Biblical Text Is on View at the Huntington

The holidays are over, but you still have a chance to see something truly inspirational--a book that its creator risked, and lost, his life for.

At the Huntington through Feb. 7, you can see the only surviving copy of the first printed New Testament in English. Dating from 1526, the Bible is the work of William Tyndale, an English priest who was put to death for making the word of God accessible, not just to the clergy but to every English speaker, including “the boy that driveth the plow.”

Little known today except to scholars, Tyndale was a leading figure of the Reformation who undertook the daunting task of translating the Bible into English from its Greek and Hebrew sources. Working secretly in exile in Europe, he was finally captured in Brussels, imprisoned, tried for heresy and, on Oct. 6, 1536, executed by strangulation, his body then burned at the stake.

Tyndale’s passion and commitment alone would make him notable. But he was also a great artist, a writer, in the view of some experts, whose impact on the English language is comparable to Shakespeare’s. Much of the plain but majestic language of the King James Bible of 1611 is drawn, without credit, from Tyndale. He is the author of such unforgettable phrases as “Eat, drink and be merry” and “Am I my brother’s keeper?” He also created such immortal coinages as scapegoat, Passover and Jehovah.

Superbly educated (his mastery of Hebrew was unprecedented for English scholars of his generation), he chose to write vivid, powerful, simple English when he could so easily have flaunted his erudition to the detriment of his haunting prose. Never before exhibited in the United States, his New Testament is the centerpiece of the Huntington show, which is called “Let There Be Light: William Tyndale and the Making of the English Bible.” Among the 50 books and documents on exhibit is poor, doomed Anne Boleyn’s personal copy of his 1534 New Testament and a first English edition of “Utopia” (1551) by one of Tyndale’s most eloquent enemies, Sir Thomas More.

On Saturday the Huntington (in San Marino) is hosting a daylong scholarly symposium on Tyndale, his work and his influence. David Daniell, a professor emeritus at the University of London who has edited Tyndale’s work and written his biography, is among the speakers. The event, which includes talks on religion and politics in Tudor England, is open to the public. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. The cost is $10--free if you are a graduate student. For more information, call (818) 405-2194.

The show was organized by The British Library for the quincentenary of Tyndale’s birth in 1494 (Daniell was the curator). After it leaves the Huntington, it will travel to the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress.

San Marino doesn’t seem very far to go to see such an extraordinary testament to the power of the written word.

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According to local bookshops, there was no literary equivalent of Tickle Me Elmo this year, but a number of titles sold briskly over the holidays.

At Dutton’s in North Hollywood, Walter Cronkite’s “A Reporter’s Life” quickly sold out. Serious fiction that moved well included Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes” and Margaret Atwood’s “Alias Grace.” Illustrated books were popular, as were mysteries (although Ken Follett’s latest, “The Third Twin,” was a disappointment, co-owner Dave Dutton reports). Dutton noted that book scouts kept popping into the store asking if he had any first editions of “The Deep End of the Ocean,” the Jacquelyn Mitchard novel that appeared with little fanfare, then became a best-seller after Oprah Winfrey recommended it on TV.

At the Media Center Supercrown in Burbank, the hot holiday book was Dr. Barry Sears’ diet book, “The Zone.” The store sold 840 copies (for the sake of comparison, sales of Michael Crichton’s popular “Airframe” numbered in the 300s).

At Barnes & Noble in Northridge, two coffee-table books proved popular--”Down in the Garden” by photographer Anne Geddes, who poses babies among various fruits and vegetables, and “Orbit,” photos of the Earth taken from the space shuttle. At Dangerous Visions in Sherman Oaks, books by three local authors sold especially well--”Killdozer!” the third volume of the collected works of the late Theodore Sturgeon, Harry Turtledove’s “World War: Striking the Balance,” and “Edgework #2,” a collection of stories and essays by Harlan Ellison.