Exhibit Overview
Jerome’s Cave
A re-creation of the cave in which St. Jerome translated the Bible into the standardized Latin Vulgate version. Interactive: Try your hand at scribal practice and copy scripture by candlelight.
Early English Bibles
Set in the stained glass adorned church of Scottish reformer John Knox, this room contains early English Bibles. Highlight items: First edition Coverdale (the first legal printing of the Bible in English), Matthew’s Bible, and Geneva Bible.
King James Version
Set in the Jerusalem Chamber in Westminster Abbey, this room recreates the setting in which the translation of the King James Version was completed. It contains works used by the translators to help in their translation process, multiple first editions, and other early King James Versions. Highlight item: First edition King James Version Bible, 1611.
Corrections
This room is set within the shop of a printer to the king and has a working reproduction of a press used to print the first edition King James Bible. The room highlights the process and making of corrections and revisions to the text. It has editions of the King James Bible that underwent major revisions, and a number of Bibles with misprints and the efforts made to correct them. Highlight item: 1631 “Wicked” Bible (King James Bible with an egregious error in one of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:14). Interactive: A textual correction station situated in the king’s print shop and a chance to help the printer as he works around his shop.
Adornment
This room is set in an artist’s studio and contains items from a wide range of locations and time periods intended to show the artistic tradition in Biblical productions. This room will have artists giving live demonstrations of adornment techniques. Highlight items: Illuminated manuscripts such as a heavily gilded Spanish Psalter and a manuscript in silver and gold decorated using micrography.
The Jewish Scribe Room
Take a behind-the-scenes look at the earliest stages of the composition of the Old Testament in Hebrew by Jewish scribes. Set in the Jewish synagogue of Dura Europos, this room is filled with items relating to the Jewish tradition such as Torah cases, Torah scrolls, temple lamps, and Megillah scrolls. Highlight item: Dead Sea Scroll fragment of Genesis.
The Christian Scribe Room
Set in a monastic cloister, this room contains the earliest Christian evidences of scripture and culture. It features early Biblical papyri, manuscripts, and commentaries. Highlight items: Codex Climaci Rescriptus (one of the earliest near complete Bibles in the world), some of the earliest surviving scriptures in Greek, and Carolingian manuscripts.
European Translations
Set in a medieval peasant’s hut, this room shows the earliest efforts to translate the Bible into everyday languages around the world. It contains early, rare translations from many countries prior to the presence of moveable typeset printing in the West. Highlight items: The Roseberry Rolle manuscript (the first translation of scripture into Middle English which predates Wycliffe’s translation by approximately 40 years) and a Wycliffe New Testament.
Gutenberg’s Print Shop
The introduction of moveable typeset printing to the West revolutionized printing, making the Bible more attainable for the common person. This room contains a full-scale reproduction of Gutenberg’s press and displays early printed works called incunables (printed within the first 50 years of the introduction of printing in the West), and first edition printings of important works. Highlight items: Gutenberg Bible Book of Romans, Nuremberg Chronicle, and a first edition Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. Interactive: Hands-on typesetting activity.
Reformation Theater and Early Reformation Bibles
This theater features a debate between Fathers Erasmus and Luther and Dr. Johann Eck highlighting the religious instability of the period which culminates in Luther nailing his 95 Theses to his church door. It contains items relating to Luther and early attempts at Biblical scholarship which aided in the translation process. Highlight item: Handwritten letter by Martin Luther written the night before he was excommunicated by the Church.
William Tyndale
Set around Anne Boleyn’s fall from royalty and William Tyndale’s imprisonment, culminating with his burning at the stake, this room highlights Tyndale’s translations. Highlight items: A first edition of Tyndale’s Obedience of Christian Man and a previously undocumented 1535 edition of Tyndale’s New Testament that he was working on while imprisoned in the Tower of London awaiting his execution for his translation work.

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Beyond the Renaissance: Critical Texts and Bible Translation
The Contents and Challenges of the Dead Sea Biblical Scrolls
The Making of a Bible Classic: The Translation of the King James Bible
The Greatest Archaeological Discoveries and the Old Testament
The Green Collection, Scientific Breakthroughs and Bible Translation
Manuscripts Discoveries and Bible Translation
Papyri Discoveries and Bible Translation
What Do William Tyndale and C. S. Lewis have in Common?
Richard Rolle's Impact on the English Bible
Answers to New Theories Regarding How We Got the Bible
The Greatest Archaeological Discoveries and the New Testament