Article August 15, 1901 Issue

Oldest Bible in America

Denver Republican

THE oldest Bible in the United States was shown at the state house recently by the owner, Rev. John Herr of Lima. Ill. It is a fine example of mediaeval printing, and the original binding is yet almost intact. It is bound in beechwood, and covered with Russia leather, stamped with curious patterns and marked by the depredations of worms. There are only three copies of this edition in existence. The original edition was only fifty copies.

The old volume has a bloody history. The monks who struck it off with clumsy wooden type paid the price of death at the stake for their temerity, and of the twentysix people who studied it in secret, but ten lived more than five years, while many of the Bibles were burned by the public hangman.

But few of the edition were preserved, hidden away in old chests and secret places, and one of them was this Bible. It was finally purchased by John Herr of Zurich, and in his family it has remained for twelve generations.

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