November 19, 2003
TBC Staff
The books of the Old Testament were preserved by Jewish scribes. These specially trained men copied the words on animal skins called parchment. The scribes had to count each letter to make sure they were all there!
THE COST OF MATERIALS
It took 25 sheep to make parchments for 200 pages of Bible text.
LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN...
In the Middle Ages, a copy of the Bible cost more to produce than two arches of the London Bridge!
CHAINS
Handwritten copies of the Bible were so valuable that they were chained to their place in the church—like pens in the Post Office!
SPREADING THE WORD
It wasn’t until the printing press came into use in Europe that the Bible could be produced at a price common people could afford. The first mass-produced Bible was printed by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany in 1456.
Silverthorne, Sandy, The Awesome Book of Bible Facts, Harvest House, 1994, p.95
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