The Pictorial Bible

The Pictorial Bible Being the Old and New Testaments.

by Innocentia

In this post I am going to be talking about the Pictorial Bible. An edition published by Charles Knight between 1836 and 1838 in London. It is known as the very first extensively illustrated bible.

Prior to this Bibles usually contained around 30 illustrations. The Knight and Kitto edition highlighted many hundreds of woodcuts across 2000 ages that were published in monthly parts then later in three Quarto volumes. The Harper s were widely accused of copying the pictorial bible concept of extensively illustrated bible.

Title	The Pictorial Bible
Date	1856
Editor and Commentator	John Kitto
Language	English
Source	https://archive.org/details/the_pictorial_bible_vol_i-iii_1855-john_kitto/the_pictorial_bible_vol_iii_psalms-malachi_1856-john_kitto/
Format	Online,
Place	London
Volume	III
Publisher	W and R Chambers

The pictorial bible is an edition with illustrations made with steel engravings and woodcuts. Unlike standard illustrated bibles which focus mainly on presenting characters in dramatic scenes, the pictorial bible emphasises its illustrations as historical settings and material culture. Rather than centering on well known figures or characters in the bible, these illustrations reorient landscape scenes, costumes, livestocks, lifestyles, natural history and annotations connected to the history geography literature of the said period. It sought to show the everyday conditions of that period.

This approach encourages readers to understand the bible as a record of a historical word that happened but not just a sacred text. The images often show documentary engravings and sketches that give the audience a sense of understanding and a direct view of the places and events in which the Biblical events occurred. Even though narrative illustrations of some parts appear , the focus is set on topographical and cultural illustrations which brings about a certain type of realism to the text.

Daniel’s Representation.

In the book of Daniel the edition does not include visual illustration of the actual events. Rather it gives long explanatory notes that focus on historical practices, archaeological discoveries and comparisons with other sources.

An example is in the passage about Daniel being thrown into the den of lions, the scene is not illustrated but he makes an explanation of the historical background of the punishment stating that the type of execution is not mentioned previously in the bible and that it seems to be a Babylonian practice. He also states that ancient writers do not explicitly write that Babylonians kept lions for executions but archaeological monuments found at Babylon show lions attacking human figures, indicating that the idea fits the cultural context.

The editor then discusses a caved scene of lions standing over a foreign man, using it as supporting evidence not to show the biblical event directly but to show that such punishments were culturally credible.

Bibliography

Charles Knight Publishes “the Pictorial Bible”, the First Very Extensively Illustrated Bible Published in Parts : History of Information. www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=4499.

Catalog Record: The Pictorial Bible | HathiTrust Digital Library. catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008889491.