The Accessibility of the Bible

As we move further through the semester, I am finding the dichotomy between manuscripts and modern, mass-printed Bibles extremely interesting. Over the course of a couple centuries, the landscape for these texts changed entirely. Bibles were not as ornate as they once were, or being sent to several different vendors for various adornments (bindings, jeweling, illuminations, etc.) Rather, when the printing presses became popular, the goal was to print as many Bibles and prayer books, with relatively simple bindings and few unnecessary additions. Of course, there were variations within these texts, and it was absolutely possible to still purchase an opulent text. However, those were just not the only option.

Bibles were fairly common in everyday society. They could be purchased at a price that was not prohibitive to the average person, and were being made in a wide range of styles, from large, decorative texts, to a smaller, more basic version. I believe this “pocket Bible” style was the intention for the two books I have selected. They are relatively small and portable, and aside from some patterns on the cover and the fore-edge paintings, the actual text pages inside are fairly basic. That is not to say, however, that they are not of high quality. The leather is well preserved and most pages within the books are still thick and in great shape. It is just interesting to compare these books with others we have examined either in class or at the Walters.

Previously, if a Bible was to be considered “high quality” it seemed to require an abundance of details. Illuminations or historiated initials were frequently found throughout the text, and bindings were pieces of art in and of themselves. However, the pair of books I have selected do not have these additions. To my (relatively) untrained eye, these seem to be a fairly high-quality set. They were deemed special enough to be a wedding gift from siblings to a brother, so they could not have been too “basic,” if you will.

As we move forward, I would love to explore more about the publisher and “type” of these books. Were these common? Was John Collingwood a renowned publisher, or was he simply selling book after book, with little regard to quality? These books are smaller than others in the LNDL’s possession, and I wonder if that might have affected their value, even back in the 19th century. I still need to delve further into the provenance of this pair, and now my thinking has me wondering just how prominent of a family these belonged to. If it was an average lineage, then we might be able to assume that these books were fairly easy and inexpensive. However, if the family that owned these was of means, it is a clue that these were of significant value and the publisher was notable. I look forward to exploring these issues further, and hopefully gathering some answers to the questions I have developed so far.

 

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