When I hear debates about whether it is appropriate – or disrespectful – to write in books, images like these immediately come to mind.
Sometimes the “damage” is more interesting than the content of the book.
A book that survived fire – by losing its first page.
The Brest Bible (1563) is one of the most remarkable witnesses of the Reformation in Lithuania. Printed in Brest (Brasta), it was the first full Bible translation in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into a vernacular language – Polish.🧵
One surviving copy, now in the National Museum of Lithuania. And yet – it also contains something unexpected: two New Testament title pages (no Old Testament, though). A small mystery of printing, rebinding, and use that invites questions.
Today, the book needs saving again.
The National Museum of Lithuania is fundraising to restore this fragile object: lnm.lt/paramos-proj...
A six-year scholarly effort by a team of translators working from Hebrew and Greek was funded by Mikalojus Radvila “the Black,” Grand Chancellor of the GDL and one of the most powerful Protestant patrons in the region.