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DESCRIPTION
In
1918, the Society introduced in the June 1st Watchtower, a vest
pocket commentary on the Book of Revelation, based largely on the 4th
century Codex Sinaiticus. Its complete title reads, The
Revelation of Jesus Christ, with the subtitle, According to the
Sinaitic Text. The book came in two bindings, black leather and
green cloth. It measured 5.5" high by 3.0" wide, with 200 pages
contributing to its 3/8" thickness. The pages were made of thin
Bible-like paper. The leather edition came with gilded-edge pages and
cost 70 cents, while the more economical cloth edition had red-edge
pages and sold for 35 cents. In lots of 50 or more, the leather edition
dropped to 50 cents each, and the cloth edition reduced to 25 cents
each. The front cover came adorned with the embossed title The
Revelation. The first 41 pages essentially present the text of
Revelation with an assortment of paragraph headings interspersed. The
next 156 pages contain "Explanatory Notes and Comments." Finally, the
last 3 advertisement pages promote Society publications: The Watch
Tower, Pastor Russell's Sermons, and the 6-volume
Studies in the Scriptures set.
This
rare pocket-book contains frequent references to all six volumes of
Studies in the Scriptures, The Bible Students Monthly,
What say the Scriptures about Hell?, Tabernacle Shadows,
the Spiritism booklet, The Watch Tower and
Weymouth's New Testament in Modern Speech. In a note on page 3 it
states, "The familiar wording of the King James Version of our
English Bible has been adhered to as closely, as possible, being altered
only when necessary, to make the reading correspond to the Sinaitic
Manuscript of the Greek text. This text is the oldest and most
perfect known, though it had not been discovered at the time the
'Authorized' translation was made."
Many
who are familiar with the Society's publications may not have been aware
that this publication even existed, and for good reason. Very few were
printed. In fact, page 6273 of The Watch Tower
Reprints urges the brethren to "approximate how many copies they
can use for themselves and friends, and then order them all at one time,
and quickly, as the edition is limited and probably will not be
reprinted." It wasn't reprinted and the last promotional advertisment to
clear out the remaining inventory appeared a year later in the July 1,
1919 Watch Tower. To own one of these rare gems today, one
would have to part with nearly $1000, and that's if you could find one.
So, search no more, it's included in Rutherford's Rainbow -- 2nd
Edition along with other rare gems such as
Angels and Women, and
The Way to Paradise, all for a mere
fraction of the street price. |
