The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-10
WORLDS RARE BIBLES
GREAT COLLECTION or EDITIONS
 IN NATIONAL MUSEUM.
Folio Copies of the vulgnte Printed by | \ Cohurger in f47s--Phstegraphs
 of Pages of the Ethi-
 opie Version.
Washington Post.

Washington Post.
 The National Museum Is in posses. sion of a superb collection of the vari. ous editions of the Bible that have, ir all ages and among nearly all peoples during the Christian era, transmitted the sacred word to mankind.
 Among the many editions. one mo- tices Syriac New Testament, publish ed in Hamburg. Germany, in 1864 The oldest Syriac version of the Bible Is the Peshitta t'correct," or "simple"), the most accurate of the ancient transla- tions. It Is referred to in the commen- taries of Ephraim. the Syrian, In the fourth century, and was an old book even then.
 There is a copy of the Latin Bible folio edition. printed by Anthony Co burger. Nuremburg. 1z7s. The Latin Bfhle goes back to a Latin translation made from the Septuagint in the second century and known as "vetus Italia or "Ofdi Italic." The present version however, is due to St. Jerome (Hierony- mus), and was made by him in Rethle. hem between sss and 4o7 A. D. It was for long time the Bible of the West. ern church and a large portion of the LdStSEH. lnOu6h uo uouDL OA6eQ or the Septuagint, the transaction was made. with reference to the original Hebrew, with which St. Jerome was we'll acquainted. The translation is commonly called the vuigate, name which was originally given to the Sep tuagint. This is still the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church. An edition was printed by Gutenburg, the inventor of printing, between 1850 and 1455. be, ing the first important specimen of printing with movable type.
 The vulgate Bible on exhibition ir the National Museum is one of the twelve Coburger Latin editions. It is printed on 46s leaves, in double col umn, with ffty-one to fifty-three lines to the column. It has no title page signatures. catchwords or initials. The paragraphs are initiaied by hand. On the top of the first page is written in ink: "Societatis Jesu Monachi." and in the middle of the page. "Approbata L.. Canisio. l57s." Approved by Canisius, 157S.) This in- dorsement is evidently in the handwrit- ing of Peter Canisius. born 1924, died i5g7, who was celebrated as a Jesuit missionary. and scholar and was the first provincial of the order in Ger many.
 A folio edition of the King James Bible, known as the Authorized Edi- tion," printed at London by Robert Barker. 1913, Is notable feature of the collection. new English Bible was decided upon at conference held at Hampton Court January 16 and IS, 1904 In that year King James I. issued a commission to hfty-four eminent divines to undertake the work. It was not begun, however. until 1907, by which time seven of the original mum Der had died. The forty-seven sur vivors were divided into six com mittees, two sitting at Oxford, two at Cambridge, and two at Westminster In 1sl0 their work was completed, and was then revised by a committee of six Although universally known as the Authorized Version no record. either ecclesiastical or civil, has ever been found for such authorization. The first edition was printed by Robert Barker in 1911.
 A photograph of a couple of pages of the famous Ethiopia Version of the Bible in the possession of the National Museum, is also seen. The original copy (which is not on public view) was obtained from King Theodore. of Abys- sinia, by Lord Napier, and by him was presented to General Grant This Ethiopic Version was made in the fourth century. probably by Frumen- tius. the apostle of Ethiopia. It has forty-six books in all, containing. iu addition to the canon, a large humber of apocryphal books.
 The collection contains. also a He brew Bible. printed without vowel points, Antwerp. 1578-75; a Hebrew Bible the first American edition in thai language, published in Philadelphia ir 1914; the first American edition of the ! Greek Testament, printed by Isaiah 1 Thomas in 1900; Bishop Asbury's Testa- | ment, with hundreds of the texts oi the sermons annotated in his own hand writing. Francis Asbury. 1t will bt i recalled, was the first bishop of tht Methodist Church ordained in Ameri' | ca. He was born in Staffordshire | England, in the year 1745, and died 1T 1 Virginia in 1916. .k
 There is a fac simile of John Wy cliffe's New Testament, published ir 1880, which was condemned for its in accuracies immediately upon Its publi. cation; also a copy of Tyndale's version of tho New Testament. Tyndale was a disciple of Martin Luther. New Testament translated by Constantine Tichendorf Leipzig. 1869. voA 1000 of the Tanchnitz sereis was deposited by Dr. c. Brown Goode, who has cou. tributed several other volumes to the collection. This translation was based on the labors of Tichendorf in revising the Greek text, which he was enabled to do owing particularly to his dis covery of the Sinaitic Codex. This edition is said to have pointed out very numerous errors in the King James Bible, and to have led to the revised edition" of the same.