A King James Bible from Plymouth

       Happy Thanksgiving to anyone who peruses through here from time to time. I hope your holiday with family has been blessed. Now for a little bit of Bible history: The Geneva Bible has been grandly heralded as the 'Bible of the Pilgrims', which is very true. But - fun fact - the King James Version shown below also landed at Plymouth, owned by non-separatist Mayflower crewmember John Alden. This book now rests in Pilgrim Hall Museum in Massachusetts, alongside William Bradford's personal 1592 Geneva and several other Bibles. Pretty cool!

A Paris Pocket Bible

       Compact Medieval books like the "Paris Pocket Bibles" have always fascinated me, and I hope to someday own a facsimile of one (though there are none currently, maybe I should make one...) In the meantime, I shall content myself with pleasant pictures, like the one the The Museum of the Bible posted today as their artifact of the day:

       "An interesting little Artifact of the Day: English Pocket Bible from AD 1230-1250. Small “pocket” Bibles were one of the most important book production achievements in the 1200s. While Paris Pocket Bibles evolved in France, England was also an important center of production. English Pocket Bibles were much smaller, such as this one which measures just 4 ¾ inches in height. The start of each chapter has a blue initial, which is distinctively English, compared to others which use both blue and red. Errors found in this manuscript, such as Ezekiel ending imperfectly with the end of Daniel instead, suggests this Bible was copied by more than one scribe."