Added Material Placed in Bibles

Many Bibles contain material in addition to the Scriptures themselves. These include such items as maps, concordances, charts, and Scripture cross-references. Beyond the Sacred Page provides a historical overview of these additions. Following are some of these supplements from Bibles in the Museum’s collection; they have been transcribed for ease of reading and studying:

• King James Bible, 1611
  • The Genealogies Recorded in the Sacred Scriptures, According to every Familie and Tribe with the Line of Our Saviour Jesus Christ observed from Adam to the blessed Virgin Mary
• Geneva Bible
  • Of the Incomparable treasure of the Holy Scriptures – this poem and prayer followed most printings of the Geneva Bible after 1578.
  • How to take profit in reading of the Holy Scriptures – a flow chart on studying the Scripture.
  • Summe of the whole Scripture of the Bookes of the old and newe Testament
• Alexander Cruden’s Concordance
  • Preface to the 1st edition of Cruden’s Concordance, 1737.
  • A Collection of the Names and Titles Given to Jesus Christ & A Collection of the Appellations Given to the Church of God in the Scriptures, 1st American edition, 1806.
• Prayer before the reading of Scriptures, from William Burkitt’s Expository Notes, 1794.
• From Matthew Carey’s 1801 Bible
  • Judea, Palestine, or the Holy Land.
  • Chronological Index of the years and times from Adam unto Christ.
  • Brief chronological catalog of the apostles and their successors.
  • Old Testament Passages used in the New Testament
  • The Old and New Testament Dissected.
  • A Clergyman’s Address to Married Persons at the Altar

• Table of the several passages in the Old Testament quoted by Christ and his Apostles in the New Testament, 1805.
• A Concise Introduction to the Study of the Holy Scriptures by James MacKnight.
  
• Concise View of the Evidences of the Christian Religion by John Fletcher.
• Synopsis of the Holy Bible, or brief commentary on the several books contained in the Old and New Testaments, 1812.
• Table of Weights and Measures mentioned in Scripture, 1812.
• Account of the dates or time of writing the books of the New Testament, 1812.
• Table of Offices and Conditions of Men.
• Table Kindred and Affinity.
• Lives of the Apostles, first appearing in John Holbrook’s quarto Bible published in Brattleborough, Vermont in 1817
• Poems about the Bible – many of these were clipped from newspapers and placed within the Bibles; others were handwritten in the blank pages.