SOME STRANGE BIBLES

Patea Mail, Volume LIII, 7 March 1932, Page 4

SOME STRANGE BIBLES

The Bible is still the world’s best seller. Fourteen fresh versions have Ocen added to the translations during die last year, and 11,888,22(5 copies of Bibles, Now .Testaments, and portions of the Scriptures have been sold. A largo proportion of the printing and binding is done abroad, chiefly in the countries' where there is most demand for the copies. In Germany 135.000 volumes in 20 languages were printed and bound, 0,000,000 in China. 488.000 in Korea, and about 500,000 n India.

The largest printed Bible in the world was made by a carpenter in Los Angelos, U.S.A., according to the hundred and twenty-seventh report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which has just been published. It is the result of two years’ labour on the part of the carpenter and his wife.

It measures 43iin- by 34in, and is 34in thick. The weight of this large volume is 10911 b, or nearly half a Cou, ami when open the Bible has a width of Bft 2in. It contains 8018 pages grouped into 32 individual sections, all of which have been printed by a hand-stamping machine.

There is also a hand-written Bible in existence which is sft 2in in height and 3ft fiiu in breadth. Twelve goatskins were used for the covers.

•The whole edition was prepared by the Bible Crusade Committee, of London, and the various parts were written by clergy and ministers of different denominations, officers and men of the Army and Navy, artisans., engineers, and business men. ■