The “Bishop’s fist” | 「主教的手標」

Among the notable features of the Bishop's Bible is the use of the “pointing hand” in the margins of the text. These symbols, often referred to as "manicules" (from the Latin “manus”) or the “Bishop's fist” (likely signifying Bishop Parker), were employed to draw the reader's attention to significant phrases or sections within the text.

It is important to distinguish the use of manicules in the Bishop's Bible from those in the 1539 Great Bible, where Thomas Cromwell implemented this hand pointer as an index to additional notes that were ultimately never published. The use of a pointing hand as a marker for notable or important passages was a widespread convention in Western manuscripts and printed books from the 12th to the 18th centuries, evolving into the pointing finger symbol familiar in contemporary digital contexts.

《主教聖經》的顯著特點之一是在文本空白處使用 「指向手標」。這些符號通常被稱為 manicules（來自拉丁文 」manus）或 Bishop's fist（可能代表帕克大主教），用來吸引讀者注意文本中的重要詞句或章節。

重要的是要區別 《主教聖經》與1539年《大聖經》中使用的 「指向手標」。克倫威爾 在《大聖經》中使用這種手標作為附加註釋的索引，而這些附加註釋最終卻都沒有出版。 「指向手標」8 在12世紀到18世紀的西方手稿和印刷書籍中的使用甚為普遍，大多用作指出值得注意或重要段落的標記，「指向手標」後來演變成當代數位環境中熟悉的手標符號。