ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — David Artiss moves his hands over the bible and smiles, his eyes sparkling at the astounding thought of the many others who have touched it over the span of nearly 500 years.
“I find it absolutely incredible,” said the retired Memorial University professor about the bible that has been in his family since the 1700s, but dates to 1541.
“To think 400 years ago hands were on this, it’s mind-blowing.”
His maternal ancestors acquired it in his native England.
It was in two pieces and stored in a box when Artiss, a member of the St. John’s Quaker Allowed Group, was helped by the group’s co-ordinator Liz Ohle to have it repaired by a rare book restorer in Woodstock, Vermont.
Now bound properly together, touching the Bible transcends religious affiliation and embraces the appreciation of history, of printing and of books. It’s a kind of spiritual feeling to know the pages were first touched in 1541, at a time when printing press inventor Johannes Gutenberg’s innovation had only been around for about 100 years.
The dense, Gothic-like black ink on thick paper is written in old English. It features some illustrations and an elaborate calendar spread across many pages. The heavy leather cover is understandably worn from the incredible length of time since its printing.
Artiss, a retired German language and literature professor who immigrated here in the 1960s, did not realize until the Bible was re-assembled, that the back page contains marriages and other events handwritten by his ancestors in the 1700s.
The Bible — when sent to Vermont by UPS — weighs about 14 pounds and is about eight-inches thick.
It came to the Jalland-Sturges Quaker family — Artiss’ ancestors — in Somerset 1713.
Handwritten on a page near the front is the tale of how they acquired it.
“This Bible was bought at a sale in Lincolnshire at a house where it had been used as a doorstop,” the note begins.
Artiss explained tomes such as this one are known as a family Treacle Bible because at some stage, a printer not liking the phrase “and there is no balm in Gilead (Jeremiah 8:22) had re-written it as “And there is not treacle in Gilead?”
Treacle is a type of sticky, thick syrup and the phrase refers to a spiritual medicine to heal sinners.
Artiss hopes to pass the bible on within his family and was astounded by the job book restorer Ruth Hunter completed on it and he’s grateful to Ohle for co-ordinating the restoration and bringing the bible back to St. John’s.
“It was so bad. It really was a wreck,” Artiss said.
“She did an absolute incredible piece of work.”
Artiss can’t remember it being used by his family as a child. It was passed on to him by his mother. At one point, he said he had it appraised at Sotheby’s but was told it was not worth anything as it’s not a rare edition.
His wife Grace said aside from displaying it a nearby church’s special bible events, the book had gone from cupboard to cupboard in its previous state.
“It was never out,” she said. “Even to see the paper that has been around that long is marvelous.”
Hunter told The Telegram in a phone interview that she spent 7 1/2 hours working on the bible. At first, she was afraid to tackle the job, as the retired librarian, who is also a Quaker, said she’s not a conservator.
But then, through Ohle, she learned that Artiss just wanted it to be made strong so he could pass it on.
She noted the various repairs that others had done through the years including thread and rope and wanted to retain the marks that show the bible’s age. She added a cloth spine.
“I have never seen such an old bible and will probably not be so privileged again,” Hunter had noted on her Facebook page Ruth’s Book Repair.
“It was very special,” she told The Telegram.
She’s repaired pulpit bibles but thinks it is the biggest one she’s ever worked on.
“It was a treat. I am so happy the man was so pleased,” she said.
Ohle has known Artiss for two decades.
“Everybody who touches this book has a moment." — Liz Ohle
This spring, he expressed an interest in having the book restored.
“He just mentioned he had a (nearly) 500-year-old bible down in the storage room, in a cardboard box in the basement,” she said with amazement.
She knew Hunter from a Quaker summer camp in Vermont since the late 1970s and knew Hunter had gone into the book repair business.
Ohle sent the bible by UPS, but since she was picking her grandson up at the camp, she drove it back to St. John’s.
She’s happy for Artiss and is touched by his appreciation of the bible’s transformation and said she felt honoured to be a part of the process.
“Everybody who touches this book has a moment,” Ohle said.
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