This important book is the first ever to present a connected narrative account of the Bible as a book and as an artefact, from the earliest fragments found in the Egyptian desert to the plethora of modern editions and translations. The Bible is the most influential and most widely circulated book the world has known, and Christopher de Hamel's telling of this momentous story is compelling and highly readable. It is also authoritative, for the author writes as an impartial historian and bases his account on secure documentary evidence, focusing on the manufacture, translation and distribution of Bibles in an extraordinary variety of forms throughout nearly two millennia. The Book, A History of the Bible is a landmark publication - an original, clear-sighted, thought-provoking and utterly gripping account of the origins and history of the world's most influential book.