Scottish Christian.com

Home > News > Scottish Christian News Monitor

The words sent down through centuries

As Scotland celebrates the 500th anniversary of printing, the Mitchell Library in Glasgow has put a representative sample of its extensive holdings of antiquarian and rare books on show until September 30 to mark the occasion, writes Ronnie Scott.

Amid the riches that the Mitchell has put on display, in dimmed surroundings to ensure the books are not damaged by strong light, there are 10 outstanding treasures:

1. One of the earliest books in the Mitchell's collection is De Bello Judaico (The Jewish War), an extremely rare copy of a history written in the first century by Josephus, a Jewish historian who lived in Rome, describing the Jewish revolt against the Romans in AD 66-70.

2. The Liber Chronicarum (Book of Chronicles), which was produced in Nuremberg in 1493, is a beautiful example of an incunabulum printed from carved wooden blocks, with hand-coloured illustrations.

4. The first complete Bible to be printed in Scotland was produced by Thomas Bassandyne and Alexander Arbuthnot in Edinburgh in 1579. The Bassandyne Bible, as it is known, was an English translation of the second edition of the Geneva Bible, and is the earliest bible in which Roman type, rather than Gothic (also known as blackletter or Old English), was used.

5. Another religious work, The Protestation of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, was the first book to be printed in Glasgow. Published by George Anderson, it records how the General Assembly voted to resist Charles I's attempts to re-impose episcopal church government on Scotland, leading to the Covenanting period in Scottish history.

Full story at The Herald.