(1725). Yet educators also prescribed different forms of education for different classes,
one consequence of which was that authors of Bible story collections between 1750 and
1850 built social expectations about anticipated child readerships into their editing. A
century-long two-tier tradition of Bible stories resulted (c. 1750–1850), in which differing
topics or differing treatments of the same topics appeared in the two tiers. For example,
children’s Bibles for the well-off largely ignored work, while those for the poor advocated
work as spiritually beneficial.
From the sixteenth-century onward authors explored numerous prose and verse forms
to familiarise children with the Bible. Like Bernard’s Two twinnes, Henoch Clapham’s
Briefe of the Bible (London 1596) addressed ‘all yovng ones in Christs Schoole’, that is,
the untutored of all ages. A lengthy interpretative recapitulation accompanied each six-
line versified chapter summary. For the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, the
commentary read thus:
Ioseph, placed in Potiphar the Eunuch his house, is for his beautie, lusted after by
his inordinate eyed Mistress. She, having no blush in her fore heade, wooeth Ioseph
to Sinne; but he avoideth her alluring presence. Her lust, for that cannot be
properlie called Love, it turned into Hate. She therefore pulling his Garment from
him, accuseth him to her Husband, for a wanton Hebrewe, and an Assailer of the
Marriage-bed. He believing her, cast Ioseph into Prison.In the nineteenth century, Bible story collections proliferated in England and America,
and offered scores of approaches for micro-readerships of different ages, educational
levels, confessions, or denominations. Bible story collections for Jewish children also
began to appear in the nineteenth century, the first English example of which was
Moses Mordecai Büdinger’s The Way of Faith; or, The Abridged Bible (London 1848).
There were also sub-genres. The Child’s Bible (London 1677), whose title misleadingly
suggests story content, was simply a concordance of ‘all the Words that are found in the
Old and New Testament (excepting some of the most unusual proper Names)’, that
grouped common nouns by their number of syllables. Postils, specialised excerpt
collections whose content was arranged according to liturgical Bible reading throughout
the church year, familiarised communicants with the words and meaning of specific
Bible verses. Bible excerpts, like postils, preserved Biblical language, appeared in a
verse a day format for the calendar year, and bore fanciful titles like William Mason’s
Crumbs from the Master’s Table; or, select sentences, doctrinal, practical, and
experimental (London 1831) or Scripture Gems (1835). Bible summaries concentrated
not on Bible language but on abbreviated Bible content, often in minuscule thumb
Bibles. Prose thumb Bibles, like Biblia; or a practical summary of the Old and New
Testaments (London 1727), initially intended for adults, were manifestly read by
children. Versified early Bible summaries, like John Taylor’s Verbum Sempiternum
(London 1614) galloped through the Old Testament, allotting only sixteen lines to the
fifty chapters of Genesis:
Jehovah here of Nothing, all things makes,266 TYPES AND GENRES