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To Err is Human, To Edit, Divine

By Margaret Wethington Arnold

One of the most commonly asked questions about The Saint John’s Bible is: "What do you do when you make a mistake?" In medieval Bibles and other manuscripts, errors were less of a concern. In fact, mistakes found in manuscripts of the Middle Ages often gave the book its character or made it distinct from other copies of the same work. In some instances, the scribe would even acknowledge blunders, whether they were omissions or variant spelling, with humorous annotations.

Donald Jackson enjoys telling the story about one of his favorite manuscripts, in which a scribe left out two or three sentences. Realizing his error, and unable to insert the sentences once the page was completed, the scribe decided to write the omitted sentences at the bottom of the page. He then drew a box around the sentences, added handles on the box and sketched two small elves pulling ropes attached to the handles, complete with blocks and pulleys, to lift the box up the page. In the margin where the sentences were missing, a squirrel points his finger in the direction of the absent text. In those times, as in ours, this gave character to the manuscript and made it more interesting for the reader.

But in the age of contemporary publishing and copyrighting, Donald Jackson and his scribes are not afforded the same latitude. Since Saint John’s is using a copyrighted text, and plans call for the reproduction of The Saint John’s Bible, there are strict publishing requirements that must be followed, and there is a slim margin for error. In fact, Saint John’s University’s contract with the National Council of Churches of Christ (NCCC), the owner of the New Revised Standard Version that is being used in The Saint John’s Bible, states that Saint John’s "shall be faithful to the text" and "approximate perfection."

"Our intention with our contract with the NCCC, is to approximate perfection in the rendering of the text," said Peter Dwyer, member of The Saint John’s Bible Council and marketing director for the Liturgical Press. "We will try to be error free. But being human we know mistakes can happen. Therefore, we have put in place a number of procedures to try to either reduce the probability of error or else correct or annotate the errors when they occur."

Specifically, we have added sophisticated proof-reading and editing procedures that will enable us to create a nearly perfect manuscript.

The Computer Template

In the Middle Ages, when a monastery desired a Bible, the community would typically borrow an existing codex from a nearby monastery, and scribes would carefully copy the text. The new Bible would be of similar size, length and, of course, language, usually Latin. With The Saint John’s Bible, there is no such guide to follow because this is a modern English handwritten Bible. Therefore, Donald Jackson and his staff have created a computer-generated mock-up or template of the entire Bible before it is written by hand. The calligraphers follow this computer-generated copy as they write. The template also indicates the number of pages and placement of illuminations or decorations and amount of text on each page. A computer layout exists for each book in the Bible’s seven volumes.

Proof-Reading

When the computer-generated layout of each book of The Saint John’s Bible is completed, it is sent to Peachtree Editorial Services in Atlanta. Peachtree Editorial Services is the NCCC’s official proofreader. Peachtree’s proofreaders thoroughly review the computer-generated layout for typos and omissions of words or sentences. In addition, they will look at the size and location of chapter and verse numbers, the placement of notations, the spacing for indentations and paragraph breaks. In short, Peachtree reviews and edits each page to make sure it conforms to the publishing standards and to insure that there are no formatting or typographical errors. Then the pages are returned to Wales with all the proofreading marks and final changes are made to the computer-generated layout.

When scribes begin writing, they know precisely where to begin and end each page, each column and each sentence. Moreover, the computer-generate layout also includes column guides for the scribes to follow. These guides consist of three faint, vertical lines in the background of each column, which help the calligraphers eyeball where they need to be as they are moving along that line. If the calligrapher discovers that he or she is midway through the column but is only supposed to a third of the way, for example, he or she has to adjust the spacing, if possible, or scrape it out and rewrite it.

Editing

When mistakes occur, such as a misspelled word or a missing letter, word or sentence, the scribe can correct the error, rather than start over. Unlike a "delete" or "backspace" function on a computer, the scribe must wait until the ink is completely dry. Then he or she can scrape the ink off the vellum using a razor sharp scalpel.

The photo in this article demonstrates the process. In this instance, Donald Jackson missed a line of text and it was only a line or two later that he noticed. This meant he had to scrape out a few lines of text, apply fresh sandarac, rule up the lines and remove a small ink spot, before he could go back and insert the missing line.

Finally, when a page has been completed, there is a professional editor in Wales who proofreads each page again after they are written to make sure there aren’t any errors. If the error is minor, it may be corrected using the scraping process. If, however, there is a major error, the whole page may need to be cut out (it could have been written on both sides). A fresh page is rewritten and sewn in its place. This is technically described as a singleton.

Although annotations may be used to compensate for omissions, Jackson and his scribes haven’t used annotations to date. And as much as Jackson appreciates the unique character of medieval manuscripts, The Saint John’s Bible will also have its own uniqueness. Elves and squirrels moving text in The Saint John’s Bible? Probably not, but there will definitely be interesting illustrations and decorations that will make this manuscript one of a kind.

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