All her life, Mrs. Eddy loved and studied the Bible. After a serious, injury in 1866, she found such spiritual illumination in reading Jesus' words that she was suddenly healed. The rest of her life was spent finding in the Bible the spiritual laws that brought about her healing, and then sharing these laws with the world.
It's not surprising, therefore, that Mrs. Eddy owned many Bibles—over fifty of which are in The Mother Church's Bible Collection. Most are filled with notes—evidence that she drew heavily on the Bible for inspiration and guidance. While the majority of the annotated Bibles are the King James Version, a number are modern translations and study editions.
She owned, too, a number of collector's Bibles: a translation by Julia Smith, the first woman Bible translator; a sixteenth-century edition of Matthew's Bible; an Icelandic Bible, referring to God as "mind": and a facsimile of Wycliffe's Bible, using the phrase "science and health" in the first chapter of Luke.
