The Word, Recorded

From the first word of Genesis to the last word of Revelation, the 774,000-word Bible (King James Version) can now be heard as well as read. Manhattan's American Foundation for the Blind, Inc. last week completed Talking Book records of the entire Bible.

The 169 recordings (129 of the Old Testament, 40 of the New), are played on a special slow-rotating phonograph. It takes half an hour to play one side of one record. Total time: 84 1/2 hours.

Each of the 27 U.S. libraries which have departments for the blind will get complete sets of these records. Packed in stout cartons the records will be lent free (no postage required) to the blind, who can play them in their homes.

Chief recording problem was to find readers with a pleasing voice quality, an ability to hold an even reading pace. A few clergymen filled the bill, but most recordings were made by diction-expert stage and radio people.

Said the New York Sun's Columnist Dave Boone: "It would be fine if everybody, not only the blind, could benefit by the talking Bible, with the records made by painstaking speakers. The way the Gospel is rushed through and mumbled in too many churches, with no more expression than if the most moving passages were something on the back of a railroad ticket, is inexcusable."

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