How the Bible Became a Book, the Saint John's Bible a Work of Art

HUFFINGTON POST
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The origin of the word "Bible" is in the Greek and Latin term for library ("bibliotheca"); in effect, a collection of biblical books comprised a small library. The exceptions were large, luxury manuscripts that contained all the books of the Bible in one volume and were often lavishly illustrated. A modern equivalent might be the Saint John's Bible. Commissioned by Saint John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, in 1998, the Bible was recently completed through the collective efforts of a team of scribes and artists directed by renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson, Master of the Guild of Scriveners, London (http://www.saintjohnsbible.org/). Producing medieval luxury Bibles sometimes took as long as 50 years and the investment of considerable resources (including gold, paint and parchment made from the skins of hundreds of cattle or sheep). [link]

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