Kitto, John, 1804-1854

John Kitto, the author of the "Pictorial Bible," was born in Plymouth on December 4, 1804. As a child, he was often ill and tended to be bookish, despite his lacking access to a formal education. At the age of ten, he began working alongside his stonemason father. An accident at work occurred in 1817 that left Kitto totally deaf. He then served as an apprentice to a shoemaker, and later as a dentist's pupil. During this period, he experienced a religious conversion. In 1825, Kitto attended the Missionary College at Islington to train to be a printer in a foreign mission setting. From 1829 to 1832, Kitto worked in the missionary field in Baghdad. In 1834, Kitto began a series of narrative illustrations of the blind, deaf, and mute, which was collected and published in 1845 as "The Lost Senses." He also edited the Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, published in 1845. He was the editor of the Journal of Sacred Literature from 1848 to 1853. Kitto was awarded a D.D. from University of Giessen in 1844, despite his layman status. Always given to sickness, Kitto passed away in 1854.