Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-08-10
THE FIRST PRINTED BIBLE.
FABULOUS PRICES PAID FOR OLD AND
RARE EDITIONS.
of Preparing 1t fer Publ
cation.

world.
The new art was accepted as a gracious
tribute to Christianity, as the first book
ever printed from movable metal types
was "Gutenbergs Latin Bible" that APP
peared at Mainz, in the middle of the fif-
teenth century. In contemplating the
beauty of the work, it seems marvellous
that printing, then in its infancy in the
Old World, should, by single effort, have
attained perfection. Ut may be well to
add that the Syston Park copy of this, the
most priced of all books in the annals of
typography, was recently sold in London
for GO, 900 sterllng.)
Europe was then ripe for changes in all
that related to the revival of learning; to
| the church and the State. Before the close
of the century the birth of Martin Luther
| and the discovery of America still further
stimulated the energies and frightened the
prospects of the whole family of mankind
The sacred history of printing being for
the most part the secular history of our
Bible, brief particulars of the efforts made
two centuries later to promote its introduce
ton into the New World may interest the
reader.
The earliest publication on this CONT
nent of any portion of the Scriptures was
| the translation of the New Testament into
! the Natick dialect, the ordinary speech of
| the Indians at the time the Pilgrim
| Fathers landed in 1920. This translation
was made by John Eliot, a native of Eng
land and a graduate of the University of
| Cambridge. Coming to Boston in 1851,
and accepting as his special mission the
conversion of Indians (yhom he consid-
| cred to be the descendants of the lost tribes
of Israeli, he acquired at the same thor
| ough knowledge of their language, and de-
l-termined to let them have the "Word of
| God' in their own tribal tongue
The work of translation, with the aid of
an Indian, was the labor of eight years
and it is now considered to be one of the
most notable contributions to philology
made in this country. The New Tesla
| ment was first completed and printed at
Cambridge, Mass, in 1861; the Old Tesla
ment followed in 1868. Both are now very
| 81, 250; the New Testament for 500. In
Church here in Newport first edition of
1
anxious book-hunter.
| A second edition of the New Testament
was printed in 1880; this, bound up with
the Old Testament, issued in 1885, consti-
tutes the second and last edition of the In
dian Bible. A copy, formerly in the
library of the Marquis of Hastings, sold
| for e200. 1t is a remarkable coincidence
that the earliest editions of the Bible
| printed in America should have appeared
so OPPORTUNITY in a purely American
| language. 1t caused the self-wise Cotton
Mather to exclaim that ''it was the only
Bible ever printed in America from the
| foundation of the world"
John Eliot, "the Apostle to the Indians"
designation so appropriate that it has
secured universal acceptance, died in 1890,
| in his eighty-sixth year. His fame rests
upon his labors in Outstanding the In
dians, but the translation of the Bible is
his imperishable monument. Cotton
Mather made the apocryphal assertion
that Eliot wrote the entire translation with
but one and the same quill pen.,
| To meet the demands of enigrants who
had settled largely in Pennsylvania the
| first edition Of the Holy Scriptures in the
German language, and the first in Euro
pean tongue, was printed by Christophe
Saur, at Germantown, in 1743. Copied
from Martin Luther's version it formed
ponderous quarto volume of 1884 pages.
The price was eighteen shillings, bound
in leather, with brass clasps.
| However, to enable his needy country
men to acquire copies at a reduced rate,
one 81. E. Luther, wealthy type-founder
of Frankfort, had sent as a gift the fonts
of type in German text from which the
edition was printed. At the Brinley sale,
few years since, copy was sold for $3.50.
In 1888, more than century and a half
after it was started, this still fourishing
house was recognized and Incorporated in
Philadelphia by the direct descendants of
its worthy founder.
( 1t is 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
So oppressive was the monopoly that the
British Government maintained over the
exclusive printing of the Bible that it
never transferred its authority to reprint
it, even in her own colonies; and every
copy had to be imported across the Allan
tic.
However, the critical condition of the
country did not fail to stimulate local pub
fishers TO exertion-as Robert Aitken, a
native of Scotland, who had settled as
printer in Philadelphia, issued in 1777, an
edition of the New Testament, the first in
the English language with an American
imprint. For this breach of privilege, and
his attachment to the cause of American
independence, Aitken was forthwith i'm
| prisoned.
After his release this Jealous Scotchman
announced to the members of Congress,
then in session, lis intention to print an
edition of "The Entire Biblen and asked
for their imprimatur, which was readily
granted, together with the certificates of
the chaplains, the venerable William
| White, the future Episcopal Bishop, and
! Rev. DR.. Dufheld. Here the action of
Congress properly terminated, and the cir
culation of the Bible was, ever after, left
to the people and their pastors.
Athens promised edition, copied from
that pearl of great price, the authorized
English version, appeared in 1892 printed
in BREWER type, without pagination and in
two duodecimo volumes, having on the
title-page the significant motto of Virtue,
Liberty and independence" This will
always be be priced as the first Bible in
the English language ever printed in
America. Although it has become ex-
tremely rare, for the curious it may be
well to add that perfect copy is pre-
served among the treasures in the Lenox
Library.
In 1890 neat edition of the New Tes-
lament 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 Worcester, Mass, by Isaiah
Thomas, known in his day as the Basker-
| vile of America; the text revised by DIR.
Bancroft, father of the historian and the