Crafting the Bible: From Scriptoria to Printing Houses
April 4 – May 2, 2011

Opening Reception
Friday, April 15, 2011, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Location
Dr. M. T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery
Sun Yat Sen Hall
St. John’s University
8000 Utopia Parkway
Queens, NY  11349

Tuesday - Thursday: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Friday: 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Monday and Sunday: Closed

Co-curated by
Blythe E. Roveland-Brenton, Ph.D. and Parvez Mohsin

Co-sponsored by
St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
St. John’s University Library

This exhibition is free of charge and accessible to the handicapped.
For more information on this exhibit, or for directions please call (718) 990-7476.

About the Exhibit
This exhibition presents a rare opportunity to view selected bibles of our St. John’s University’s Libraries’ Special Collections along with “The Saint John’s Bible” of Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota. 

Original Bibles, leaves, and facsimile editions from St. John’s University Libraries’ Special Collections Department constitute one part of the current exhibition in the gallery.  The works represent more than sacred and inspirational texts – they are historical artifacts and works of art. One gains a fuller appreciation of the development of the book in the form we recognize today through an understanding of the history of the production of the Bible.

The items on view span the eighth to the 20th centuries, represent various techniques and materials, are in diverse languages, and were intended for an array of audiences. They range from one-of-a-kind manuscript Bibles written and decorated in monastic scriptoria, through the first printed masterworks by Gutenberg and his contemporaries, to modern private press editions. Among the highlights of the exhibited works from the University’s own collection are: a Bible printed in 1492 just prior to Columbus’ discovery of America; a manuscript Ethiopian Psalter in ancient Ge’ez script with its leather carrying satchel; the so-called “Gun-wad Bible” printed in 1776 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, few of which survived the Revolutionary War; a Bible for the Blind (1850) with raised Roman letters given to “indigent blind individuals” by the Bible House in New York City; and Barry Moser’s exquisitely hand-crafted Pennyroyal Caxton Bible published in 1999. 

Additionally, a collection of individual leaves from famous Bibles (1121-1935 A.D.) is on display. The leaves were compiled and described by the late Otto F. Ege (1888-1951), Dean of the Cleveland Institute of Art, from incomplete and damaged Bibles he had amassed during his lifetime.  Special Collections holds numerous distinctive items available for study by students, faculty and other researchers. They were acquired over the course of the University’s rich history through purchase and as gifts from generous donors.

For more information about visit Special Collections.
For more information on The Saint John’s Bible visit: http://www.saintjohnsbible.org/