Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-12-24
PRINTING TIE BIBLE


sued 10 tile United states-
The sacred history Of American
printing, the introduction into the
New World of The Bible will interest.
The earliest publication on this CONT
nent Of any portion Of The Scriptures
was the translation of the New Tesla
ment into the Natick dialect, the ordi-
nary speech of the Indians at the time
the Pilgrim Fathers landed in 1920.
This translation was made BY John
Eliot, native Of England and a grad
uate Of the university OF Cambridge.
The work OF translation, with the aid
OF an Indian, was the labor Of eight
years; and il is now conceded to be
one OF the most notable contributions
TO philology made in this country.
To meet the demands of eniorants
who had largely settled IN Penn
sylvanla, the first edition of the Holy
Scriptures in the German language.
and the first in European tongue,
was printed by Christopher Saur. al
Germantown in 1743. Il is a notable
fact that neither the Old nor the New
Testament was ever printed here in
the English language till after this
country had declared independence.
80 oppressive was the monopoly that
the British government maintained
over the exclusive printing Of the
Bible that it never transferred its au
thority TO reprint it, even in her own
colonies; and every copy had to be
imported across the Atlantic. Robert
Aitken, a native of Scotland, who had
settled as printer in Philadelphia, is
sued in III an edition OF the New
Testament. the first in the English
language, with an American imprint,
For this breach OF privilege, Aitken
was imprisoned. After his release
this jealous Scotchman announced TO
the members of congress then in ses
sion his intention TO print an edition
OF The Entire Bible, and asked for
their imprimatur, which was readily
granted, together with the certificates
of the chaplains, the venerable Will
lam White, the future Episcopal bish
op, and Rev. DR.. Duffield. Here the
action of congress properly terminated,
and the circulation Of the Bible was.
ever after, left to the people and to
their pastors.
Athens promised edition, copied
from the authorized English version,
appeared in 1882, printed in BREWER
type, having on the title page the sig
niticant motto of Virtue, Liberty and
Independence. This will always be
priced as the first Bible in the English
language ever printed in America. a
perfect copy is preserved among the
treasures in the Lenox library. La
1890 neat edition of the New Tesla
ment was printed at New York by
Hugh Gaine; and another in New
Haven by A. Morse. the latter replete
with errors on every page. In 1871 the
first folio edition of Bible, with fifty
copper plates, was printed at Worces
ter, Mass. by Isaiah Thomas, the text
revised by DIR. Bancroft, father of the
historian and the biographer of Wash
ington.
In the same year an edition of the
Sacred Scriptures was carefully aid
correctly printed for the use Of Quak
ers by one of the Friends of Trenton
in New Jersey In 1894 the New Tes
lament, without the Old, was issued al
| Boston; and in 1898 the first hot
| pressed edition of a Bible appeared in
handsome form al Philadelphia. In
colonial days, under British rule
rigid penal laws were enforced agains
the printing of Roman Catholic
works; even their devotional book.
appeared by stealth. One of the re
suits of the Revolution was the abso
lutte freedom of the printing press.
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