Collecting the Bible: from Gutenberg to the Jerusalem Chamber

First time fair exhibitors, The International Society of Bible Collectors (Stand L1), will present Collecting the Bible: From Gutenberg to the Jerusalem Chamber.

Founded in 1964, the society’s individual and institutional members (both public and private) hold some of the world’s most valuable collections of rare books and manuscripts.

Among the items which will be on display is a leaf from the Gutenberg Bible, a number of Tyndale New Testaments, an extremely fine copy of the first printed Bible in English - the 1535 Coverdale Bible) - and first editions of other various English Bibles of significance such as the Matthews Bible (1537), Henry VIII's Great Bible (1539), the Geneva Bible (1560), the Bishops Bible (1568), and both editions of the celebrated Authorized Version (King James,1611).

Other featured items are a rare early printing of Martin Luther’s translation of the Book of Acts on vellum (displayed at the Caxton Exhibition of 1877), the infamous “Wicked Bible” (containing the misprint “thou shalt commit adultery”), the “Lunar Bible” (the first printed book to make landfall on the surface of the moon), and an extremely rare Tudor miniature manuscript containing Coverdale’s English translation of the Psalms.

Collecting the Bible is curated by Benjamin Crawford.