Barry Moser: Pennyroyal Caxton Bible

As the new millennium approached, Barry Moser turned his attention to the King James Bible. Working with a team of expert craftsmen and scholars for more than four years, Moser produced the Pennyroyal Caxton Bible. It is the only twentieth century bible with illustrations for every book of both the Old and New Testaments that were invented and executed by a single artist. There are two hundred and thirty-two engraved illustrations that range from full-page illustrations that measure 7.25 x 11.5 inches to part-page illustrations as small as 3.5 x 5 inches.

Following Moser’s design, Bradley Hutchinson composed and printed the pages at his shop, Digital Letterpress, in Austin, Texas. The computer-generated type was translated into polymer printing plates and printed letterpress, a process combining the best of traditional printing techniques with contemporary typographic technology. The trim size is 11 by 16 inches.

See the illustrations for the Pennyroyal Caxton Bible here.

Volume I

Volume II

The paper for the Pennyroyal Caxton Bible is Zerkall Bible, a white, mould-made, wove sheet with a vellum finish. It was manufactured specifically for this project by the Zerkall Paper Mills in the small village of Zerkall, Germany, on the River Kall. It bears the watermark of Pennyroyal Caxton: a pomegranate (symbolic of the resurrection and of the spreading of the gospel) atop an arrangement of the initials P and C.

The bindings of the primary edition are full limp vellum and were built in the combined workshops of Claudia Cohen and Sarah Creighton in Easthampton, Massachusetts. “The Holy Bible” is stamped in gold on the front covers and spines of both volumes. Each of the two volumes are protected by a linen-covered clamshell tray-case.

Pennyroyal Caxton is a partnership between Barry Moser and Bruce Kovner, a generous patron of the arts.