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Saturday, July 2, 2011

Helen Spurrell's Old Testament Translation

I can't remember who asked me about Helen Spurrell's Old Testament translation. But one has come up for sale on E-Bay. The seller has several other unique translations for sale as well.

UPDATE: This is not an original (Thanks, Pastor Stephen!) - it is a reprint. In an answer to a question, the seller stated, "This reprint, was a small run of copies, published by Penfold Book and Bible House and actually printed in Great Britain at the University Press, Oxford."

2 comments:

  1. This is a reprint, not the original, but even the reprints are difficult to find. Good chance to pick up this translation.

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  2. I have an original Spurrell Bible in very nice condition. It is a former Church reference copy...

    Overview
    Helen Spurrell, taught herself Hebrew after her fiftieth birthday, in a noble effort to translate the unpointed Hebrew text of the Old Testament. Her Translation of the Old Testament Scriptures from the Original Hebrew was the result, and it garnered much positive attention from critics.

    The Original Copy I have is very rare... It is an Ex-library (church) copy with normal markings and attachments. Text is clean, pages have aged over the years, but are still solid and intact. Binding is tight and solid. This is a wonderful find, the nineteenth century saw a number of non-committee type versions of the Bible, but the most noteworthy is this translation of the Old Testament, published in 1885 by it's author Helen Spurrell - The wife of a pastor, and an accomplished musician, artist and sculptor. She was a scholar of Bulliol College, Oxford University, Spurrell taught herself Hebrew after the age of 50 with the objective of translating the Bible of Israel. She is a noted Hebrew scholar and this work reflects her in-depth research and knowledge. In 1885 Mrs. Spurrell published this version of the Old Testament via her scholarly work that was translated entirely from an unpointed Hebrew text, that is, a Hebrew Bible that is written in the consonantal text, with all consonants, no vowels. Our research indicates that Helen Spurrell's work is perhaps THE best English translation of the Old Testament ever, This version is straight from the original Hebrew text and disregards the vowel points found in the Masoretic text. Mrs Spurell dismissed the Masoretic Hebrew text as the frail invention of man. It has been reported to us by a bible translation collector of over 20 years that early on, most of the copies of Spurrell's Bible were lost in a fire. Our source sited the publication "English Language Bible Translators, 2003" as having reported that fire was the reason so few of the copies still exist of this original work.

    We need $16,000.00 for this rare and extremely collectible work. It is in wonderful condition and is kept sealed and secure in our rare book collection area!
    Serious inquires only, please contact...
    Mark Whaley a2zbooks@bellsouth.net or a2zbooks440@gmail.com

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