The dim lighting and silence add to the sacred atmosphere. Footsteps echo off the shiny tile floors. Encased within the large glass containers are thick, time-worn books. The yellowed, faded pages are covered in scrawling script and intricate, carefully crafted illustrations. The Elizabeth Prothro Bible exhibition can take one’s breath away.This special exhibit marks the 10th anniversary of Elizabeth Perkins Prothro’s Bible collection gift to Bridwell Library. It will run through Nov. 18 and is free and open to the public. Around 60 volumes of the more than 400 in the collection are on display and range in publication from the thirteenth to twentieth centuries. Several different languages are represented, including Latin, English, French, Spanish, Eskimo and Algonquin.
Prothro began collecting Bibles in the 1960s, according to Elizabeth Haluska-Rausch, curator of special collections at Bridwell Library. She chose to deposit her entire collection at Bridwell in 1990. The Bibles were exhibited in the Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Gallery, which was given in honor of the Prothros’ 50th wedding anniversary.It is the first time in a decade that all the books are exhibited at once, says Eric White, curator of special collections at Bridwell.
Haluska-Rausch says sectioning off the Bibles was a big challenge. The library had a large number of books to work with, but needed to get them together to tell a story. Each Bible also had to be researched for information. If any needed conservation, repairs had to be made.The Bibles are opened and arranged to verses that would be familiar, Haluska-Rausch says. Many of the books are written in different languages, so most of them are open to Psalms 23, the beginning of John, or the story of creation. Visual interest was also an important factor, says Haluska-Rausch. Several of the Bibles are opened to pages decorated with ornate woodcuts. Some of the illustrations are also hand-inked in blues and reds.
The more rare pieces in the collection include the Wycliffe manuscript, which is one of approximately 250 in existence, the Gutenberg leaf, and the Complutensian Polyglot, which shows several different languages translated in one book.Three items in the exhibit have never been shown before. One of them is a gift to Prothro from Bridwell Library and is the oldest copy of the New Testament in French, says White. It was printed in Lyons around 1476 and is a rare piece that White says the library is fortunate to have bought.
The other two pieces are a gift from the younger generation Prothro family to Elizabeth Prothro, White says. One is a commentary of Psalms, printed in one of the earliest movable type. The other is a vellum leaf printed sometime in the late 1450s. White points out the markings on the sheet that indicates it was used to wrap a book.”That’s how it managed to stay intact for so long, because it was used as a book cover and kept within a library,” he says.
Several single leafs were used to wrap books, according to Jon Speck, exhibit designer. Both of the vellum leafs on display had been used as book covers, and the marks are still evident. White notes that SMU is lucky to have this Bible collection.
“Being able to see the actual thing, books that are some 600 years old, and having them to refer to is a great program to have. It’s a unique opportunity that no other school in Texas has,” White says.The books are kept under specific conditions to not allow wear and fading. The room is softly lit with motion-sensored lights. When no one is present in the gallery, only the first of the three rooms is lit. In 1989 the library was renovated and arranged so the temperature of the library would be the same throughout, Speck says. That way, the gallery would not have to be set at a different temperature to control the levels of humidity.
Several of the books are arranged at a specific angle. Speck says this is because the volumes are all bound differently, and some do not open beyond that angle. The books also are available in the PONI system and accessible to students or faculty who need them. They are kept in a vault but a request can be made to either White or Haluska-Rausch and the Bible can be seen with their supervision. The value of the entire collection is priceless, says Haluska-Rausch. he adds, “Although it is possible to estimate a value for individual items based on recent auctions, the value of the entire collection is greater because of the time, research and thought that creating a collection like this required.”
