The Bible’s name and fame relate to an error it contains.
This edition of the Bible, printed in 1717 by John Baskett, printer to King George III, is thought to be one of only seven of its print run now in existence. Book dealers and historians consider it valuable not only because it is rare, but also because the word “vinegar” appears where the word “vineyard should be.”
Why Vinegar Bible?
The mistake occurs in the Gospel of St. Luke’s parable of the vineyard. In this edition it is called the “parable of the vinegar.” Baskett’s Bibles are often referred to as “a basketful of errors” because of the mistakes made in the handset type.
The Lunenburg Vinegar Bible once belonged to Rev. Robert Vincent, second Anglican missionary assigned to the fishing village’s St. John’s Church. He also doubled as the town’s first schoolmaster.
Vincent died young, leaving a widow who couldn’t make ends meet. She sold the Bible to Michael Francklin, then Nova Scotia’s governor, in 1766.
Bible Returned to England in 1772
Gov. Francklin returned to England in 1772, taking the Bible with him. It apparently remained in his family’s possession for several generations. What became of it was not known until it turned up at Cambridge University about 20 years ago. It does contain notes by Francklin written in the back. They include births and deaths of family members buried in Halifax.
Marie Elwood, former head curator of the Nova Scotia Museum, negotiated the return of the Bible to Lunenburg after MLA Michael Baker said the province would pay $5,000 for the book. The library at Cambridge University agreed to the unusually low price. It is estimated to be worth around $400,000.
"It's tremendously exciting to get this Bible returned to us," says historian George Munroe, a St. John's Anglican Church parishioner.
Lunenburg Church Celebrates 255th Anniversary
The book was once placed in the pulpit of Lunenburg's historic St. John's Anglican Church, founded 255 years ago and considered to be one of the finest examples of a style of construction called Carpenter Gothic. The church was destroyed by fire in 2001, but has been painstakingly restored by local craftsmen after an international fundraising effort.
The Vinegar Bible brought back to Lunenburg is believed to be one of only two Vinegar Bibles this side of the Atlantic. The other is at St. John's Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, N.H.
SOURCES:
“Vinegar Bible Returns to Lunenburg,” Oct. 1, 2008, Anglican Journal (Canadian)
Westcott, B. F., General View of the History of the English Bible (New York, 1912), p. 90.
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