Saint John’s Abbey and University announce Heritage Edition of The Saint John’s Bible

08/21/2006

In anticipation of the completion of The Saint John’s Bible, Saint John’s Abbey and University are pleased to announce the launch of the Heritage Edition, the long-awaited full-size reproduction of The Saint John’s Bible.

Available for subscriptions in pre-publication, the Heritage Edition will be available in the same seven volumes as the original and will include a special eighth volume of commentary. Limited to 360 numbered sets and signed by Donald Jackson, the artistic director of The Saint John’s Bible, the Heritage Edition will be the only full-size reproduction of The Saint John’s Bible published by Saint John’s Abbey and University.

With more than 1,150 pages and more than 160 illuminations, The Saint John’s Bible is the first handwritten and illuminated Bible commissioned by a Benedictine monastery since the invention of the printing press. Saint John’s Abbey and University have partnered with world-renowned calligrapher Jackson, senior scribe to Her Majesty the Queen’s Crown Office at the House of Lords in London, England, to create this masterpiece.

A truly monumental manuscript at more than two feet tall and three feet wide when open, The Saint John’s Bible continues the Benedictine tradition of copying and caring for sacred texts.  To spread its message of inclusion, The Saint John’s Bible is being written in English and includes powerful illuminations that place the manuscript clearly within our modern age.  Newsweek Magazine has christened The Saint John’s Bible “America’s Book of Kells.” 

"I am deeply honored to be a part of this project," says Craig Bruner, director of the Heritage Edition. "What we are offering to individuals, institutions, and rare book collectors, is the opportunity to be a part of history. The Heritage Edition places subscribers in the exclusive position of being able to share a millennial project with their families, houses of worship, or cherished institutions."

Proceeds from the sale of the Heritage Edition will fund the continuing preservation of ancient Christian texts around the world, a permanent home for The Saint John’s Bible, and study and teaching about manuscripts, the Bible, and the interaction of art and religion throughout the ages.

About Saint John’s Abbey and University and the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library:

For more than 1,500 years, Benedictines have maintained the tradition of preserving and copying sacred texts. Saint John’s Abbey and University, housing one of the nation’s largest Benedictine monasteries, continues this tradition at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, the home of The Saint John’s Bible. Founded in 1965, The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library now holds in trust the largest collection of Christian manuscript images in the world and is considered a premier research institution for the study of texts related to Christian culture. 

Contact:

Craig Bruner, director of the Heritage Edition, Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at Saint John’s University, 320-363-2771 or cbruner@csbsju.edu.