Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1862-06-19
From the Congregational Journal.

"THE FIRST New TESTAMENT PUBLISHED
IN New HAMPSHIRE" Mn. EDITOR Last
lvening neighbor of mine, handed me your
Journal of the 18th inst, containing a short
article under the above caption towards the
close of which the writer says that he shall be
glad TO hear more in regard to the first edi-
tion of the New Testament in New Hampshire"
from Mr.. Ide, if now living. | can hardly see
how it can be a matter of so great interest to
any one, to know more about this Testament
but, inasmuch as through Gods mercy, Mr..
Ide is still living, and il disposed to crafty an
innocent curiosity in this matter l will with his
permission and assistance, narrate some further
particulars in the history of that first edition,
in connection with an appropriate alluson TO
the last edition (probably) of the New Testa-
ment ever printed in New Hampshire; for, if
am correctly informed, one and the same per-
son was the manufacturer of both.
AS | can see but one very interesting and
useful object in nstituting this inquiry (vi8 to
Illustrate the rapid strides that have been made
N the useful mechanical art within the last
fifty years,) in return for the labor compliance
with your correspondents request has imposed
Ipon me, Mr.. Editor, must ask your indul-
,ence in occpying your space with some preli-
ninary ref 'ctions which the subject obviously
suggests.
Is
lence as to the time of commencing the first
md finishing the last of these two editions.
The first was begun Just at the close of the war
1912; the last was completed at the commence
ncnt of the present war of 1861. 1t took 10
cams of paper and about $50 days work (of
ii hours per day on All average) of the "yourg
man" to print the former and about Is reams
If paper and four days work of one man and
fifteen year old boy to print the latter. The
'etail price of the New Ipswich duodecimo edi
ion Of 1915 was 60 cents, that of the pearl GA
no. edition of 1861 is cents. Or to make
the comparison more generally ineligible,
will say, that the New Testament every way
equal to the one sold Cat loss) to the New
Hampshire Bible Society in 1Sl5, at 2S cents,
,ould noD be furnished at IS cents, at fair
profit to the publisher And here let me add,
hat the nnpar-nill and printing press, where
the l7o reams OF paper was made and printed
in 1915, were not whit further "behind the
,imes" than are those of the present day, where
the Is reams were made and printed. Now
have made this comparison, Mr.. Editor, preli-
minary to- and Illustrative of the two or three
conclusions following list, That for the space
of nearly three hundred and fifty years, the art
of printing-that 'art OF all arts"-remdined
nearly StatiOnary; for, up to the year 1900,
such thing as a power-printing press of any
kind, believe, was unknown-stereotypin had
but just begun to be thought of, and the most
improved hand-press (the "Ramage two pull
your correspondent speaks ofDwas constructed
upon the same principle, though probably of
better materials as that on which the celebra-
ted Bible of 1860 was printed the production
Of which was attributed to "The Devil and DR..
Faustus."
My second point or conclusion is, that the vast
Improvement in printing have demonstrated,
has all been Effected ,cithin the last ,ffty years l.!
and mainly within the last thirty years. About
thirty-two years ago the "young man" your
correspondent refers to, had made for him, at
Woodstock VT, the first bed-and- d-platen power
press ever made in this or any other country,
that would print ten impressions from one
form, on double-demi sized sheet per minute.
The contrivance for throwing off the sheet by
machinery was original whith this press, as
was also its capacity TO print "a instead OF II
duodecmo pages in one form.
But the last and most important point have
in view in this connection, is the fact that, for
the astonishing improvements OF the last thirty
years, in the facilities tor making books and
newspapers, the world is indebted to american
ingenuity and skill.
The old world plodded along almost $50 years,
from the invention of the ''two pull Ramage
press" or what was nearly as good, until about
the year A. ID. 1880, when mother England,
and in fact the whole Eastern Hemisphere,
began to find out that their transatlantic Yam
kee cousins were vastly ahead of them, not only
in book and paper-makng, hut in almost all
other manufacturing machinery and appliances.
This is not empty boasting | cite, sufficiently
suggestive of the proof at hand, the names
Franklin and Morse, Fulton, Adams, Metcalf
Rust Hoe and Ruggles, as originators OF I'M
provements in that one department-the cheap
and rapid accumulation and dissemination Of
intelligence-that "Hfe Of liberty Il need say
nothing of other branches of industry: as the
inventors of the spinning jenny of firearms
sewing machines, harvesters, mowers, and
hundreds of other mechanical Improvements
for many of which our Yankees have procured
patent, under the leading governments of Eu-
rome, And vet these evidences of thrift and
civilization-of superior intelect and inventive
ingenuity-do not seem to tell much in our ia
yor at this time on the other side of the Allan
tic. BY late London papers, it seems ouI
'cousin John" is undergoing much brotherls
concern, from the apprehension Of our "reldps,
TO barbarisn, y for as much as we have showr
a disposition to infringe one of his patent rights
by the employment of Il "stone fleet" as he
did some seventy or eighty years ago, and fol
n similar purpose But it is time to return tC
the first New Hampshire Testament.
Your correspondent is correct, so far as ht
goes, in most of his statements about this Tes
lament As respects the "young mans" ante
cedents, however, he is at fault little. Instead
of his having something to do with the print
ing business at Windsor, W.T." HE thinks h,
had good deal to do with it there and else
where. In the fall of 1902 his father paceC
him in the office of the Vermont Republican a,
an apprentice to Farnsworth and Churchill
publishers of that paper, to learn the "art o
printing" He continued with them, in The
faithful discharge of his duty as he thinks, til
| Dec 1912, when he was cast adrift by the dis
solution of the above firm Sylvester Churchill
the junior partner entering the regular arm,
as first Lieutenant of Artillery, and, at tn,
breaking out of "this rebellion" he was Inspec
tor General of the U. S. army, but is retired
on account of old age.
The lad in question worked at his trade, as