Highlights of the Exhibition
The Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Bible Collection
at
Bridwell
Library
1996-2006
September 7-November 18, 2006
The Vinegar Bible
The Holy Bible, Containing the Old Testament and the New. Engravings by James Thornhill and Michael van der Gucht. Oxford: John Baskett, 1717.
John
Baskett was a successful publisher in eighteenth century London, but one
of his first imprints of the Bible was so riddled with mistakes that it
earned the nickname “a Baskett-ful of Errors.” Now the Bible is better
known as a the “Vinegar Bible” – so called because the word “vinegar”
appears in place of “vineyard” in the Parable of the Vineyard in Luke
20:9. 
The entire design is unabashedly monumental, with extravagant
neo-classical engravings throughout, the volumes themselves massive
imperial folios. Volume one opens with a classically inspired
illustration of Oxford on the
title page. On the facing page is Moses surrounded by putti and infused with divine inspiration. Volume two opens with another
architectural scene – here a gothic church interior.
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