Cool Bible story book

August 4, 2008 11:46 AM

Help me find this kick-ass book of Bible stories from my childhood.

When I was a slip of a girl (mid-70's), my grandmother gave me and my siblings a book of Bible stories. It didn't have a jacket, but it was big and thick and had an off-white cover with thick, creamy pages. It basically was the Bible in readable, straightforward paraphrase -- stories, with some scripture quoted throughout. I remember it with two columns of text to a page, and it started with Genesis and went on through at least the stories in Acts.

But here's what made it oh-so-cool. The illustrations. Big full-pagers in full color, plus a ton of really great line drawings shaded in teal for the smaller pics scattered throughout the text. Typical line drawings included Jacob wrestling with the Angel of God, Elijah being carried up into heaven in a chariot, Saul tearing Samuel's robe. A really wicked Ahab coveting Naboth's vineyard. The big color plates were what you'd expect: gorgeous depictions of Adam and Eve in Eden, Noah and the dove with olive branch (and rainbow). I remember tiny details, like the minty green of a lady's robe as she fell when Samson pulled down the pillars in the house of the Philistines.

The pics were powerful, with far more expression than you see in typical kid Bibles of today. I'd love to find it again -- we read it to pieces (literally) and it disappeared somehow.

I have a feeling it had a sort of generic title, like "the children's book of bible stories" or whatever. I'm thinking it was printed in the 60s or 70s.

Any takers?

posted by mdiskin to writing & language (14 comments total)

Maybe Hurlbut's "Story of the Bible"? It has been 'revised' numerous times over the years and could very well be what your grandmother bought for you. I read the 1932 edition when 12 or 13 and I'll never forget the full-page illustrations being the best part.
posted by wabashbdw at 12:02 PM on August 4, 2008

Could it have been Uncle Arthur's Bible Stories? Uncle Arthur had several different versions out; I remember reading them while waiting at the dentist's office as a child.
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:06 PM on August 4, 2008

Oh, see this ebay auction for some pics of the illustrations in Hurlbut's book.
posted by wabashbdw at 12:07 PM on August 4, 2008

Or is it this Children's Bible? This seemed to be a popular one when I was in grade school; almost all of my friends had one on the family bookshelf.
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:10 PM on August 4, 2008

Sorry, it's definitely NOT Hurlbut, Uncle Arthur, or Oriole's Children's Bible. The illustrations were more modern than Hurlbut, and far surpassed the Uncle A or Children's Bible ones.

My book had a clothboard cover (not leather). It was maybe 9x12 or even larger? Hard to tell, since I was 7 or so when I got the book, but it was definitely a big book.
posted by mdiskin at 12:48 PM on August 4, 2008

My friend without a MeFi account thinks that it's the Taize Children's Bible. This is the best/only link she could find for it after a good deal of searching.
posted by tyrantkitty at 1:27 PM on August 4, 2008

Maybe "My Book of Bible Stories" from the Jehovah's Witnesses. It seems to fit your description and there are a lot of copies of it out there.
posted by chrchr at 2:44 PM on August 4, 2008

I know what you're looking for because I had one too AND I just saw a copy in the last few days. "Bible Stories for Children"? "Children's Bible Stories?" Big, thick, illustrated, perhaps with Daniel and Goliath on the cover? More like a story book than a Bible?

Tell you what. In the next few weeks, I'm likely to be stopping by the store where I saw this book. If I see the book again, I will post a title with a link (if I can find one). Check back.
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:32 PM on August 4, 2008

tyrantkitty: "My friend without a MeFi account thinks that it's the Taize Children's Bible. This is the best/only link she could find for it after a good deal of searching."

Your link leads back to this question.
posted by Meep! Eek! at 4:41 PM on August 4, 2008

This was the one I had: Children's Stories of the Bible from the Old and New Testaments Deluxe Edition.

Um, Barbara Taylor Bradford? The one and the same?

Hope this is the one you're thinking of. This question has been driving me nuts!
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:19 PM on August 4, 2008

Whoops. Correct link is this:

Abe Books
posted by tyrantkitty at 7:01 PM on August 4, 2008

That would be the best title ever

"Kick ass stories only Jesus could tell"
posted by dasheekeejones at 11:00 AM on August 5, 2008

I've been following this because I think I had the same book as a kid. If I am correct, it is not the MonkeyToes book. I wasted a good hour looking on line yesterday and couldn't find it. I'm going to have to (sigh) resort to calling and asking my mother later today.
posted by norm at 11:13 AM on August 5, 2008

My cover was plain, sort of ivoryish; no pics, no garish "BIBLE STORIES!!!" etc etc on the cover.

My problem is that if I could see even one drawing, I'm 99% sure I could peg the book as the one I had as a kid.

(Oh, and definitely not a Jehovah's Witness book, based on my fam's religious beliefs. Definitely mainstream Christian.)

Monkeytoes, not sure about the BTB, but the cover is definitely not the same as mine. Wish I could see inside.

And norm... thanks for checking.

Seriously, when I read the Bible now as an adult, I still mentally get these pics from childhood in my mind. I really want to see them again.
posted by mdiskin at 12:22 PM on August 5, 2008