One Nation Under God: The Bible in Early America
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Geneva Bible. 1560
History
The Geneva Bible was the Bible of the Puritans and the Pilgrims, who fled to the religious freedom of the New World in the early 17th century. The first edition of the Geneva Bible was published in 1560 in Geneva, Switzerland, after many of the English reformationists fled there because public reading of the Bible had been prohibited in England. Although never officially adopted in England, for three generations the Geneva Bible was the most popular of all English versions, 140 editions being published between 1560 and 1640. This version was read by Shakespeare and Bunyan and was of cardinal importance for its influence on the English language, literature, and thought.
Item Description
The Centennial Library copy of the Geneva Bible is a small quarto edition published by Robert Barker in London in 1608. This copy, with an attractive 19th century binding, also has bound within it two concordances, a 1609 Psalter, and a 1608 Common Book of Prayer.
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Eliot Bible. 1660-1663
History
Many are surprised to discover that the first Bible printed in America was not in English, or any other European language, but an Algonquin Indian Bible in the Natick dialect published between 1660 and 1663 by the missionary John Eliot. The first English language Bible printed in America would not be produced until 1781. Eliot's Bible did much more than bring the Gospel to one of the native tribes in America; it also gave them literacy. Eliot had to first reduce the spoken language to print and then translate the English Bible into the Algonquin language. Eliot agreed to learn the Algonquin spoken language, they agreed to learn the western world's phonetic alphabet, and then Eliot translated the Bible into their native tongue phonetically using the English alphabet. Pages from the Eliot Algonquin Bible remain some of the most rare and historically important artifacts of our American heritage. They are also among the earliest of all American printings.
Item Description
The Centennial Library page from an Eliot Algonquin Indian Bible was printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson between 1660 and 1663. The Bible was translated by John Eliot into the Natick dialect of the Algonquin indians living in Massachusetts and along part of the east coast of New England. The printing was done at what is now the site of Harvard University, near Boston, only 40 years after the Pilgrims landed on the continent in 1620. The text from the Bible on these two pages is from Ezekiel 25:1 to 27:12.
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Aitken Bible. 1782
History
The first complete English Bible printed in America was published in 1782 by Robert Aitken. Up until the American Revolution, all Bibles in English had been imported to the Colonies from England. But during the Revolution, Bibles were not available because of the embargo on English imported goods. The printing of the New Testament started with preliminary copies in 1777 and the final copies printed in 1781. The addition of the Old Testament followed in 1782. Aitken's printing of the King James Version came to be called the "Bible of the Revolution" because it was small enough to fit into the coat pocket of the soldiers of the Continental Army. This Bible was the only one ever authorized by the United States Congress, part of whose resolution said: "they recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States, and hereby authorize him [Mr. Aitken] to publish this recommendation in the manner he shall think proper."
Item Description
The Centennial Library page from an Aitken Bible is from a copy printed in Philadelphia in 1782, Robert Aitken's first and only edition of the first English Bible printed in America. The page measures about 6 inches by 4 inches, making the Bible small enough to fit into the pocket of a Continental Army soldier. The text from the King James Version on these two pages is from I Corinthians 7:1 to 8:7.
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Thompson Hot Press Bible. 1798
History
It was quite late in Colonial American history when the first English language Bible was printed in America. Robert Aitken did so in 1782 under an authorization by the United States Congress. Prior to this time, English language Bibles were available in the Colonies, but had to be imported from England. What followed Aitkin's work were printings by Matthew Carey [1790], William Young [1790], Isaac Collins [1791], Isaiah Thomas [1791], and Jacob Berriman [1796]. These were all printings of the King James Bible, some in personal size and others in family Bible size.
In November of 1798, John Thompson of Philadelphia produced the first King James Bible ever to be "hot-pressed" in America. This printing technique helped to sear the ink clearly into the paper with heat. This printing was a large pulpit folio Bible, the largest Bible printed in America up until that time. The Thompson Hot-Press Bible remains a very rare collector's item.Item Description
This Centennial Library copy of the King James Bible was printed by John Thompson in Philadelphia in 1798, the first hot-pressed printing of the Bible in the Colonies. This copy was professionally re-bound in leather in 2004 by the artisans at the Ohio Book Store in Cincinnati.
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Jefferson Bible. 1804
History
This work, whose official title is The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, was the attempt of Thomas Jefferson to accurately reflect the true teachings of Jesus as he saw them. Jefferson did not believe in the divinity of Christ nor that He performed miracles; he saw Jesus as a great reformer and moral leader. Toward the end of his life, using multiple language extracts of the four Gospels, Jefferson cut and pasted together his own version. His goal was to eliminate what he felt were distortions in the Gospels by unlearned apostles who often misunderstood the teachings of Jesus. Thus he removed all the supernatural aspects, including miracles, as well as misinterpretations he perceived had been added by the Gospel writers. The result, he felt, best expressed the moral code of the teachings of Jesus. This work was never published during the lifetime of Jefferson, and in fact a printed version was not published until 1895 by the National Museum.
Item Description
The Centennial Library copy of the Jefferson "Bible" is a photographic reproduction of the original cut-and-paste version created by Jefferson. It was published by an act of the United States Congress in 1904. For many years copies of this publication were given to incoming members of Congress.
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New Testament. 1807
History
History of the item goes here.
Item Description
This Centennial Library copy of the New Testament, published during the time of the presidency of Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809), was printed in New York in 1807 by Duyckinck and Mesier. The text is the Authorized, or King James, Version.
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American Bible Society - bible. 1829
History
The American Bible Society, organized in 1816, was founded to distribute the Bible around the United States through nondenominational and nonprofit groups. Their first grant for Bibles was given for a distribution in New York state in 1817. And in that same year, the Scripture grant program for the armed services began with Bibles being distributed to the crew of the USS John Adams. The Society provided Bibles to both the North and the South during the Civil War. The Society was a part of a growing evangelical press in America in the 19th century which was covering the expanding nation with Bibles, denominational newspapers, and spiritual tracts. Though retaining "American" in its name, the ministry of the Society gradually shifted from a national to an international focus. This is evidenced by the Society's efforts in seeing the Bible translated into over 1500 languages reaching most of the world's population today. The ministry of this Society continues around the world from their headquarters in New York City, cooperating with other Societies internationally to coordinate the translation and distribution of the Bible on every continent.
Item Description
This Centennial Library copy of the Bible, published by the American Bible Society 13 years after its founding, was printed in New York in 1829 during the presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829-1837). The text is the Authorized, or King James, Version.
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American Bible Society - bible. 1844
History
The American Bible Society, organized in 1816, was founded to distribute the Bible around the United States through nondenominational and nonprofit groups. Their first grant for Bibles was given for a distribution in New York state in 1817. And in that same year, the Scripture grant program for the armed services began with Bibles being distributed to the crew of the USS John Adams. The Society provided Bibles to both the North and the South during the Civil War. The Society was a part of a growing evangelical press in America in the 19th century which was covering the expanding nation with Bibles, denominational newspapers, and spiritual tracts. Though retaining "American" in its name, the ministry of the Society gradually shifted from a national to an international focus. This is evidenced by the Society's efforts in seeing the Bible translated into over 1500 languages reaching most of the world's population today. The ministry of this Society continues around the world from their headquarters in New York City, cooperating with other Societies internationally to coordinate the translation and distribution of the Bible on every continent.
Item Description
This Centennial Library copy of the German Bible, published by the American Bible Society, is representative of many foreign language Bibles distributed by the Society. It was printed in New York in 1844 during the presidency of John Tyler (1841-1845), who came to office after the untimely death of President William Henry Harrison. The text of this Bible is taken from Martin Luther's German Bible translation completed in the 16th century.
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Webster Bible. 1833
History
Noah Webster, born in 1758, has often been called America's Schoolmaster because he authored a number of books widely used in the classrooms of his day, namely spelling books, grammars, and of course his famous dictionary published in 1828. Because in his day the Bible was often used as a text in schools, he felt the King James version did not always suit the needs of teachers and students because its grammar was not always correct and it contained many word usages that were obsolete. So as an educator and not a theologian, he began a revision of the King James version of the Bible with the purpose to make that version more user-friendly and a model of correct English usage for schools and homes. The AWebster Bible@ was first printed in 1833. Webster wrote in the preface, "I have not knowingly made any alteration in the passages of the present version, on which the different denominations rely for the support of their peculiar tenets."
Item Description
The Centennial Library copy of the "Webster Bible" is a facsimile of the original, printed in 1987, and it represents the first time that Webster's version of the King James Bible was published in the 20th century.
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Multi-volume Bible. 1832-1834
History
The 19th century saw the dramatic expansion of book publishing, creating an explosive growth in available printed materials. Thus, competition among publishers created an ever-expanding array of Bibles, many the result of new translation work, many with illustrations, tables, maps, marginal commentaries, extended introductory material for each book of the Bible, and interpretive notes. In the vein of Matthew Henry's multiple volume commentary on the Bible, this led to the development of many large multi-volume study Bibles prepared for the support of the theological understanding of the various denominations. With inter-denominational and inter-faith controversies of the period, Unitarians, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Disciples of Christ, and the Catholic church among others began producing Bibles with interpretive materials amongst the text supporting their doctrinal positions and practices. Thus, the "meaning" of the text of the Bible began to be radically altered throughout the 19th century with these publishers' battles to promote a widening variety of Bible editions. As well, the Bible began to become a status "object", as extensive bindings and illustrations changed both why people bought Bibles and how they interpreted the Bibles they bought. The Bible as object led eventually to the production of large family Bibles, which became a physical focus of some homes and repositories of family records and history.
Item Description
This Centennial Library copy of the King James Version of the Bible is volume 5 of a 6-volume edition, with extensive commentary and critical notes, printed in New York beginning in 1832. This edition was published for the Methodist Episcopal Church. The commentary and notes are by Adam Clarke, an Irish Methodist minister, who lived from 1762 to 1832.
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Civil War Era Bible. 1860
History
History of item goes here.
Item Description
This Centennial Library copy of the Bible is a thick, pocket-sized edition of the King James Version printed in Philadelphia in 1860, one year prior to the beginning of the Civil War. There is no evidence of what the other languages or versions of the original polyglott [multi-language] Bible were. Only the English version is included On the flyleaf is the following handwritten inscription: "Presented to A. B. Stephens By her affectionate Son Samuel. Christmas,1860 Norristown."
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American Tract Society. 1825
History
The American Tract Society was founded in 1825 "to promote the interests of vital godliness and sound morality by the circulation of religious tracts calculated to receive the approbation of all Evangelical Christians." Within a few years of its founding, the Society was producing millions of pieces of Gospel literature-tracts, booklets, books, magazines, and Bibles. But a distribution system was needed to get the literature to the people for whom it was intended. A system of traveling Christian literature salesmen [colporteurs] was enlisted by the Society, and they took the literature into the streets, homes, and churches of America. Thus an "army" of colporteurs traveled across the country in the 19th century selling and distributing the Society's literature, leading worship services, and counseling with those they met. During the Civil War, efforts were undertaken by the Society to provide the Union army with religious reading materials and Bibles. In fact, beginning in 1869 the Society presented Bibles to all the entering cadets at the West Point Military Academy, a practice which continues today.
Item Description
Bible. 1862 - This Centennial Library copy of the New Testament, published by the American Tract Society, was printed in New York in 1862 during the Civil War. The Society initiated efforts to distribute religious literature and Bibles to the Union Army during the war.
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Family Bibles
History
The prolific and competitive publishing of Bibles in the 19th century America led to the printing of larger and more extravagant Bibles which became more than just the Scriptures, but religious and artistic objects, full of additional features beyond the text of the Bible. Thus, the concept of the large family Bible evolved which was given an important place in the home and was filled with family records and memories. Publishers catered to this growing market by producing ever-larger and more elaborate Bibles. These Bibles would include explanatory articles, Bible dictionaries, extensive lithographs and color illustrations, Bible stories for children, pages for recording family births and deaths, and all enclosed in ornamental and sometimes highly sculpted covers with metal clasps. Often the name of the family was engraved on the cover of the family Bible. These bindings, illustrations, and expanded visual content helped create Bibles that were purchased for reasons other than for the words of Scripture they contained. The more elaborate large family Bibles increasingly became tools to mark the level of the social status of a family, rather than simply as an appropriate format to protect the content of the Bible's words. Many families today have in their possession one or more of these heirloom Bibles from generations past because they represent part of the heritage and recorded history of the family.
Item Description
Millen Family Bible. 1871 - This Centennial Library copy of a family Bible belonged to the Millen family and was printed in Hartford, Connecticut in 1871. The family's name is engraved on the cover.
Davidson and Millen Family Bible. 1871 - This Centennial Library copy of a family Bible belonged to the Davidson and Millen families and was printed in Philadelphia in 1871. A number of the names of family members are recorded in the family births and deaths section located between the two Testaments.
Steinberger Family Bible. 1879 - This Centennial Library copy of a family Bible belonged to the Steinberger family and was printed in 1879. The covers are sculptured and the content of the Bible includes over 2500 illustrations. -
Family Bible. 1892
History
The prolific and competitive publishing of Bibles in the 19th century America led to the printing of larger and more extravagant Bibles which became more than just the Scriptures, but religious and artistic objects, full of additional features beyond the text of the Bible. Thus, the concept of the large family Bible evolved which was given an important place in the home and was filled with family records and memories. Publishers catered to this growing market by producing ever-larger and more elaborate Bibles. These Bibles would include explanatory articles, Bible dictionaries, extensive lithographs and color illustrations, Bible stories for children, pages for recording family births and deaths, and all enclosed in ornamental and sometimes highly sculpted covers with metal clasps. Often the name of the family was engraved on the cover of the family Bible. These bindings, illustrations, and expanded visual content helped create Bibles that were purchased for reasons other than for the words of Scripture they contained. The more elaborate large family Bibles increasingly became tools to mark the level of the social status of a family, rather than simply as an appropriate format to protect the content of the Bible's words. Many families today have in their possession one or more of these heirloom Bibles from generations past because they represent part of the heritage and recorded history of the family.
Item Description
This Centennial Library copy of a family Bible was printed in Chicago in 1892. The covers are sculptured and include metal clasps to keep them closed. Dispersed within the text of the Bible are a number of full page color lithographs depicting biblical events.
