binding of the book was in oak boards, tied with buckskin thongs, was a mystery and almost a contradiction.
 But more wonderful yet was the writ
 ing within. The pages were all ruled
 with accuracy and written as uniformly
 in the lines as print, which was not then
 invented, for some five hundred years lay
 between that old monk and Faust and
 Gutenberg. The style was German
 text hand, and was an abbreviation
 from the Latin Vulgate of Jerome, made
 in the fourth century.
 The first chapter of every book was
 written with a large capital of inimita-
 ble beauty, and splendidly Illuminated
 with red, blue and black ink, still 1T vivid letters, with no two of the capita
 etters precisely alike. Here was in- deed Dore before him of our age
 Each chapter is divided into verses by
 a dot of red ink, though do not remem
 Der when "the venerable Bede" made
 his division of the Scriptures into chap ters and verses. This dot of the Bible
 speak of may have been the work of :
 subsequent age.
 This manuscript Bible of Wither. spoons contained all the books of tho
 Old Testament except the Psalms ant the Apocrypna. TWO chapters, tHe las
 of Leviticus and the first of Numbers containing the most splendid capital let , ters in the book, had been recently wan
 tonly abstracted or cut out, in the hous of Dr. Witherspoon, by some blbllo maniac, who did not dare steal thu whole book. It contains also the who'll of the New Testament, except the chap , ter, where the disputed text occurs l about "the three who bear record il
 heaven"
 , In regard to the history of this Bible the doctor told me that it was found b.
 friend of his father among lot of ol' books bought at auction for a song ,, some twenty shillings-and taken to clergyman, Rev. Dr. McCalla, of Soul t Carolina, as book that the purchase ! could not make head or tail of, an 2 which might be of value to some book learned man. The clergyman readil D gave him some half dozen books for f from his library, such as could be easil s 'understanded by the people," and th
 man was happy in the exchange; Dr , McCalla certainly was, for he had drive a sharp bargain and had a book tha , was worth, when first written, S2, ,50( 2 and would be worth that now to any ol , book-worm.