“To many visitors, however, the interest in the Ballantyne Press exhibits will centre in the fine collection of Ancient Bibles and other books which have been gathered together. The gem of this collection is a copy of the very rare ‘Mentelin’ Bible, printed about 1466—one of the earliest printed by the aid of movable type, in fine condition, with initial letters filled in by the hand, of beautiful design and colouring. The table of contents extends to eighteen pages, and is all in MS. of various colours. Another rare Bible is the Hans Lufft, or first edition of Luther’s Bible in two volumes, printed in 1534. This Bible is in its original binding of wood with brass mountings, and has a great number of woodcuts printed along with the text, which in this copy were afterwards coloured by hand expressly for the Prince Protector. The existence of this Bible was frequently denied by learned men of Germany, owing to its great rarity, caused by the destruction of most copies by the Roman Catholics. John George of Saxony was unable to obtain it for himself, and was obliged to be contented with the sight of one, then supposed to be unique. A copy of this work sold at a very high price at Lord Holland’s sale in 1860. The engravings throughout the work, and especially in the Revelation of St. John, are curious and full of anachronisms—the patriarchs and prophets being clad in the German costume of the sixteenth century. Another Lutheran Bible here is one printed at Nurnberg, in 1720, by Andrea Enolters. This is said to be one of the finest of all the ancient German Bibles, and has, besides a number of beautiful engravings of Biblical scenes, several portraits of well-known German princes. It is also in its original binding with metal ornaments. A copy of the first edition of the Paris printer Robert Stephens’ valuable Greek Testament, in two volumes, published in 1546, may also be seen. A former possessor has enriched the margins of this copy with a copious supply of Latin notes and comments in very small MS. There were other editions of this book published in 1549, 1550, and 1551. That of 1551, published at Geneva, was divided into verses as we have the Bible now, a plan which the printer Stephens was the first to put into actual use. [Illustration: SIR WALTER SCOTT’S CHAIR IN PAUL’S WORK]