An Abundance of Bibles

Dedication to
Ferdinand VII, Biblia Sacra

A Bishop’s book collection would be incomplete without at least one bible. Grimes has a few of them, ranging in language, place of publication and age from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth century. Four distinct bibles appear as part of Grimes’ Collection in the University of Canterbury’s Rare Books.

There is one bible in his collection that has no publication details other than its editor. The Biblia Sacra is an Old Testament Vulgate bible edited by Johannes Zamboni. It is a two volume set that was dedicated to Ferdinand VII of Spain (1784-1833). The University has estimated that it was published in the nineteenth century based on its binding. It only shows the provenance of the Canterbury Catholic Literary Society, founded in 1882 which grew out of the Catholic Young Men’s Society and in 1885 had between 800 and 900 volumes in its circulation.

Interior of Novum Testamentum

The next bible is the Novum Testamentum = He Kaine Diatheke (1741), written in both Greek and Latin by Johanne Leusden and published in Amsterdam. It bears the ink stamp of Bishop Grimes and has side by side versions of the bible in Greek and Latin. It has a number of pencilled annotations in the pages and a dedication in the back. You may remember the mention of this dedication from a previous blog (Lost in a Good Book, Pt 1) to a man’s sister, as a text that would hopefully aid her in her life. Because this book was published in Amsterdam in the eighteenth century, this book may have some Protestant influence behind it. The official religion of Amsterdam, like other countries on the continent, was predominantly Lutheran and Calvinist.

John Wells, Esq Bookplate
La Sainte Bible, Vol 5

The La Sainte Bible, edited by a number of authors, was published in 1748 by Gabriel Martin in Paris. This bible is 14 volumes in French and Latin. Not only does it contain the religious text of the church, but it also contains images like the Tabernacle in the traditional tent set up. The spines on almost all of the texts are worn, and some are split halfway through the book. Their worn appearance makes me think that they have been well used or may not have been looked after as well as they could have been. Most of the volumes contain the bookplate of a John Wells, Esq and the personal bookplate of ‘J.J. Grimes, Christchurch, N.Z.’

An Bíobla Naoṁṫha Cover

One of the more interesting bibles in Grimes’ collection is An Bíobla Naoṁṫha, an Irish bible published in 1830 by Goodwin, Son & Nethercott in Dublin. Because of Ireland's religious background, this is most certainly a bible based on the dominant faith; Catholicism. The editor of the text is unknown and because of its severely deteriorated spine, there was not an opportunity to take pictures of the interior. It does not contain either Grimes’s bookplate or inkstamp and has no signs of annotations. It may have entered Grimes' collection in this state or it was well used by the Bishop.

I was not expecting Grimes to have such a range of bibles in his collection when I began creating the database. It is curious to see an Irish bible in his collection. I wonder if he knew Gaelic or if he had bought it as a simply an interesting bible to have in his collection or to help with the Irish Catholics in his congregation. He would have certainly learnt Latin and French at his schools in England and France for the other bibles to be relevant. I find it interesting how many rare bibles he had in his collection, not to mention the more recent bibles that may be in his larger collection.


References

Mosley, M. Illustrated Guide to Christchurch and Neighbourhood: Canterbury Catholic Literary  Society. 1885.Victoria, University of Wellington. 
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-MosIllu-t1-body1-d6-d14.html

Biblia Sacra. University of Canterbury Rare Books Collection - 493356 - BibliaSacra - Vol1 - Provenance1

Novum Testamentum, 1741. University of Canterbury Rare Books Collection - 493360 - NovumTestamentum - Interior1

La Sainte Bible, 1748. University of Canterbury Rare Books Collection - 493224 - LaSainte - Vol5 - Bookplate - Grimes&Wells

An Bíobla Naoṁṫha, 1830. University of Canterbury Rare Books Collection - 493446 - BioblaNaomhtha - Cover2