To carry out this scheme in the first instance required a complete
acquaintance with the text, a clear idea of the sequence of events, an
ingenious head to plot out the work, and no small amount of purely
mechanical skill to bring it to a successful result.
Nicholas Ferrar himself planned the whole Concordance, and also
superintended his nephews and nieces while they did the work; but the
system adopted may well be given in the words of the old manuscripts. A
large room was set apart purposely for the work, and called "the
Concordance room," which was all coloured over with green, pleasant
colour, varnished for the more pleasure to their eyes, and round the
upper part of the walls were sentences written, suggested by each person
of the family and some good friends, such as "Glory be to God on high,"
"Prosper Thou, O Lord, the work of our hands," "Innocency is never better
lodged than at the sign of labour," "The industrious man hath no leisure
to sin; and the idle man hath no power to avoid sin."
In this room Mr. Ferrar "every day spent one hour in contriving the
Concordance, and directed his nieces that attended him in what manner
they should cut the pieces out of the Evangelist, and so, and so, to lay
them together as to make and perfect such a head or chapter. When they
had first cut out those pieces with their knives or scissors, then they
did neatly and exactly fit each verse that was so cut out, to be pasted
down on sheets of paper; and so artificially they performed it, that it
looked like a new kind of printing, when it was finished; so finely were
all the pieces joined together, and with great presses for that purpose,
pressed down upon the white sheets of paper."
Even this description scarcely conveys an adequate impression of the
labour involved, for in many cases only two or three words are taken out
of one Evangelist, and added to the account given by another.
And, besides the letterpress, every page is supplied with engravings,
relating to the subject in hand; and when, as often happened, they could
not find an engraving to suit exactly, parts of different prints were
combined, so as to make a suitable illustration; and so cleverly is this
"splicing" carried out, that it is almost impossible to be sure where the
pictures join.
It will give some idea of the work if a few details are given from the
volume under consideration. In one place the narrative is composed of
five verses from St. Matthew, seven from St. Mark, and four from St.
Luke; but there are forty-four separate cuttings pasted in; in another
case seventeen verses required fifty-three cuttings, and in another,
fifteen verses from the four Evangelists are inserted with thirty-four
cuttings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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