With the Help of Anthony Gormley

On Monday morning we had a family and friends trip down to the British Library. There's not that much to see but Codex Alexandrius and the little Tyndale New Testament are always worth a look. They are also marking 250 years since American Independence and are showing a handwritten copy on sheepskin parchment, the only handwritten ceremonial copy to exist alongside the original manuscript (the Matlack Declaration held at the National Archives in Washington DC). This one is the Sussex Declaration and is on loan from West Sussex Record Office.

Later we got a coffee out on the concourse I placed it on a metal sculpture. It turned out to be an Antony Gormley piece so abit irreverent, although someone who pointed out to us what we were doing thought Mr Gormley would love it. It is perhaps a good sermon illustration of how easily we are irreverend and miss the sacred right in front of us.

Jane Austen William Tyndale

Cassandra Austen, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>,
via Wikimedia Commons

I went down to the British Library today to catch the last day of a modest display of Jane Austen items in their Treasury Room, marking 250 years since her birth. I also took opportunity to see the small Tyndale exhibition, marking the 500th anniversary of his New Testament.

Anonymous early portrait of Tyndale now in Hertford College, Oxford,

Public Domain via Wikipedia

Day Off Week 45 2023

I haven't had a formal day off for a while as we have had lots of family visits. Anyway, I tried to have a proper day off last Tuesday but I was just not organised or on it enough so the day was rather frittered away. I bought some cheese for my cheese blog (Monte Enebro) and had a coffee out and did some reading (see abpve) but a weird old day. Oh yes and there was an hour of joy when I sat down with an interested Iranian couple in our front room to discuss the Bible.

English Evolving

I should have mentioned that Rhodri and I enjoyed a nice free exhibiition at the British Library last Monday. (Tip off from Principal S - thanks!). Called Evolving English it is a very well done cruise through the history and development of the language in conjunction with a book by good old David Crystal. See the website here. Have a go at the quiz. Rhodri and I drew 5 all.

The sadness of the uncut book

I made a second trip to the British Library this week to check out some volumes. One of the books was largely uncut and had to be sent back and dealt with. I think that is rather sad. It means that this book has been sat in the Library since 1882 or whatever (over a hundred years) and it has never been read. I suppose it is a little exciting too in that I'm reading it for the first time as old as it looked (it was Thomas Houston on the atonement and intercession).

Apparently when a book is bound, trimming is the final thing that is done (or not done). Withotu this the leaves of the bound book cannot be turned. A sheet folded in quarto will have folds at the spine and also across the top, so the top folds must be trimmed away before the leaves can be turned. A signature (a section that contains text) folded in octavo or greater may also require that the other two sides be trimmed. Deckle Edge or Uncut books are untrimmed or incompletely trimmed, and may be of special interest to book sellers.

An article here reveals that the Chinese call them 毛边本 (literally, "fuzzy-edged volume"). The term refers both to uncut volumes with deckle edges, and to unopened books, in which the pages have to be sliced open by the reader. They're not especially common, and for most readers who still enjoy reading dead trees once in a while, having to slice open every other page is just another hassle. For collectors, it's a different story as the article explains.

I guessed someone would be inspired to write a poem on the subject. This sonnet is by the African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar

Emblem of blasted hope and lost desire, No finger ever traced thy yellow page Save Time's. Thou hast not wrought to noble rage The hearts thou wouldst have stirred. Not any fire Save sad flames set to light a funeral pyre Dost thou suggest. Nay, - impotent in age, Unsought, thou holdst a corner of the stage And ceasest even dumbly to aspire. How different was the thought of him that writ. What promised he to love of ease and wealth, When men should read and kindle at his wit. But here decay eats up the book by stealth, While it, like some old maiden, solemnly, Hugs its incongruous virginity!

Bristol

I made me a long promised trip to Bristol Baptist College yesterday. I set out nice and early in the sunshine and headed along the familiar route west. My grandmother (nee Hazleton) was born in Bristol and I still have relatives there but I don't know the city at all and have rarely been there. My AA directions were fine and I found the way across to the college easily enough. It is in leafy Clifton near Clifton College. This is not the building that I visited as a teenager on a "Greek class outing" to see the Tyndale Testament. That was sold to the British Library (1994) and they are now in premises new to them. Not an over large building, it has lecture rooms, offices, library, chapel, etc but no accommodation (I think). The students are down now but some youth ministry students were still around.

The purpose of my visit was to consult the Benjamin Beddome materials they have (see my Beddome blog for more on that). The librarian Shirley Shire was very helpful. It was good too to meet honorary archivist Roger Hayden, author of several items on Baptist history including his book Continuity and Change: Evangelical Calvinism among 18th century Baptist Ministers trained at Bristol Baptist Academy, 1690-1791. I was glad to meet him and chat a little and buy a signed copy.

I had to pay for the privilege but given what I was getting plus lunch, free parking and what I saved on the postage with the Hayden book I was quids in except for the petrol to get there. I'll probably need to go again but it was good to see what is actually there.

British Library Visit

I spent much of today in the British Library. I've not used the facility before but there was a book I wanted to read and I haven't been able to get hold of it anywhere else. It's only a little book so I was able to read and make notes in a few hours. It was a satisfying read - more on that some other time. I also like the atmosphere in those big libraries. You don't really get that hush in an ordinary common or garden library (I was in Humanities 1 if that means anything to anyone). It seems to make me more disciplined, that atmosphere.

To put the cherry on the cake I ended up sitting next to Sir Jonathan Miller (we both chose places at the same moment - no angling by me). Of interest, firstly because I knew who he was (unlike all the others I saw there) but I also liked the irony that here I am a Christian minister reading about a 19th Century Christian - how he was converted and how he served the Lord in part by arguing with rationalists, etc, next to a man (he appeared to be reading about modern art) who is a notorious atheist. I wanted to point out the irony but resisted. (It also took a bit of self-control when he wandered off not to take his pencil and write inside his notebook There is a God or God is great or Eternity - those were the three alternatives I considered). Perhaps he'll read this or someone will point it out and he'll see how restrained we Christians are.

British Library

I was in the King's Cross area on Friday (I'd been up to Welwyn to give my first lecture to the EMF students on heresy and the cults - nice lot, mainly Hungarian speaking) and so I decided to pop into The British Library. It's something I have often intended to do but haven't got round to. I was staggered to see that 12 years have elapsed since the new building went up. Where does the time go? There's so much in London. Nice atmosphere there with loads of people busy on their laptops. Found a nice remainder bookshop opposite selling books at £2 (what they should be?). There's a book there I want to read that I have never seen elsewhere.