NYDaily News.com (http://www.nydailynews.com)
Learn a different history of the Bible at the Museum of Biblical Art, 29 March 2010
by Clem Richardson (crichardson@nydailynews.com)
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Thanks to Liana Lupas and the Museum of Biblical Art, now you can find out more about some of the books themselves - how they were made, marketed and to whom they were sold.
In other words, a different history of the Bible.
"The Bible is the most widely published book in the world," said Lupas. "It is the book that most people read. It is the foundation book for our culture."
Lupas is MOBIA curator and creator of the exhibit "Pearl of Great Price, Selections From The Rare Bible Collection @ MOBIA," now on display at the museum at 61st St. and Broadway.
Culled from 2,000 rare books on loan to MOBIA from the American Bible Society's 45,000-piece Bible collection, the exhibit includes an original page from the first Bible translation in the United States.
Lupas, who curated the American Bible Society's library, followed the rare Bibles to MOBIA, where they are on loan for 10 years.
"I came with the books," said Lupas, 69, who has a doctorate in Greek and Latin. "These are my books. When people come to see these books, they have to talk to me, and they get one book at a time.
"As the curator of this collection, I have unlimited access," she said. "I always brag about owning the collection, but it is also true that the collection owns me."
Lupas - her name means 'little wolf' in her native Romanian - has supplied the story behind Charles Thomson's (1729-1824) Bible, which was printed in 1808.
A secretary of the Continental Congress whose name appears on the first published version of the Declaration of Independence, Thomson made the first translation in the U.S. of the Old Testament from the Greek into English.
It was printed by Jane Aitken, the first woman publisher in America. An original page of Thomson's handwritten translation is included in the MOBIA display.
Lupas uses that page to show how business practices can outweigh artistry.
Much of the Old Testament is poetry, and Thomson's translation maintains that form. But Aitken ignored the poetic stanzas and printed the lines across the page to save space and money.
"You have to have an idea of the context in which a book was printed, the history," Lupas said. "The history of printing is a fascinating part of the general history of this country. In this exhibit, that is what we are trying to do, learn more about the history of the books and see how they fit into the history of the country."
"When I saw the announcement in the newspaper for this job [at the American Bible Society], I showed it to my husband and said, 'This is the job for me,'" Lupas said. "Then, I got scared because I wanted it so much I was afraid I would not get it.
He said, 'If you don't apply, no one is going to offer it to you.'"
The first Bible printed in Malay, a volume of Helen Keller's giant eight-volume Bible in Braille and a Bible used by Pony Express riders are also in the exhibit, which will be on display through May 30.
Visit www.mobia.org, as well as www.americanbible.org, for more information.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2010/03/29/2010-03-29_the_good_book_has_one_great_curator.html#ixzz0jZbtLIfD
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