Exhibition at the Bodleian Library about the King James Bible's origins.
The Bible is something I often see in the top drawer of a hotel bedroom donated by a charity but aside from an obvious object of faith I did not realise the political importance of the version you hold until I visited this exhibition. The images etched inside the pages of the bibles inside these glass cabinets bring the whole world of each bible’s publication to life.
Humour exists within the faultless curation which points out an error in one ‘wicked’ bible that mistakenly commands ‘thou shalt commit adultery'. This rewards careful reading of the information boards with a chuckle. The small pages of a thick bible Anne Boleyn holds are incredibly moving. This Tyndale version of the mid sixteenth century would have gone against the wishes of her then husband, Henry the Eighth and would have landed her in even deeper trouble than she faced. Up to the point of her beheading she held this bible and this for me displays a new chapter in my understanding of the motivations of Anne Boleyn.
Earlier bibles are written in ink and not reproduced on print presses and date back to the fourteenth century. The meticulous detail of the scribe who portrays the words with even spacing is hard to comprehend in an era now dominated by the keyboard. The beauty of the handwriting is wonderful to observe. Overall, the journey of the bible through the many versions shows English history in a capsule and highlights the unifying force of the King James Bible. The controversies over which chapters were omitted from this ubiquitous version and how the translators compiled the text are highlighted in the display. This leaves the visitor to reflect in more detail on the holy word. I would swear to this on the Bible, but I am still not sure which one, they all look like they have a lot to offer!