COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — With the help of computers, calfskins and turkey feathers, Donald Jackson is reviving a lost art form by creating a Bible by hand, at a cost of about $4 million.
The Saint John’s Bible, a seven-volume, illustrated endeavor slated for completion in 2007, is the first handwritten Bible to be commissioned by a major religious institution in 500 years.
According to a group of more than 200 monks at Saint John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minn., five centuries was too long to wait for an artistic reinterpretation of the Bible.
Using close to 250 pieces of calfskin for parchment; traditional pens adapted from the feathers of swan, goose or turkey; and centuries-old pigment mixed with egg yolk, Jackson’s final 1,100-page Bible will dwarf most versions, measuring 15 7/8 inches wide by 24 1/2 inches tall.
Yet Jackson and his team benefit from state-of-the-art technology beyond the imagination of their 15th-century predecessors. The calligraphy filling the pages of the Saint John’s Bible is designed on computers for planning purposes, using fonts approximating Jackson’s handwriting.
The text, the New Revised Standard Version, is sent via computer from Minnesota to Jackson’s workshop in Great Britain. He uses the electronic aids to orchestrate each page before setting pen to parchment. The Bible includes manuscripts chronicling the Gospels and Acts, Pentateuch, Historical Books, Prophets, Wisdom Literature, Psalms and Letters and Revelations. The original artwork from several of the books began a worldwide tour last spring. It will be on display in Mobile Oct. 10, 2008–April 10, 2009. (TAB)
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