The St. John's Bible at Books by the Banks

Last Saturday at the Books by the Banks book festival at Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati, I was blessed to meet a new friend, who came to my book table and introduced himself (and even bought a copy of The Bard and the Bible!). James Green is the--get this--User Experience/Assessment Librarian at the Xavier University Library in Cincinnati. Sounds impressive, huh? Well, you don't even know.

James shared with me the university's amazing volume of the Heritage Edition of The Saint John's Bible, a hand-lettered, hand-illuminated manuscript of the Bible in seven volumes, created by the cooperation of the monks of St. John's Abbey in Minnesota and a team of artists coordinated by Donald Jackson in Wales.

The result is utterly breathtaking. There is no way to describe the vivid, enchanting art and craftsmanship of this volume--and it is just a part of the whole project!

I asked James for a complimentary copy, but he demurred. Probably didn't want others asking, don't ya know. But I couldn't have been more excited and blessed to see this amazing portion of an amazing Bible, and to know that Cincinnati's Xavier University owns and shares a piece of it!