|
There
are a large number of books that post-date the sixteenth century
in the Van Kampen Collection, but these do not reflect the current
collecting policy. Small sub-groups within this period are as follows:
first editions of John Bunyan; inscribed Bibles and autograph manuscripts
by C. H. Spurgeon; decorative Bibles and bindings from the Victorian
period; elaborately bound Books of Common Prayer; first editions
of Bibles in non-Western languages.

VK
503, The Gospels in Old Slavonic, 16th/17th century
Many
Christian communities, such as the Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic, Singhali,
and Russian Christian communities, continued to produce manuscript
Bibles long after the advent of printing. In addition to examples
from these traditions, the Collection holds a number of Western
Hebrew Torah and Haftorah scrolls from the seventeenth through the
nineteenth centuries.

VK
427, The Ruskin Septuagint, 16th/17th century
The
Bible in America is not an emphasis of the Van Kampen Collection,
although a rare Eliot Bible in the Massachuset language and several
other early American biblical monuments are part of the holdings.

VK
397, The Eliot Bible in Massachuset, Cambridge, MA, 1661-1663
An
exception to the general de-emphasis of modern materials is made
for Ethiopic manuscripts, an area where early medieval traditions
of manuscript production endure to the present century. The Collection
currently includes seven Ethiopic biblical manuscripts - most undated.
These codices reflect Christian textual and artistic traditions
which have remained relatively unchanged over many centuries. The
first Ethiopic translation of the Bible was completed toward the
end of the 7th century, with the text derived mainly from Greek,
but in part from Syriac versions. Reflecting the extreme conservatism
of the Ethiopic church, the text remained virtually unchanged until
the period of Jesuit influence in the sixteenth century. In light
of a very conservative pattern of textual transmission, Ethiopic
Bibles, even of a relatively late date, may provide important insights
into other early Eastern text traditions.
NEXT:
Secondary
Holdings
|