First Handwritten Bible Since the Printing Press

|PIC1|Donald Jackson, calligrapher and personal scribe to Her Majesty the Queen is currently working with an international team of artists and scholars on a monumental task. To create the first handwritten Bible since the invention of the printing press.

The £2 million project has been commissioned by the Benedictine monks of St John’s University in the U.S.A. Donald Jackson is based in Monmouthshire and is currently five years into the eight year project.

The Bible Translation used will be the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), partly on the grounds that its predecessor the Revised Standard Version had been accepted by all the main Christian denominations: Protestant, Anglican, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox.

Since 1964 Donald Jackson has been the scribe to the Crown Office, a role in which he is responsible for executes Historic Royal documents such as Letters Patent under the Great Seal and Royal Charters. In 1984 he was awarded the Medal of The Royal Victorian Order (MVO), a decoration given for personal services to the sovereign.

With hand-carved goose quills, hand-made inks and calfskin parchment, Donald Jackson’s work harks back to the middle ages. Finished pages are gilded with 24-carat gold leaf and are bound in leather and Welsh oak. However modern computer technology has been used to aid with the layout and design of the illuminated Bible,

So far four out of seven volumes of the Bible have been completed. Examples of the finished work are on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum.