Swem Library is pleased to present "In the Beginning was the Word: Bibles at Swem Library.” This exhibit explores the history of the printing of the Bible. It begins with Gutenberg and other early printers in continental Europe, then moves across the English Channel to examine the publication of Bibles in England, Wales, and Scotland. The exhibit then turns its attention to Bibles and related scriptures, some in English, some not, in the American colonies and later the United States.
Among the rare Bibles and related items on display are:
- Leaves from a 1483 German Bible and a 1517 polyglot Bible published in Spain
- An edition of the earliest Bible printed with chapter and verse markings
- A 1544 Bible with 98 woodcuts by the great artist Hans Holbein
- A 1550 edition of William Tyndale’s English New Testament
- The first Bible printed in the Welsh language in 1567
- Three copies of the Bible used by early American colonists, the Geneva or “Breeches” Bible, including a copy possibly used by Pocahontas
- A first edition of the King James Bible
- A leaf from the first Bible printed in America, a Natick-language Bible from 1637
- A 1776 German Bible printed in Pennsylvania, known as the “Gunwad” Bible
- The 1782 Aitken Bible, the first English-language Bible printed in America and endorsed by Congress
- Family Bibles belonging to Martha Washington and James Monroe
- Thomas Jefferson’s notes on Jesus’s doctrines and his version of the Bible
- A first edition of the Book of Mormon
- A pre-Braille Bible for the Blind printed in 1836
There are many more Bibles on display in addition to those listed here.
“In the Beginning was the Word: Bibles at Swem Library” is on display in the Nancy Marshall Gallery and the adjoining Special Collections Research Center at Swem Library. The exhibit will be open through the end of October 2010. Admission is free. Summer hours usually will be M-F 10 a.m.-4:45 p.m. but hours will be longer when fall semester begins. Please be aware that the hours for the Special Collections Research Center typically are shorter than for the Marshall Gallery. For information on exhibits, directions, parking, and hours, see the library's home page.
For more information about this exhibit, contact Hope Yelich, Coordinator of Public Relations and Publications, Swem Library, at hhyeli@wm.edu or 757-221-3070.