The Bowyer Bible
- Old Testament, 23 volumes and 2315 engravings
- Apocrypha, 3 volumes and 959 engravings
- New Testament, 19 volumes and 3019 engravings
It took nearly 30 years to complete this work. Bowyer's used the text from the 7 volume Macklin Bible as the foundation for this ambitious project.
The Macklin Bible was renowned in publishing circles for being the most extravagant Bible published for its time. P J de Loutherbourg's vignettes or head and tail pieces come from this edition.
Bowyer sought to illustrate every aspect of the Bible world by hunting all over Europe and Britain for appropriate images. The images range from dramatic and powerful illustrations of epic Bible tales to naturalistic images of flora and fauna and even fossils.
During the brief spell of peace between Britain and France in 1802 he spent time in Paris and even obtained personal permission from Napoleon to look through his own print collection.
Apart from de Loutherbourg's vignettes which were printed directly on the pages of text, each engraving has been carefully mounted on separate pages and a border has been added.
Such is the accuracy of the cropping of each picture that the edge can only be detected by touch. Once he had finished compiling and inserting images Bowyer commissioned a beautifully carved oak book case for his completed work.
