Magnificent Latin Bible.
Amongst the rare and costly relics in the library of the Vatican, is the magnificent Latin Bible of the Duke of Urbino. It consists of two large folios, embellished by numerous figures and landscapes, in the ancient arabesque.
Interesting Manuscript Bibles.
In the British Museum there are two copies of the Scriptures which are peculiarly calculated to interest the pious visitors, from the circumstances under which they were transcribed. The elder manuscript contains "The Old and New Testaments, in short hand, in 1686," which were copied, during many a wakeful night, by a zealous Protestant, in the reign of James II., who feared that the attempts of that monarch to re-establish Popery would terminate in the suppression of the sacred Scriptures.
The other manuscript contains the book of Psalms and the New Testament, in 15 volumes, folio, written in characters an inch long, with white ink, on black paper manufactured for the purpose. This perfectly unique copy was written in 1745, at the cost of a Mr. Harries, a London tradesman. His sight having failed with age so as to prevent his reading the Scriptures, though printed in the largest type, he incurred the expense of this transcription that he might enjoy those sources of comfort which "are more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold."
The British Museum paid $3750 for the manuscript Bible made by Alcuin, in the eighth century, for the Emperor Charlemagne, whose instructor and friend he was.
The Vinegar Bible.
This Bible derives its title from an edition which contained an error in the heading to the twentieth chapter of St. Luke, in which "Parable of the Vineyard" is printed "Parable of the Vinegar." The edition was issued in the year 1717, by the University of Oxford, at their Clarendon Press.
Queen Elizabeth's "Oone Gospell Booke."
This book is a precious object to the virtuoso. It was the work of Queen Catherine Parr, and was enclosed in solid gold. It hung by a gold chain at her side, and was the frequent companion of the "Virgin Queen." In her own handwriting, at the beginning of the volume, the following quaint lines appear—