Scrivener’s Bible Typography Manifesto, 1873

by Oct 23, 2014Bible Typography

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Scrivener beat me to it:

The help afforded to an attentive reader of Holy Scripture by the simple plan of arranging its unbroken text in paragraphs accommodated to the sense, is by this time too well appreciated to require, for adopting that method, either apology or enlarged explanation. By discarding the over-numerous and sometimes arbitrary breaks at the end of each verse in our ordinary Bibles; by banishing the numerals which indicate the chapters and verses into the margin, where they may be used for the purpose of reference; by broadly distinguishing the poetical books or portions of books from those written in prose; by marking clearly to the eye the passages of the Old Testament which are quoted in the New; as much aid will probably have been rendered towards the right understanding of the Inspired Volume as can be hoped for from the employment of devices merely typographical.

The Cambridge Paragraph Bible: Of the Authorized English Version (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1873), ix.

And if you liked this, have I got a manifesto for you!

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