The Bassandyne Bible, by W. T. Dobson (Blackwood), was the
first printed Bible in Scotland. It was issued in 1576, being the immediate outcome of the Geneva Bible, and it took its name from the printer, Thomas Bassandyne, though it was chiefly the pro- duction of his partner, Alexander Arbuthnot. Bassandyne seems to have been an odd person to give his name to a bible, seeing that, among other questionable actions, he printed an indecent song with an edition of the Psalter, in order to promote the sale of one or the other, for which he was duly reprimanded by the General Assembly and compelled to withdraw the edition. The exhaustive account which Mr. Dobson gives of the issuing of the Bassandyne Bible forme, however, but a small part of his volume, a history of all the early English-printed Bibles, from Tyndal's to the Geneva, occupying the first half, and an account of all noted Edinburgh printers down to the beginning of the eighteenth century, the larger part of the second half. The book should be interesting to all, especially Scotch biblio- philes. It is printed in a way worthy of its subject, and enriched with various interesting fac-similes and woodcuts.
Previous page
