Vinegar Bible
The Parable of the Vinegar
Vinegar Bible
On show in Farnham Parish Church during their church fête their Vinegar Bible, the first time, I was told, in twenty years.
So called because of the misprint of Vinegar for Vineyard though it could equally have been a mistranslation.
This is a King James Bible printed by John Baskett in Oxford in 1717.
The copy held by Farnham Parish Church has been spilt and rebound as two volumes.
This is one of only twelve known copies.
The Vinegar Bible was presented to Farnham in 1739 by Arthur Onslow, speaker of the House of Commons from 1727 to 1761.
John Baskett was printer to King George II and to the University of Oxford between 1711 until his death in 1742. He was responsible for printing many fine books. However his name is remembered above all for his 1717 printing of the King James’ Bible. His edition, which contains many neo-classical engravings by James Thornhill and Michael van der Gucht, should have been one of the highlights of his career, but so many printing mistakes were made that people referred to his Bible as a “Baskett-ful of errors”.
Tags: Bible, Farnham, Farnham Parish Church, Holy Bible, King James' Bible, The Parable of the Vinegar, Vinegar Bible
March 28, 2017 at 3:18 pm |
Good Day,
St. John’s Anglican Church, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada also has a Vinegar Bible. So far we have identified 12 definite owners of Vinegar Bibles. Possibly 13 if British Museum will confirm that they own two copies. We are trying to confirm that St. Andrews Church, Ashburton also owns a copy. In addition there are other copies in private hands. So there are more than 12 copies in existence.
If you are interested to receive our list of owners I will send.
2017 is the 300 Anniversary of the publication of John Baskett’s Bible. Our Church is planning to celebrate this event.
June 14, 2019 at 12:06 pm |
St Mary’s Avington has a Vinegar Bible and this year we in the village are raising money to house it in a cabinet where it can be preserved and viewed. It would be interesting to know how many Vinegar Bibles there are in the world?