Yesterday, I was watching an episode of "Pawn Stars" and I saw an old book. OK, this is nothing new, but they called it something I had never heard before- an incunable, which they defined as a handwritten book before the year 1500. So when I saw this picture today, I started to write incunable but was unsure how to spell it, and when my dictionary did not find anything, I went to the web and found the following...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Incunabula" redirects here. For other uses, see Incunabula (disambiguation).
An incunable, or sometimes incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or broadside (such as the Almanach cracoviense ad annum 1474) that was printed—not handwritten—before the year 1501 in Europe. "Incunable" is the anglicised singular form of "incunabula", Latin for "swaddling clothes" or "cradle"[1] which can refer to "the earliest stages or first traces in the development of anything."[2] A former term for "incunable" is "fifteener," referring to the fifteenth century.
The first recorded use of incunabula as a printing term is in a Latin pamphlet by Bernhard von Mallinckrodt, De ortu et progressu artis typographicae ("Of the rise and progress of the typographic art", Cologne, 1639), which includes the phrase prima typographicae incunabula, "the first infancy of printing", a term to which he arbitrarily set an end, 1500, which still stands as a convention.[3] The term came to denote the printed books themselves in the late seventeenth century.
The convenient but arbitrarily chosen end date for identifying a printed book as an incunable does not reflect any notable developments in the printing process, and many books printed for a number of years after 1500 continued to be visually indistinguishable from incunables. "Post-incunable" typically refers to books printed after 1500 up to another arbitrary end date such as 1520 or 1540.
Well, after comparing the picture with that of the article, the picture looks mechanically produced and not what I thought it was. However, I suppose it could be- after all, even a pawn shop owner had to call in an expert to be sure. One thing is sure, the book in the topmost picture looks old. And from the amount of pages opened ,the picture, and the word "porphera", I would guess this is from Isaiah. If so, then this would be part of what is displayed. Since I don't read German, remember, this is only a guess.
Isaiah, Chapter 6
1 In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew. 3 One called to another, and said,
“Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies!
The whole earth is full of his glory!”
8 I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
9 He said, “Go, and tell this people,
‘You hear indeed,
but don’t understand;
and you see indeed,
but don’t perceive.’
10 Make the heart of this people fat.
Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart,
and turn again, and be healed.”
God is HOLY; we who have fled to Jesus for refuge are holy because HE is HOLY. Sometimes, I forget how awesome this fact is and if I do, probably others do as well. When the prophet saw the great scene described in the verses above, he was MOTIVATED to act. God of Hosts, referred to as Yahweh of Armies in the World English Version, tells him to "Go". Since I know that this is none other than the Old Testament manifestation of Jesus, then I must ask myself-- does this apply to me? The Scriptures from the New Testament immediately come to mind...
Matthew, Chapter 28
18 Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Now, I could be wrong about the graphic in the top picture, but not about the prophet's attitude or Jesus' command. Someone said to me the other day, something like... how do you do post every day? The answer is found in my understanding of the Isaiah and Matthew passages as applied to me. I do what I can, and encourage you to as well. It probably won't be blogging, but who knows? Whatever form your zeal takes, remember that picture in the top graphic and realize you are doing it for Jesus- who is awesome beyond our comprehension!!!!