[TAYLOR, John]

A very rare and exquisitely bound miniature, comprising a children’s version of the Protestant bible, set to verse by John Taylor (1580-1653). Thumb-bibles were accessible and digestible versions of holy scripture for children, mostly measuring two inches or less in size. Following the Reformation principle of sola scriptura—the belief that the Bible was the supreme authority for Christian faith and practice—they summarised full bibles by paraphrasing its narratives, aiming to teach children (not yet old enough to read the Bible in its entirety) the fundamental basics of the text. The first known example dates from 1601 and they remained popular into the 18^thC.

 The Old Testament is recast as the ‘verbum sempiternum’, while the ‘salvator mundi’ refers to the New. This copy is the even rarer corrected and reissued version of the ‘excessively rare first edition of that prototype of all thumb Bibles where the title is misspelled Verbum Sempiternae’. However, given its size and purpose as a children’s book, it is remarkable to have survived at all. This is most likely due to the outstanding beauty of the binding, evidently treasured.

The work is dedicated to Queen Anne of Denmark (1574-1619), a well-known patron of the arts, and the youthful prince Charles (1600-1649), later King Charles I. Much of the Queen’s time was focused on court entertainment, participating in masques, and commissioning leading architects to deliver fantastic set design. Among them was Inigo Jones (1573-1652), who also designed the Queen’s House in Greenwich for Anne, begun in 1616.

The poet behind this text, John Taylor, a ‘generally forgotten early seventeenth century author […] who in his long life from 1580 to 1653 established himself as one of the most prolific writers of the English Renaissance’, was known in his time as the ‘Water Poet’. He was pioneering in his simplified and miniature versions of the Bible.

“In the sixteenth century embroidered work was very popular with the Tudor princesses, gold and silver thread and pearls being largely used, often with very decorative effect. The simplest of these covers are also the best—but great elaboration was often employed…. Under the Stuarts the lighter featherstitch was preferred, and there seems to have been a regular trade in embroidered Bibles and Prayer-books of small size, sometimes with floral patterns, sometimes with portraits of the King, or Scriptural scenes” (Cyril Davenport, English Embroidered Bookbindings). English bindings of this types have become rare, with many lost due to looting for their precious metals or through destruction by disapproving Puritans during the Civil War.

Not in ESTC or STC. The uncorrected 1614 issue is recorded only at University of Aberdeen, the corrected 1616 edition (the next after ours) is recorded only at the British Library and Huntington.