Have a really ‘good read’ at the Cathedral

In a way this holds true for St Columb’s Cathedral, where, because of the huge renovations that have been taking place on the historic building, many of the artefacts have been placed into storage to protect them. However, this week the guides dusted off some of the beautiful Bibles they have in their vault - including some first editions.

Arriving in time for a cuppa and a good browse through their ‘Good books’ I as given a personal account of the various rare and first edition Bibles by Guide Ian Bartlett.

Taking them in chronological order, Ian told me there is ‘a wee link’ between them, making the collection even more special.

We begin with the oldest Bible, known as the Bishop’s Bible, which if you look at the photo to the right, is the second biggest of the hefty tomes.

Ian: “It was first printed in 1568 and has a coloured frontice piece, and you can see that this edition is 1588. Now to test your knowledge of history, what happened in 1588?”

I look at him blankly before he continues: “The Spanish Armada, and you can see here the initial here, ER, Elizabeth Regina, for Elizabeth I. If you look at the note in the front of it it says ‘Bishop’s Bible. This copy was exhibited at the Armada Exhibition in Plymouth in 1888’, the 300th anniversary and it was presented by some lady from Portstewart, whose name we cannot make out,” he says, handing me the note. (It reads Kathleen E McK and the rest is indistinct.)

“Sometimes it is known as Cranmer’s Bible. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, sometime Archbishop of Canterburie [sic] in 1556, he was burned in Oxford for denying Popery’. So there we have a Bible that is what...423 years old...and in very good condition.”

And it is in good condition. The handwriting in it is simply gorgeous with each new chapter marked with an ornate letter, but the cover is not the original.

“After over 400 years it obviously needed some attention,” he says, while his colleague, Gerry adds: “Most of the Bibles from those days wouldn’t have been bound. A lot of the Bishop’s Bibles moved up to Magee would have been bound in parchment and were loose bound, not hardback bound.”

Breeches Bible

Next is the second smallest Bible, which has a black back on it, and has several titles. The engraved frontice piece declares it the Elizabethan Bible, or ‘Breeches Bible’.

“This is because in the King James authorised version of the Bible that came after this Adam and Eve were described as using fig leaves to make themselves aprons. In this particular version of the Bible it says they used fig leaves like breeches or trousers (Genesis 3:7), but the correct name of it is the Geneva Bible.”

According to some sources, the Geneva Bible is regarded as an ‘historically significant’ translation of the Bible into the English language, preceding the King James translation by 51 years. It was, apparently, the primary Bible of the 16th century Protestant movement and it is recorded as one of the Bibles taken to America on the Mayflower. It was presented by Harry Percival Swan and Mrs Swan, of Buncrana.

“It as written by scholars in Geneva. Some of them had left England because they were being persecuted for their Protestant Faith, amongst the contributors to this, I think, was John Knox and John Calvin as well, so, this was presented to the Church in 1962,” said Ian.

He adds that the Geneva Bible was the first Bible that was portable enough for people to take away and read, as well as existing in Lectern size: “It was the first ‘popular Bible’ shall we say.”

After this in 1603, when King James of Scotland came to the throne of England, the following year he held a conference at Hampton Court palace and urged a revision of the Bible.

“I think almost 50 church men revised it, because a large proportion of what is contained in the King James version of the Bible came from the Geneva Bible and the Bishop’s Bible. They went back to the original Greek and Hebrew too. This gave rise to the King James Authorised Version, and here we have a first edition of that, printed in 1611. We know it is a first edition because it states that on the spine. This is not the original cover. It has been rebound. The KJ version was made available in two formats; one bound, like this, and a second version was loose leaf so you could take it away a chapter at a time and bring it back. It is possible that this was originally a loose leaf version because there are certain pages, principally the front one, is missing. There is always a dedication to the King and it is missing from this, but there are other things that tell us that it is a first edition.”

Despite the parts that are ‘missing’ it is still a highly valuable book. Apparently when the experts from the Antiques Roadshow viewed the book they said the printing work alone was “as rare as hens’ teeth”. Another little snippet for you, look at the ornate printed page to the right. It is from the Book of Ruth Ch3:v15 - it ends with the phrase ‘and he went into the citie’. That is peculiar to the first edition, because in subsequent editions the ‘he’ becomes a ‘she’.

Those familiar with the Cathedral will all be familiar with Governor Walker’s Bible, from which he took courage when things became strained during the Siege. It has been restored, and part of that process involved slicing down through each page lengthways to separate them in two, before a piece of paper was inserted and the three aspects were then fixed back together and bound back into book form. No mean feat. I love the way you can almost see Walker’s finger and thumb prints on this Bible and it is very apparent when you hold this particular Bible that the Colonel drew very heavily on the Scriptures and was a man of deep faith.

The smallest of the Bibles, you need a magnifying glass to read it, is a bit of a puzzle to the guides because they don’t know the exact story behind it.

“It was given to the servicemen, we believe, who signed the Ulster League and Covenant in 1912, which is included at the front of it in miniature, and it contains both Old and New Testaments. You might wonder how you can read it, but in the back is a little magnifying glass. It is even difficult to read with that,” he says, handing me the Bible and magnifying glass.

Having difficulty trying to read it with electric light overhead made me wonder how soldiers in trenches managed...