What If The Dream Is Reality?: Ink & Blood

Currently there is an exhibit at the Florida International Museum touring the country entitled “Ink & Blood”. The exhibits and lectures are on the history of the Bible from its earliest known writings from 7th century B.C. up to 1782. There are fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Gnostic Gospels, antiquarian Torahs and examples of the earliest forms of writing such as pictographs and cuneiform. There is even an example of what the first Gutenberg press may have looked like with priceless original leaves from an original Gutenberg Bible on display, the first attempt at mass producing print in the West. The primary focus of the exhibit however is the history of the translation of the Bible to English from Latin beginning in the mid 14th to 15th centuries. The Latin was translated from both Hebrew and Greek and was in use by the Catholic Church for 15 centuries until the protestant movement instigated by such notable reformers as John Wyclif, Martin Luther, William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale just to name a few. All of which suffered greatly at the hands of the church in their efforts to translate the Bible for the common man. I’ve been reading other people’s blogs and their opinions on “rhetoric” as they call it associated with the tour. Overall, everyone seems to enjoy what they see but seem to think it is a bit Anti-Catholic. I do not believe that is the intention with this exhibit, it is merely giving the history of the Bible both good and bad. What some people seem to forget or do not know is that the Catholic Church had a lot of political clout when it came to matters of church and state. This was not a democracy during these times and the spiritual leaders were often corrupt and were not often as benevolent as they are today. Having the Bible translated to English was a threat to their power. I won’t bore you with a history lesson here I just wanted to express my views as so many others have done. I highly recommend this tour should it come to a metropolitan area near you.

I have an affinity for old antiquarian books and have a small collection of antique Bibles myself. The exhibit Bibles ended around 1782. I collect Bibles from thereafter as they are affordable and range from the low “hundreds” as opposed to “thousands” of dollars and I cannot afford the latter on my budget. From 1850 to the early 1900s, family Bibles were mass produced and sold door to door by salesmen or in catalogs such as Sears & Roebuck. These were very ornate and elaborate leather bound publications that could cost as much as a months salary for lower income families. However, they were also abundant in information such as an encylcopia, history of the books of the Bible, family history pages for recording births, marriages and deaths as well as a family portrait section for photographs not to mention the Old and New Testaments. Many are filled with beautiful steel and woodcut images from noted 19th century artist and illustrator Gustave Dore’. Often these would be the only “book” and educational resource in a home so they were very popular in their time and were and still are handed down generation to generation as family heirlooms. However from time to time you will find them for sale in antique shops and on-line auction services such as eBay. Here is a small sampling of my collection picking up where the “Ink & Blood” exhibit left off.

TAH