P065 Peculiar Bibles.
P065 Peculiar Bibles.
He then cut from different parts of the book the letters a,K,n,e,a,w,e, and pasted them on the paper, thus making the text read "Paul, a Kneawe," etc. The date in the title-page being MDXXXVII, he erased XVII. leaving the date MDXX. He had the volume rebound, and lettered on the back "Holy Bible, 1520."
He took it to the old duke, who was delighted with his prize, and gave the captain seventeen guineas for it. This is the only "Knave Bible" of which there is any authentic account.(1) Where the knave was, is easily seen.
3. Typographical Errors.
Cotton Mather tells of a Bible printed before 1702 in which David is made to say in Psalm cxix, 161, "Printers have persecuted me without a cause."(2)
Probably every modern writer can affirm the truth of this. The printers have made sad havoc with the Bible, as witness the following:— The beautiful Cambridge Bible, of 1629, already referred to,(3) has, in spite of the care bestowed on it, at least one error, which ran through many subsequent editions. In 1 Tim. iv, 16, Paul says, "Take heed unto thyself and to the doctrine." This book has, instead, "thy doctrine." The edition of 1638, though more correct even than the former, has in it one famous error, which was serious in its day because of the disputes between the Independents and the Episcopalians. In Acts vi, 3 it has "whom ye may appoint," instead of "whom we may appoint," which latter is correct. In 1653 an edition of the Authorized Version was printed in London, in which 1 Cor. vi, 9 was made to read, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall inherit the kingdom of God?"
Another example of the omission of the negative is found in an Oxford Bible of 1711, in which we read in Isaiah lvii, 12, "I will declare thy righteousness and thy works, for they shall profit thee." In an Oxford Bible of 1792, in Luke xxii, 34, the Saviour is represented as telling Philip that he should deny him thrice before cock-crowing.
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(FN1)See "Account of Lord Oxford’s Bibles," cit. by Lewis, in "A Complete History," etc., p. 47.
(FN2)Stevens, p. 115.
(FN3)See p. 57.
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