The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1881-12-20
ANECDOTES OF BIBLES.

! revised translation of the New Tesla
ment, it may not prove nninterestin0 "a
| glance ct the many curious vicissitadet
/ which have befallen the early translatious
| aad editions Of the Bible; for the early
editions of the book, which should ALWAYS
have commanded the most anxious solici-
tude, were not even favored with the care
and attention now bestowed ON . two.
penny newspaper In the early DAYS OF
printing, the necessity of carefully revis-
ing the printers' work could not have
been realized, for it seems co have been :
difficult matter to get = book through the
press, particularly = large book ike the
Bible, without great number of errata.
Small books even, were not so exempt
from blunders as we might suppose. A
thin octave volume Of one hundred and
seventy-twO pages, entitled " The Anat-
omy Of the Mass" was Published in 1861,
which was followed by fifteen pages OF
errata- The pious monk who wrote it In
forms his readers in the preface in the err
rata that the blunders in his little book
were caused by the machinations of Sa-
tan!
During the Commonwealth. and even a
short time before Charles Us execution.
the printers, in order to meet the great
demand which then existed, sent our BIZ
bles from their presses as quickly as they
could, regardless of errors and omissions.
One of the Harleian Manuscripts relates
that the learned Archbishop Usher while
on his way to preach at Paul's Cross
wooden pulpit adjoining the Cathedral of
st. Paul, in which the most eminent d.
vines we're appointed to preach every
Sunday morning-went into a booksel-
ler's shop and inquired for Bible of the
London edition. He was Mortified to dis
cover that the text from which he was to
preach was omitted! This formed the
first complaint to the King of the careless
manner in which Bibles were printed !;
and as one of the results, the printing of
them was created a monopoly. A great
competition then arose between the
Kings printers of London and those Of
the University OF Cambridge The priv
ilege of printing Bibles was at later
day conceded to one William Bentley :;
bat he was opposed by Hills and Field !;
and many paper alterations took place
between them The Pearl Bible of Field,
printed in 1858, is perhaps tt most blum
dering Bible ever issued. A manuscript
in the British Museum afirms that one of
these Bibles swarmed with six thousand
| faults. In Garrard's Letter to the Earl
of Straford, it is said Sterne, solid
scholar, was the first who summed up the
three thousand and six hundred faults
that were in our printed Bibles of Lon
DON" The name Pearl given to this
book by collectors, and copy of which
is to be found in the British Museum, is
derived from the printers name for a
diminutive kind of type. It must not be
supposed that those many E faults" were
all printers errors only, for it is well
known that Field was an interruptions
forger He is said to have been paid IF
teen hundred pounds by the Independents
to corrupt text in Acts vi: 8, by sub
shutting q " We for WEI to sanction
the right of the people to appoint their
own pastors. Two errata may also be
mentioned In Romans vi: Is, fright
eousness " was printed for " unrighteous-
ness;" and at First Corinthians vi: Q, .
not" was omitted, 40 that the text read
-" The unrighteous shall inherit the
kingdom Of God"
The Vulgate of Pope Sextus V. comes
near to, if it does not equal Fields Pearl
Bible in the multiplicity of its errors.
This Pope, who assembled the chair in
1885, was resolved TO have a correct and
carefully printed Bible. He specially re-
vised and corrected every sheet and on
its publication prefxed to the first edition
Bull accommodating all printers who
in printing should make any alteration in
the text Yet the hook so swarmed with
blunders, that number of scraps had to
be.printed for the purpose of being pasted
over the erroneous passages, giving the
true text. The heretics Of course exulted
in this fragrant proof of papal infsllibil-
ity ! "A copy of this Scrap Book" was
sold some time since for sixty guineas.
There are several Treacle Bibles !"
known TO book-collectors. The edition of
May, l54I, of CranmeF's Bible, At Jere-
miah viii 81, asks: L. there no zsyaelt
ct Gilead? Is there no phisycyon
there Z" There also appeared Rosin
Bible in which that word was substituted
for treaele; and Bug Bible because
that unpleasant insect was said by the
printers to be the Terror by night "
mentioned in the fifth verse Of Psalm
xci The Vinegar" Bible, printed ct
the Clarendon Press, Oxford, in III, is
80 called from the twentieth chapter of
Luke's Gospel being said to contain The
Parable Of the Vinegar" INSTEAD of
Vineyard y 10 the summary Of con-
tents 1t the head of the cbepter. Il was
looked upon - . good joke in the times
Of poIiticsl corruption when Matthew ".
81 was made to say. g Blessed are the