The Bibles presented here represent a history of the translation of the Bible into English up to and including the King James (or "authorized") version of 1611. This is a fascinating story filled with politics both religious and secular, with martyrs and the causes they died for, and the causes they were killed for, and all of it wrapped up in the revolutionary societal changes which occurred in England between 1380 and 1611. The Bibles pictured are a part of Northwest Christian University's Rare Bible Collection, which contains many other rare, old, and foreign language Bibles, both original editions (such as our Latin Vulgate Bible) and facsimiles (such as our Gutenberg edition).
The content contained within this presentation of the History of the English Bible was completed by Steve Silver, Technical Services Librarian.
The bulk of Northwest Christian University's Rare Bible collection was acquired in 1911. J.A. Bushnell, first chair of the Board of Regents, and his wife Sarah gave a gift of $1000 to college founder and President Eugene Sanderson to visit England to purchase Bibles for the fledgling college, then called Eugene Bible University. He was able to purchase several editions which it would be impossible to find in a like manner today. Over the years the collection has been added to through other gifts and acquisition of fine facsimile editions of Bibles not otherwise in the collection. The Friends of the Library has been raising money over the past several years for ongoing restoration and conservation work on these Rare Bibles.
If you would like more information and/or a viewing of NCU's Rare Bibles please contact a librarian
