The Holy Bible
Series: Collections of the Harvard University Archives; Harvard in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Publisher: J. Fry and Co.
Published: 1777
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Subjects: Religion; Students; Discipline; College wit and humor; Harvard University
Work titles: Bible. English. Authorized. 1777
Notes: A note inside the cover of this Bible indicates that it was stolen from Harvard College on March 30, 1807; it was apparently then missing for over a century. In 1912, a man affiliated with trustees of the Ropes Memorial in Salem, Massachusetts contacted Harvard's librarian to inform him that the Bible had been discovered in the Ropes' family mansion in Salem. The librarian, W.C. Lane, accepted the return of the Bible in November 1912.

"Printed and Sold by J. Fry and Co., Letter-founders and Printers, in Queen-Street, near Upper-Moorfields" and annotated with "Explanatory, Critical and Practical" notes from the works of "several eminent authors."

In the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, stealing Bibles that belonged to Harvard was a common student prank. Although it is unknown who stole this Bible, it was likely a student.