A BIBLICAL masterpiece which lay unnoticed in a Bolton archive for more than 15 years has been restored to its former glory.

The Bowyer Bible was created almost 200 years ago by Royal miniatures artist and devout Christian Robert Bowyer.

But far from being small in scale - like the work he created for King George III and his family - his bible fills a huge specially constructed ornate wooden cabinet.

Bowyer spent years collecting more than 6,000 engravings by artists such as Rembrandt, Rubens, Titan and Durer to illustrate the pages of his bible and even commissioned French artist Phillipe Jacques de Loutherbourg to add some original images.

Each illustration interprets a different story in the bible and, completed in 1926, stretches to 45 hefty volumes, each 20 inches tall.

The Macklin Bible, upon which it is based only stretches to seven volumes.

After Bowyer's death it was sold to keen collector John Albinson, who brought it home to Bolton and when he died it was bought for £550 by another prominent Boltonian , cotton quilt manufacturer Robert Heywood.

In 1917 his descendants loaned it to Bolton Libraries and then it was donated to the people of Bolton in 1948.

However, years of use meant the huge volumes became battered and too fragile to be handled and the bible and its cabinet had to be retired to a storage area of the archives.

Two years ago librarian Ken Bell, who is now retired began pushing for the public to have access once again to the unique work.

Archivist Sam Collenette took up the cause and last year the £31,000 needed to restore the bible was obtained from the Heritage Lottery Fund and The Pilgrim Trust.

Conservator Nic Rayner, from the Greater Manchester County Records Office had the task of repairing the damaged books and cabinet.

"The size of them was the biggest problem. Normally we would just hold them but these are so big we had to prop them up and support them while we worked on them," he said.

It took Mr Rayer eight months to complete the work, which involved patching leather spines, polishing and cleaning the books six at a time.

"We wanted to keep as much of the original as possible," he said.

Luckily, because the bible has been kept in an enclosed cabinet, the actual pages are remarkably intact and went on show to the public again for the first time yesterday.

In addition to having the cabinet on show in Bolton Museum, one volume has been removed and kept open in a glass case for visitors to view the engravings.

Pages will be turned regularly to show other illustrations and a website has been set up to give more information about the bible, its history and engravings.

"It is impossible to put a price on the bible because there is nothing else like it," said Ms Collenette.

A conservation survey of all Bolton's archives, which stretch to more than two kilometres, is currently under way to try and identify other gems which would benefit form being restored and made more accessible to the public.

"This is just the start," said Ms Collenette.

The website featuring the Bowyer Bible can be accessed at www.bold.bolton. gov.uk/bowyerbible.