VALUE OF BIBLES

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 47, 18 November 1932, Page 18

VALUE OF BIBLES

Examples of Early Days NOT ALL VALUABLE Dominion Special Service. Jlastertou, Nov. 17. An inquiry as to what was the oldest Bible in New Zealand was made through the correspondence columns of "The Dominion” on Saturday, by a reader who stated that she had one dated 1599. Mr. A. Clemas, of Masterton, whose collection has been on exhibition at Bible House, Wellington, has a complete manuscript copy of the Bible of the period 1230. and has a manuscript account of the Gospel of St. Matthew of an even earlier date— A.D. 1130. The oldest printed Bible in Mr. Clemas’s collection was printed in 1478, and he has several which were printed in the sixteenth century. Discussing early editions with “The Dominion” to-day, Mr. Clemas said that many people who had old books—particularly Bibles—in their possession had an exaggerated idea of their value. It should be remembered that, from the time of the first printed English edition of the Bible of 1537 up to the year 1900. more than 33.000 separate editions had been published. No book was valuable solely on account of its age, except those published before 1500. After that date books were only valuable on account of the particular niche they occupied in the list of literature.