The Bible remains one of the most important books of mankind. It's not even about religion, but rather about the dissemination of knowledge. We can say that the Bible is the first real example of mass literature … Actually, the printing itself appeared largely thanks to the Bible. In addition, the Bible has a tremendous impact on the culture, literature and history of the world, remaining the most popular book of all time. Moreover, the popularity (albeit negative) was also enjoyed by very strange, as far as possible from the canon, editions, which angered millions of people in their time.
Evil bible
The wicked Bible or the Bible of adulterers was born out of one small but very gross mistake. On the flyleaf, the printer (Robert Barker, who later miraculously escaped the fire) placed the 10 commandments, omitting the particle "do not" in the phrase "do not commit adultery." The scandal was terrible, and then circulation in London was collected for a whole month. Fortunately for modern collectors, several copies of The Evil Bible have been preserved. They are now kept in private collections.
Bible of the madmen
Do you think that after the incident with the Evil Bible, the printers became more accurate and more attentive? Not at all. In 1632, Barker's main competitor, Bonham Norton, received the right to reprint the holy book. And then he made a similar mistake, typing "The madman said in his heart: 'there is no God'" was printed "The madman said in his heart: 'there is God." Such is the Bible of the madmen.
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Soviet Bible
Religion in the Soviet Union was not encouraged, to put it mildly. In 1960, Korney Chukovsky received permission to adapt biblical traditions for children with great difficulty. The project turned out to be creepy, since it was impossible to mention either God or Jews at all. Chukovsky called the demiurge "The Magician of Yahweh" - it is also strange that Cheburashka was not inserted there.
Surrealist bible
The idea to do Bible illustration was submitted to Salvador Dali by a friend, Giuseppe Albaretto. The genius of surrealism spent two years on the project, but the result was worth it. Dali's Bible was praised by the Pope himself, but the laity were very unhappy with the illustrations.
Satanic bible
In 1969, Anton Sandor LaVey published a philosophical treatise under the controversial title: The Satanic Bible. This was overkill even for the most liberal America - LaVey even had to defend the right to print in court. I must say, the book turned out to be interesting. The author completely denies the afterlife and, in fact, brings his teaching as close as possible to materialism, rationalism and hedonism.