Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1903-12-11
GREAT COLLECTION
of ANCIENT BIBLES
Precious Books Are Owned by
Now York Theological Semi
nary of Episcopal Church.
They Are Kept Locked in Fire.
Proof Safe and Handled With
Reverential Solicitude.

Probably it is not generally known thai
New York, among valuable art treas
ures, possesses the largest collection OF
Latla bibles III the world, says the New
YORK Times. This collection belongs 10
the General Theological seminary of the
Protestant Episcopal church. Chelsea
Square, Ninth avenue and Twentieth and
IWenty-hrst streets. Inc bibles are carr
FULLY preserved in a large tireproof room,
well lighted by windows looking out OIL
Nlnlh avenue and also on the campus
oi the seminary, and are as well worth
a Visit of inspection as the European col
lection, which our American travellers
take SO much pains not to miss.
ms treasure originated with Johu Pin
tard. that good old New York merchant
VINO mad the welfare of the General Theo-
i n,gn seminary ;aa, SO muen at heart. and
winch he had collected for the purpose.
purchased bucks which We're the founda-
s sioa OF the library; Among these We're
Jay Polyglot, lin nine ponderous tomes,'
as , MI. Pintard, with justinable pride in
ia ,i w acquired such Il treasure, writes
IN m MS diary, the COLLECTION. however, re-
NAMED strikinsiy inadequate to the re-
Gu .l OF the seminary until 1898,
nounced to be for sale. Dean Hoffman
recognizing its lmpor lance and its vaIua
late Ia .i GS seminary, communicated with tho
IL,
llon was pun chased and presented Il, the
seminary by the two men.
,,, IN point of the number of editions it
IN inc world, and included some very
rare and valuable copies, but there wsrs.
neffes sSny many important Latin bibles
set himself TO repair these omissions and
to make the collection as complete as
s LOSS Pc He undertook the matter per-
Lyndon 10 and the continent, porting over
me aid foljos, and consulting with anti
quarlan Sbuckdealers.
The result has been the nurcbasa ne
several extremely valuable editions, chief
among which is the famous Gutenberg
p einie for Which $1,000 was paid. All those
were the gift of Dean Hoffman, and since
ms death IN 1902 his son has continued to
t pias. further contributions. The bibles
5iN .i py Dean HOFFMAN Were not confined
IN ind iie I bit language ht included Eiot's
6be 81 n G HsSEew tessamsnts copies Of the
tsse ana a other oriental languages; in irish
ana a. n[,, Welsh els and in most bf the modern
nnrsa ,. and especially the more i'm
OVER 1000 EDITIONS.
mere are now in the bible room at the
bible in 1896 volumes. OF these SIS, edi-
tons are in Latin, in Loss volumes. The
remainder includes fifty-nine editions in
u sl,sn, ABOUT loo in Hebrew and other
more than one Language, 500 of the new
testament te: mostly in Greek, and ninety
The most valuable WORK Of the collection
is the Gutenberg bible, printed at Mo-
gn lT (Mainzl between the years 145o and
known ass ::the Mazarin bible" as the
first recognized copy of of it was dis
covered in the library Of Cardinal MAJ,
This bible is believed to be the first book
ever printed from movable metal pieces.
1t always has been considered u master
piece of art, and considering the infancy
of printing, a marvellous production.
The bible of 1852. the first printed with
a date, is. also interesting and beautiful.
Main1. Faust was wealthy goldsmith.
who had assisted Gutenberg with money
to carry on his work aad, having brought
sessed of the latter's types and presses.
IL .he early printed bibles there isno title
San Is eeY Ss end as Of tfs
usually Immediately after the apocalypse.
All the editions of the Vulgate have the
book or set Of books; and very early in
the history of printing the commentaries
OF De iyra and l others were INCLUDED III. IN
text of the bible is printed in double
columns III the middle of each page, the
comment being arranged around it.
spread throughout Germany, and to
Switzerland, France and Italy, so that
before the end of the fifteenth century no
bible in Latin alone had been published.
The first bibles We're printed in the Gothic
or black letter. in imitation of manu- any,,
however. there was published in Basel an
octave edition. " HIGH vas known as "the
poor. mans bible" because its relatively
small cost brought it within the reach Of
the poorer scholars
=, The Polyglots are especially interesting.
The ne most important of these are:;
II obi cd tay
Cardinal, Ximenes. This is in Hebrew,
Greek, Latin and Chaldaic.
The Antwerp, {1569-1572. In Hebrew,
Greek, Latin and Chaldaic.
Wolder's, 1886; In Hebrew, Greek. Latin
and German Wolder's Polyglot has been
der q t esxtrWay orIa the Eighth Won
Hutter's, 1899. In fifteen languages-He-
brew brew cha.ldaic, Greek, Latin. German,
sclavonic, Bohemian, English fish sP Danish
and Polish, It is among the soarcest
books in photography"
volumes, imperial folio. This is in seven even
languages-Hebrew, Greek, the Latin Of
Jerome Jerome and the Latin Of the Septuagint.
gift Of John Pintard.
Arabic, Ethiopian, Persian and the Latin
of the Vulgate.
The handsomest of the polyglots is the
LIE Jay, of Paris became the patron of the
learned men. who were to undertake the
editing Of this great work and had ex-
pended, 100000 crowns upon the publica-
tion when Cardinal Richeleu offered to
reimburse him this sum upon considera-
ton of his own name being affixed to
the work instead of that of LIE Jay. The
proposition was rejected by LIE Jay. Fail
ing in his ambitious project the cardinal
became the deprecator of the work, and
influenced many persons to write against
it. The. result was that its sale was
ruined, many of the copies being eventu-
ally disposed of as waste paper
Watssons polyglot, "the glory of the
taken by Bryan Walton in the > time i1aa1 Of
of Cromwell, who allowed him to Import
the paper for 1t free. of duty. 1t was
ton took place before TIE work was fin
ished and Walton Cancelled some of the
leaves and made great alterations in 1t
to conform it to the times.
The English bibles include copy of
Coverdales. the first complete English
translation; five editions of the Great
Bible. known also as Cranmers and as
theWs Bbe BY john 81
sometimes called the "Breeches Bible
from the peculiar reading of Genesis III.
Roman Catholic church: two editions of
Bishops bible, a translation by a. commits
sion of bishops to counterfeit the ultra
Protestant Geneva bible, and the first
edition of the authorized version of king
James Bible of 1911.
The Great bible is especially interesting
to Enscopalians. because 1t is from this
translation that the Prayer Book Psalter
had become SO familiar and dear to the
people and were besides so,rhythmical and
well adapted for singing that when the