Bibles International

Owen and I had the opportunity to visit Bibles International today. Dr Hantz Bernard is the Director there. They were putting on display many ancient Bible texts, some over 600 years old. The most interesting part to me was seeing an actual scroll from the 1400's, hand printed on sheep skin. There were 38 or 39 sections of text sown together by thread made from sheep parts. They scored lines that appear white on the skin to make sure the alignment of the text was perfect. When the scroll was falling apart, or too hard to repair the text anymore, they put the scroll into a pot and stored it some place, or sometimes put it into the temple walls. Later texts were written on dried sheep bladder, which apparently resisted moisture well.
1400's Complete Torah Scroll.

See the stitching between sections?

Hard to see, but I tried to focus the "white lines" they scored for perfect alignment of the text.

Example of "printing."

Pressing...

Final product!

The lady who helped Owen print his own name. :)

Snacks.

Our speaker, Mr. Mike Grant,who had the scroll collection.