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A ‘crown jewel’ for 50 cents
Beloved professor's book collection showcased in special display at Oklahoma Christian.
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OKLAHOMA CITY — In the early 1960s, Ron Bever paid 50 cents — roughly $5.34 in today’s dollars — for an old religious book at an estate sale.
A rare books enthusiast, even Bever didn’t realize at first what a treasure he’d acquired.
The late Ron Bever
“You always think about going to a book sale and finding some rare book,” Bever told me in 1994, when I interviewed him about his collection of historic, out-of-print and hard-to-find hardbacks numbering more than 15,000. “This is one time in a lifetime.”
In fact, people are still talking about his find six-plus decades later — and three years after the longtime Oklahoma Christian University speech professor died at age 88.
Just this past week, family, friends and university leaders gathered to dedicate a special library display showcasing Bever’s collection, a major portion of which he donated to Oklahoma Christian, my alma mater, before his passing.
“The crown jewel among the collection is this incunabulum — a book printed in Europe before 1501, representing the ‘cradle’ or infancy of printing,” a plaque titled “The Bever Legacy” explains. “This particular incunabulum was printed in 1483.”
By my quick math, that’s 542 years ago — nearly a decade before Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
A new display at Oklahoma Christian University showcases a 542-year-old canon law book that the late Ron Bever bought for 50 cents at an estate sale in the early 1960s. Checking out the display are Ronda Barneche and Jerald Ludwig.
I promise I’ll get to specifics about the canon law book Bever purchased soon. If you understand Latin, the title will make much more sense to you than it does me.
But first, I want to highlight the circumstances behind the book buy, based primarily on a story I wrote for The Oklahoman in 1994.
While working on his doctorate at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., in the early 1960s, Bever enjoyed going to estate sales to see what books he could find.
Most substantial estates at that time had large libraries, and often the books were sold at bargain rates when the owners died, Bever told me. At one such sale, he came across a leather-bound book about the size of a boot box.
At first, Bever thought it was an old Bible, which really didn’t interest him as a collector because “an old Bible’s not worth much.”
A new plaque in the Oklahoma Christian University library details “The Bever Legacy.” The late Ron Bever, a longtime speech professor, donated a major portion of his extensive book collection to the library.
The first clue
An original Gutenberg Bible from the 1450s might bring millions of dollars, Bever pointed out, but millions of Bibles were printed starting in the 1600s. That means, he said, a collector could “probably find Bibles from London that go back to 1650 or 1700 pretty cheaply because there were a lot of Bibles.”
But after opening this book at the estate sale, Bever discovered it was written in Latin.
Each page, though printed on a press, featured hand inscriptions and decorations in colorful ink.
The brother of the deceased estate owner was selling his family member’s possessions. Bever inquired about the price of the book.
“He looked at the outside and said, ‘Oh, 50 cents,’” Bever recalled. “I said, OK, I’ll take it.’”
He took it to Northwestern’s rare book room, where the librarian noted that it had been printed on Feb. 21, 1483.
The librarian offered him $50 for it — an immediate 100 times return on his investment. But Bever decided he’d rather keep it.
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Titled “Supplementum Summae Pisanellae,” author Nicolaus de Auximo’s work was published in Cologne, Germany. The Catholic theological wordbook featured the beliefs of the day about topics such as confession, baptism and absolution.
The hand inscriptions, such as colorful, large letters at the beginning of sections, were done after the book was printed to keep it from looking drab and common, Bever said.
Because of the newness of printing, people were accustomed to distinctive hand manuscripts. The hand decorations assured the book would sell.
“It’s interesting that the paper that they used back there, the quality of that, is brilliant after 500 years,” Bever told me. “And the ink they used is still as brilliant as if it was put on yesterday, which suggests they knew how to make books back then and how to preserve them for us to enjoy today.”
Family, friends and Oklahoma Christian University leaders attend the dedication reception for Ron Bever’s book collection.
True value immeasurable
Now Bever’s find of a lifetime is encased in glass in Oklahoma Christian’s library.
“It’s an honor to have it at our university,” librarian Cheryl Snyder said. “There are only five other copies in the country. There are probably only 30 or 40 copies around the world.”
What price might it bring today?
“It can vary a lot based on the particular qualities of the edition, of which I’m not completely aware (quality of penned annotations, comparison with other works),” Nathan Shank, an English professor at Oklahoma Christian, said in an email, “but it looks like $4,000 to $18,000 given recent sales of the same work.”
That’s a whole lot more than the 50 cents Bever paid for it!
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But for those who knew him, Bever’s legacy makes the true value immeasurable.
As for de Auximo’s work itself, Shank characterizes it as “a very practical guide for priests hearing confessions and applying canon law.
“It’s a very pragmatic book in itself,” Shank said.
Oklahoma Christian University English professor Nathan Shank speaks at the dedication ceremony for the late Ron Bever’s book collection.
‘Binding us all together’
Oklahoma Christian University is associated with Churches of Christ, which trace their modern roots to the Restoration Movement of the early 1800s, which advocated Christianity with “no creed but the Bible.”
Many of Bever’s treasured books and papers were important works in that movement, also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement. However, his most valuable find was not, as Shank noted during the ceremony recognizing Bever’s collection.
“It’s works like this incunabulum that represent the technology that decades later would allow Martin Luther to quickly distribute his 95 Theses and translate the Bible into common language in Germany,” Shank said, referring to the 1517 start of the Protestant Reformation.
“The Stone-Campbell Movement’s concern with reading the Bible afresh and restoring New Testament Christianity aligns closely with this care for the printed word,” the English professor added. “Now, there may even be a kind of hopeful irony in that this particular book is a work of Catholic — capital ‘C’ — canon law, and it’s being held in high esteem by a Protestant organization. Perhaps Ron was well aware of its value as a catholic — lower ‘c’ — symbol binding us all together.”
Bever’s sons, Ken and Stan, spoke at the dedication event. His daughters, Jane Raulston and Annette Bever, were unable to attend. Doris, his wife of 64 years, who is now 90 and living in Tennessee, also could not make it. But she sent a statement recalling her late husband as a devoted Christian who loved his family.
“Book collecting was only one of Ron’s many interests,” she said.
Ron Bever’s sons, Ken and Stan, pose by the display showcasing their father’s most valuable book — a 1483 edition of “Supplementum Summae Pisanellae” by Nicolaus de Auximo.
Indeed, the reception tributes focused as much on Bever’s exemplary life as the noteworthy books he left behind.
He loved teaching. He loved students. He loved God.
“He was a song leader,” Oklahoma Christian President Ken Jones said. “He was a preacher. He was an elder. He led mission trips. … He was a mentor to so many, and he did all that so that they could find their God-given potential.
“And along the way,” Jones added as the audience enjoyed a nice chuckle, “he apparently liked to collect books.”
Oklahoma Christian University President Ken Jones speaks at the dedication event about the legacy of the late Ron Bever.
BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Ross writes the Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged, where this piece originally appeared. Reach him at [email protected].
