424 résultats
186249952Glasgow Edinburgh and London: William Mackenzie 1862. Deluxe Edition. Two volumes folio 450 x 330 mm published between 1862 and 1863. 16 1344pp. 57 unnumbered leaves of albumin prints 230 x 160mm mounted on card stock. Crimson morocco over wooden boards elaborately tooled in gilt and blind; edges mounted in brass double brass clasps with thistle motif; covers with a broad blind-stamped border around a recessed central panel with the crowned cipher of Queen Victoria in gilt; gilt tooled spine with 5 raised bands; a.e.g. marbled endleaves with gilt dentelles. Covers with some mild traces of use; single crease in each marbled endleaf partially detached in second volume; occasional light to moderate foxing mostly confined to the plate mounts; albumin prints in fine condition often with foxing extending about 5mm from the edges into the mount. Overall a very good set with a fine series of photographs notable for their technical achievment.<br /> <br /> Deluxe edition one of 170 copies complete with all 57 albumen prints. Produced for the 1862 International Exhibition and dedicated to Queen Victoria then recently in mourning for the death of Prince Albert this work appeared at a time when photography though still a laborious and expensive process was just beginning to become a popular activity. Victoria herself was an amateur photographer and "the royal couple had been enthusiastic supporters of photography in England from the beginning; in 1853 they became founding patrons of the Photographic Society Club" K. Fiedorek. Francis Frith 1822-1898 the devout Quaker whose photographic images grace the present work was one of the best-known photographers to work in the Near East and the most commercially successful photographer of the nineteenth century. Finding his elementary studies tedious Frith left school at the age of ten apprenticed with a grocer and eventually started his own business. He later went into printing sold the grocery business to a competitor at a substantial profit and went on to devote himself to photography. "The growing Victorian interest in the East and its exotic and historic attractions caught the attention of this astute businessman" Perez. Between 1856 and 1860 Frith made three photographic expeditions to Egypt Ethiopia Sinai and the Levant accompanied by the engineer Francis Herbert Wenham who provided technical assistance in mechanics and optics. While Perez notes that Frith's "approach was always a strictly commercial one and his concern was to make truthful and accurate views of the area" he readily concedes that "the technical quality of Frith's photographs is superior." Frith employed the new wet collodion process in which glass plate negatives were sensitized exposed and developed while still wet. While technically demanding the process yielded rich detail and broad tones. "Frith's were the first original wet-plate photographs of Jerusalem and the Holy Land to reach a wide English-speaking audience and his pictures of the small Palestinian towns were most likely the first published anywhere" Nir p.66.<br /> <br /> Perhaps the most novel aspect of this celebrated edition of the Bible and certainly a harbinger of things to come was the way in which the photographer "presented the radical possibility of seeing photographs of the biblical sites alongside related verses of scripture. he sought to defend and promote his faith by conscripting the veracity of science and materialism to his cause and considered photography to be the most effective medium for his campaign" Foster et al. This vision is manifest even in such details as the re-captioning of prints previously offered for sale so that the new descriptions would more clearly reference the King James text. It should be noted that while the printing was still done by hand this was one of the earliest books for which machinery was used for composing. Original publisher's price = 50 guineas. Another version of this work was published at London in 1860-1862 by Eyre & Spottiswoode; sometimes confused with the present work it was issued in 20 parts each containing a single photographic print by Frith.<br /> <br /> K. Fiedorek A Photographic Bible Fit for a Queen NYPL Blog 2014. Foster Heiting and Stuhlman Imagining Paradise pp. 68-69. Gernsheim Incunabula of British Photographic Literature 1839-1875 p.36 no.184. Herbert The English Bible 1940 1217. Y. Nir The Bible and the Image The History of Photography in the Holy Land 1939-1899 esp. chap. 3: "Early Traveling Landscape Photographers". N. Perez Focus East: Early Photography in the Near East 1838-1885 pp.163-165. William Mackenzie unknown
1814372931Philadelphia: Cura et Impensis Thomae Dobson edita ex aedibus Lapideis. Typis Gulielmi Fry 1814. First American edition. Text in Hebrew with notes in Latin. 6 296; 2 312 leaves. Half titles present in each volume. Uncut. 2 vols. 8vo. Original blue paper boards rebacked with plain paper. Provenance: Hugh Blair Grigsby booklabels. In a blue cloth folding box. First American edition. Text in Hebrew with notes in Latin. 6 296; 2 312 leaves. Half titles present in each volume. Uncut. 2 vols. 8vo. The first complete Hebrew Bible printed in America. Hebrew type was first used in the North American colonies in the Bay Psalm Book printed in 1640 in Cambridge. Over the next ninety-five years Hebrew type appeared in a handful of American imprints usually in brief examples of single words or short sentences. Paucity of appropriate type would continue to be a problem over the years that followed. The first Jewish Psalter was finally published in 1809 followed by this complete Bible five years later. "In 1812 Mr. Horwitz had proposed the publication of this edition of the Hebrew Bible the first proposal of the kind in the United States; early in 1813 be transferred his right and list of subscribers to Mr. Thos. Dobson who published soon afterwards the 1st volume" O'Callaghan. The title page indicates that this work is a reprinting of the second edition of the Joseph Athias Bible edited by Leusden with Latin notes by Everardo Van der Hought and that the Hebrew is printed without vowels. An important piece of American printing and of Jewish Americana. Darlow and Moule 5168a; Goldman 4; Rosenbach 171; Shaw and Shoemaker 30857; Singerman 236; M. Vaxer "The First Hebrew Bible Printed in America" Journal of Jewish Bib. 1940 vol. 2 pp. 20-26 Cura et Impensis Thomae Dobson edita ex aedibus Lapideis. Typis Gulielmi Fry unknown
18146255Philadelphia: Printed by William Fry for Thomas Dobson 1814. First edition. <p>First edition of the first Hebrew Bible printed in America - this copy with the extremely rare inserted publisher's notice of February 1814 explaining the genesis of the edition a leaf that Goldman's bibliography of American Hebrew printing records in the Jewish Theological Seminary copy alone. Proposed in 1812 by Jonathan Horwitz an émigré newly arrived from Amsterdam with a font of Hebrew type the project passed early in 1813 to the publisher Thomas Dobson - already famous for the first American encyclopaedia - and the printer William Fry. The text reprints the great Amsterdam tradition of Athias Leusden and Van der Hooght whose 1705 edition was the received Hebrew text of the age printed here without vowel points and aimed at the Christian Hebraists of Harvard and Andover; American Jews continued to import pointed Bibles. It remained the only Hebrew Bible printed in America until Leeser's pointed edition of 1848. Bookseller's ticket of Talbot Watts New York dated March 1847.</p>. The Hebrew Bible Comes to America. <p>First edition of the first Hebrew Bible printed in America - the editio prima Americana of the sacred tongue of major importance in the field of American Judaica - this copy preserving the publisher's inserted notice of February 1814 recounting the genesis of the edition a leaf so rarely retained that Goldman's standard bibliography of American Hebrew printing records it in the Jewish Theological Seminary copy alone and omits it from the collation of the edition. Until these two octavo volumes left William Fry's Philadelphia press no complete biblical text in Hebrew had ever issued from an American press: congregations and colleges alike read from Bibles carried or ordered across the Atlantic. Their publication was the most ambitious Hebrew typesetting yet attempted in the United States and a measure of the standing Hebrew learning held in the early republic - a symbolic weight out of all proportion to the number of its readers. Abraham Karp surveying the Judaic treasures of the Library of Congress singled out the inserted notice as the key document of the edition's history found 'in some of the first copies of the first volume off the press'; the present set is one of the very few in which that first-state leaf escaped the binder's discard. Only one other copy described with the notice has been traced in auction records Philadelphia 2024.</p> <br /> <p>The notice itself dated February 1814 and printed on a single inserted leaf compresses the whole story of the enterprise into four paragraphs. In 1812 Jonathan Horwitz had proposed an edition of the Hebrew Bible 'the first proposal of the kind ever offered in the United States'; clergymen of standing endorsed the undertaking and subscriptions were gathered. Early in 1813 Horwitz transferred his rights and his subscriber list to Thomas Dobson who now reported the first volume published and the second well advanced. The publisher then turned his readers into proof-correctors: gentlemen of learning into whose hands the volume might come were entreated to note typographical errors and transmit their lists to Dobson in Philadelphia so that an accurate table of errata might be printed at the close of the work - a table which the collations of recorded copies suggest was never executed. A final line explains both the leaf's function and its disappearance: the title pages and preface would be furnished with the second volume. The earliest purchasers therefore received volume one as a bare text block this notice standing in for the missing preliminaries; when the second volume appeared with the title leaves and Van der Hooght's preface binders bound the proper preliminaries in and discarded the now-superfluous notice. The variable placement of those preliminaries among recorded copies - the four preface leaves stand at the front of the second volume in another documented set at the front of the first in the present one - is itself a fossil of this two-stage issue. The notice's survival here bound after the first title with the prefatory selections following marks the present set as one assembled from the first copies issued and fixes a terminus for its earliest American owner.</p> <br /> <p>Behind the notice lies a publishing race conducted in the newspapers of two cities. Jonathan Horwitz d. 1852 a Jewish émigré recently arrived from Amsterdam brought with him a font of Hebrew type and the conviction that the United States was ready for its own Hebrew Bible. He was nearly right and nearly first: the New York theological booksellers Whiting & Watson announced a rival Hebrew Bible under the patronage of the Theological Seminary at Andover; the missionary leaders John M. Mason and James McFarlane stood ready to enter the field; and in London Joseph Samuel C. F. Frey - the converted president of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews - had in 1812 already published the first volume of a vocalized Hebrew Bible for the English-speaking world with rumours that he would cross the Atlantic to distribute it. Horwitz counter-attacked in the New York Evening Post of 16 January 1813 declaring that Harvard College and the Andover Theological Institution patronised his edition and had subscribed for forty copies each. Within weeks however he chose security over glory: he sold his Hebrew type to the printer William Fry made over his publication rights and subscriber list to Dobson and enrolled in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania taking his M.D. in 1815. He practised medicine for the rest of his life marrying into the family of Haym Salomon the Jewish financier of the Revolution; his son Phineas rose to head the United States Navy's Bureau of Medicine. The Whiting & Watson Bible never appeared.</p> <br /> <p>The men who carried the project to completion were two of the most substantial figures in the Philadelphia book trade. Thomas Dobson 1751-1823 Scottish-born and Philadelphia-established from 1785 had already accomplished the most audacious publishing feat of the young republic: Dobson's Encyclopaedia 1789-1798 the first encyclopaedia published in the United States eighteen quarto volumes re-edited from the third Encyclopaedia Britannica with George Washington among the subscribers. His shop at 41 South Second Street was known simply as the Stone House and the Bible's title page Latinises the address into the imprint: edita ex aedibus lapideis. William Fry a printer praised for the accuracy of his presswork - his former partnership of Fry & Kammerer had printed the elegant 1809 specimen of Binny & Ronaldson the first permanent type foundry in the United States - executed the Hebrew text with the font acquired from Horwitz. Horwitz's prospectus had promised a new pica Hebrew to be cast for the purpose at the Binny & Ronaldson foundry but the type Fry actually employed appears to have been the Amsterdam font Horwitz had carried across the Atlantic: the foundry's surviving papers record only the freight on a parcel of Hebrew type shipped into Philadelphia in 1813 and every contemporary account of the project has Horwitz selling his own font to Fry. The Hebrew of the first American Bible was thus fittingly Dutch metal - cast in the same typographic culture that had produced the very editions the text reproduces. The choice of so compact a programme - the bare consonantal text without the apparatus of points and accents - kept the undertaking within the powers of a shop that had never before set a Hebrew book and the result is remarkably clean: the printer allowed himself a single flourish closing the first volume with the note Placuit Typographo has Deo agere gratias in fine hujus Tomi ex Jes. 40:29 - it pleased the typographer to give thanks to God at the end of the volume in the words of Isaiah.</p> <br /> <p>The text the Philadelphians chose was the most authoritative available anywhere: the Amsterdam tradition running from Joseph Athias through Everardus van der Hooght. Athias c. 1635-1700 the great Sephardic printer of Amsterdam produced in 1659-61 the first Hebrew Bible with numbered verses its proofs read by Johannes Leusden professor of Hebrew at Utrecht; on its completion Athias was admitted to the Amsterdam printers' guild an unprecedented honour for a Jew and the improved second edition of 1667 won him a gold chain and medal from the States General of the Dutch Republic. Long regarded as the most accurate Hebrew text in print the Athias-Leusden Bible became the foundation of virtually all subsequent editions. Everardus van der Hooght 1642-1716 a Dutch Reformed minister - the V.D.M. of the title page - corrected it once more for his Amsterdam and Utrecht edition of 1705 working not from manuscripts but from the printed tradition checked against the Masorah and prized above all for the exceptional clarity of its type. Van der Hooght's became the de facto received text of the Hebrew Bible for a century and a half: Houbigant Kennicott Hahn and Letteris all took it as their base as did the Bible Society editions of the nineteenth century. The 1814 Philadelphia edition declares this lineage on its title page and retains the essentials of Van der Hooght's apparatus in selection: four preliminary leaves headed Everardi van der Hooght ex praefatione selectae in hac editione retentae the Latin marginal annotations keyed to the text and the Masoretic verse-count summaries at the close of each biblical book with their mnemonic signs expounded in Latin notes.</p> <br /> <p>The two volumes carry the traditional tripartite Bible whole. The retained preface opens by expounding the division the volumes follow: the Torah or Law in its five books; the Prophets former and latter from Joshua to the Twelve; and the Hagiographa Psalms to Chronicles with the five scrolls read publicly at the festivals of the synagogue year. Divisional titles in Hebrew and Latin mark the great sections - Prophetae Posteriores announces Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel and the Twelve on a separate leaf - and each book runs under bilingual headlines the chapters numbered in roman and in Hebrew letters the text set in single column with Van der Hooght's Latin apparatus in the margins. At the end of each book the Masoretic colophons are reproduced and explicated: the close of Kings gives the count of 1534 verses with its mnemonic the close of Chronicles - and of the whole Bible - the count of 1656 each Hebrew letter-numeral resolved into figures in the Latin notes. These terminal apparatus pages easy to mistake for printer's ornament are in fact the working machinery of textual integrity that the Masoretes had built and Van der Hooght transmitted: a self-auditing text carried intact into the New World.</p> <br /> <p>One deliberate omission defined the edition's audience and its fate. As the title page announces the text is printed sine punctis Masorethicis - without the vowel points and cantillation marks of the Masoretic apparatus. Pointed Hebrew composition in which every consonant carries superimposed and subjacent sorts was beyond the capacity and the budget of the project; the unpointed text halved the difficulty of the typesetting at the cost of presupposing readers who could vocalise Hebrew for themselves - for the points are not ornament but the entire vocalisation tradition of the text fixed by the Masoretes of Tiberias and a bare consonantal page demands that the reader supply from memory what the apparatus would otherwise dictate. The practical consequence was that the first American Hebrew Bible was of limited use to American Jews: a text without points cannot serve the synagogue lectern or the elementary schoolroom and Jewish communities continued to import pointed Bibles from Europe. The book was aimed instead at the Gentile scholars ministers and seminarians whose institutions had subscribed for it - the constituency of the great religious revival then transforming American Protestantism which had made the recovery of the biblical languages an urgent devotional project. The edition thus occupies a curious position in Jewish book history: a Hebrew Bible produced in a land of Jewish refuge initiated by a Jewish immigrant and yet calculated for Christian use - a precise mirror of the state of Hebrew learning in the early republic.</p> <br /> <p>American Hebraism had deep roots but before 1814 almost no Hebrew press to show for it. Judah Monis's Grammar of the Hebrew Tongue Boston 1735 the first book printed in America with substantial Hebrew text had required type procured from London; Monis taught Hebrew at Harvard for nearly forty years and his grammar served as the College's required text. Hebrew figured in commencement exercises at Harvard Yale and Columbia; Ezra Stiles president of Yale made it a personal devotion. The founding of the Theological Seminary at Andover in 1808 institutionalised the revival of biblical philology and in 1813 the year Horwitz surrendered his project Andover's Moses Stuart published the first Hebrew grammar of the independent United States - finding no compositor equal to the task he set much of the Hebrew himself. A legend that the revolutionary generation had considered replacing English with Hebrew as the national language - traced by Shalom Goldman to a passing remark of the Marquis de Chastellux inflated by mocking British reviewers - has no documentary basis but its long circulation testifies to the symbolic standing the sacred tongue enjoyed in a republic that read itself as a new Israel. It was this climate - colleges teaching Hebrew seminaries multiplying a reading clergy hungry for the text in its original - that made a two-volume Hebrew Bible a plausible commercial venture in a country of perhaps three thousand Jews.</p> <br /> <p>Contemporary reception bore out both the promise and the irony. Karp observed that the appearance of a Hebrew work bearing the approbation of leading Christian clergymen and leading Jews alike marked the beginning of a friendlier intellectual discourse between the two communities - a discourse conducted warily since several of the divines most active in promoting Hebrew study were also active missionaries and Frey's conversionist society stood behind the rival London Bible. The standing of the edition among Jewish readers is caught a generation later in the letter of Rabbi Sabato Morais of Philadelphia printed by John Wright in Early Bibles of America: the edition was good the annotations helpful and copious. The endorsement carries its own quiet symmetry - Morais Leeser's successor at Mikveh Israel was a founder of the Jewish Theological Seminary the institution in whose library the one leaf-bearing copy recorded by Goldman now rests. The political setting sharpens the point: at the time of printing fewer than half of the original states extended full political equality to their Jewish citizens. The first Hebrew Bible printed in America thus appeared into a republic that honoured the language of Israel while still hedging the rights of Israelites - and the book itself passing between Jewish projector and Gentile publisher between seminary subscribers and synagogue importers embodies that unresolved moment.</p> <br /> <p>The edition kept its primacy for a generation. No second printing followed; Fry's Hebrew font surfaced only in smaller Philadelphia work; and the next complete Hebrew Bible printed in America - the first with vowel points - came only in 1848 when Isaac Leeser hazzan of Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia and the dominant figure of antebellum American Jewish letters produced his pointed Biblia Hebraica with the Episcopalian Hebraist Joseph Jaquett its Latin introduction dated September of that year. For thirty-four years the Dobson-Fry edition stood alone the only Hebrew Bible printed in America; every American who studied the Scriptures in their original from an American-printed book studied it from these sheets. Bibliographically the edition is anchored in every standard apparatus of the field - Rosenbach's pioneering American Jewish Bibliography Singerman's Judaica Americana Goldman's Hebrew Printing in America Darlow & Moule's catalogue of printed Scripture - and it is one of the few American books of its decade to have earned a separate bibliographical study Vaxer's account in the Journal of Jewish Bibliography for 1940.</p> <br /> <p>Sets of the Bible itself though held by the major Judaica collections - the Library of Congress and the Jewish Theological Seminary among them - appear on the market only at intervals: a recent cataloguer could count just five sets at auction in the preceding decade. The February 1814 notice is of another order of rarity altogether. The leaf was ephemeral by design superseded by the very preliminaries it promised and the bibliographers' collations treat it as a supernumerary survival rather than a constituent of the edition: Goldman's census-level note - locating the leaf in the Jewish Theological Seminary's Karp copy alone among the copies he recorded - remains the standard statement of its scarcity and the single auction copy described with the notice together with the present set brings the number of traceable examples to a small handful. For a collector of American Judaica the distinction is decisive: with the notice the set is not merely the first Hebrew Bible printed in America but a first-state copy carrying the edition's own birth certificate - the document from which every account of the book's genesis from Wright in 1894 to Karp in 1991 ultimately derives.</p> <br /> <p>An early trace of the set's American life survives on the front pastedown of the first volume: the printed ticket of Talbot Watts 'The Cheapest Store in the World' for books prints and oil paintings at 102 Nassau Street New York dated March 1847. Doggett's city directory for 1846-47 lists Watts as an agent for books and paintings at that address in the heart of the Nassau Street quarter that was already New York's second-hand book row; his ticket places the volumes in the New York trade barely a generation after publication circulating among the city's collectors and curiosity buyers while Leeser's pointed Bible was still in preparation.</p> <br /> <p>The two volumes close a circle in the history of the Hebrew book: a text perfected in seventeenth-century Amsterdam by Athias and Van der Hooght carried across the Atlantic in a font of type by an Amsterdam Jew and reborn in Philadelphia as the young republic's first Scripture printed in the original tongue. The line they opened runs forward through Leeser's pointed Biblia Hebraica of 1848 to the whole subsequent tradition of American Jewish Bible publishing and backward to Monis's lonely Harvard grammar of 1735 - the two poles between which this edition stands as the decisive event. Few books document so compactly the moment the Hebrew Bible came to America: the race of projectors fought out in the newspapers the immigrant's font of Dutch type the Stone House imprint rendered into Latin and in the copies issued first a printed leaf asking the learned gentlemen of a young republic to help perfect the word.</p> <br /> <br /> References:<br /> Goldman Hebrew Printing in America 4 - Rosenbach An American Jewish Bibliography 171 - Singerman Judaica Americana 236 - Darlow & Moule 5168a - Shaw & Shoemaker 30857 - O'Callaghan American Bibles 1814:8 - Wright Early Bibles of America 3rd ed. 1894 pp. 122-24 - Wolf & Whiteman The History of the Jews of Philadelphia p. 306 - M. Vaxer 'The First Hebrew Bible Printed in America' Journal of Jewish Bibliography II 1940 pp. 20-26 - A.J. Karp From the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress Washington 1991 pp. 291-92 - S. Goldman God's Sacred Tongue: Hebrew and the American Imagination Chapel Hill 2004 - R.D. Arner Dobson's Encyclopaedia Philadelphia 1991.<br /> <br/> <br/> <p>Two vols. 8vo 221 × 139 mm ff. 6 296; 2 312 titles to both volumes dated 1814; the first volume with the inserted publisher's notice dated February 1814 and the four leaves of selections from Van der Hooght's Latin preface bound after the title. Contemporary American half calf over marbled boards smooth spines ruled in gilt with black lettering-pieces 'Biblia Hebraica' 'Tom. I'/'Tom. II'; binding moderately rubbed with loss of leather at the corners and some chipping at the spine ends; scattered foxing and some marginal staining the text generally clean. Printed ticket of Talbot Watts bookseller 102 Nassau Street New York dated March 1847 on the front pastedown of vol. I. Preserved in a custom cloth case with gilt-lettered morocco back.</p> . Printed by William Fry for Thomas Dobson unknown
1802373649Boston: Printed by Thomas Fleet 1802. The tenth American thumb Bible. Separate title pages to each work. With three wood or metal cuts in N.T. 1013-160; vi 107 2 ii-iv iv pp. 1 vols. Miniature 2-1/16 x 3-1/4 inches in 12s. Dappled tan pastepaper over wooden boards. Leaf A1 in OT supplied and remargined. The tenth American thumb Bible. Separate title pages to each work. With three wood or metal cuts in N.T. 1013-160; vi 107 2 ii-iv iv pp. 1 vols. Miniature 2-1/16 x 3-1/4 inches in 12s. A splendid copy of the miniature Bible printed by Thomas Fleet in 1801-2 the tenth American thumb Bible. The text is a paraphrase of the Old and New Testaments by John Taylor 1578-1653 known as the Water Poet; the earliest surviving edition of which was printed in London in 1614. In America five editions were printed in the 1760s and four more between 1786 and 1799. All are rare and survive in just a few copies. After about 1810 the number of thumb Bibles and the variousness of their titles and imprints increased markedly.<br /> <br /> The Fleet thumb Bible is two volumes bound as one each with a separate dated title page. Following the New Testament are Prayers for Morning and Prayers for Evening.<br /> <br /> There are four other recorded copies of this book: at the Morgan Library PML81221 lacking all half title and titles and other leaves; at AAS the Welch Stone copy lacking the half title and six pages of the Old Testament; at the Boston Public library rebound; and at the Lilly Library bibliographer Ruth Adomeit's copy in the original binding lacking the first leaf.<br /> <br /> A gorgeous copy in original binding. Shaw & Shoemaker 1383; Welch 1293.10; Adomeit A10 Printed by Thomas Fleet unknown
1808354112Philadelphia: Printed by Jane Aitken 1808. First edition. 512; 490; 444; 472pp. 4 vols. 8vo. Contemporary full black morocco gil likely bound by Jane Aitken minor wear at joints one spine splitting but holding. First edition. 512; 490; 444; 472pp. 4 vols. 8vo. "Charles Thomson 1729-1824 made the first translation of the Septuagint into the English language and the first English translation of the New Testament in the western hemisphere. Thomson spent twenty years in making the translation. The books called Apocrypha which are included in the canon of the Greek Old Testament but not in the Hebrew were omitted in his translation. After copying the manuscript four times he had it published at Philadelphia by Jane Aitken the first woman to print any part of the Holy Scriptures in America and the daughter of the printer Robert Aitken. It is of interest that the name 'Cha. Thomson' appears as the signer of the Congressional resolution in the front of the 1782 Aiken Bible" Hills.<br /> <br /> Charles Thomson emigrated to America from his native Ireland in 1739. On recommendation of Benjamin Franklin he served as a tutor at the College of Pennsylvania later the University of Pennsylvania. He later left teaching for business in which he prospered. "Because of his reputation for fairness and integrity he was chosen by the Indians to keep their record of proceedings at the treaty of Easton 1757 and in the following year he was adopted into the Delaware tribe with a name meaning `man who tells the truth'" DAB. He was an early and ardent supporter of the Revolution and was unanimously elected Secretary to the Continental Congress serving in that post from 1774 to 1789. Thomson "was the very man in Philadelphia with whom John Adams busily probing the minds of all and sundry on the vital questions involved would wish to have as he did have 'much conversation.' 'This Charles Thomson' Adams wrote 'is the Sam Adams of Philadelphia the life of the cause of liberty they say.'" DAB. Thomson resigned his post when he was offered no part in Washington's inauguration ceremonies nor any post in the new administration. He devoted the next twenty years to his monumental translation.<br /> <br /> Jane Aitken continued her father Robert's business after his death in 1802. "She had in 1810 a printing house in Philadelphia. She obtained much reputation by the productions which issued from her press" Thomas. In addition to being one of the first American female printers Jane Aitken was also a bookseller bookbinder businesswoman and employer. The typeface Aitken used for the Thomson Bible was an attractive and utilitarian type developed in 1796 by two Scotsmen Binney and Ronaldson at their Philadelphia type foundry. The Thomson Bible is considered her greatest printing achievement and the first Bible printed by a woman in America.<br /> <br /> This set in a very unusual American full morocco gilt binding likely bound by Aitken's shop. See Spawn Willman and Carol Spawn "The Aitken Shop: Identification of an Eighteenth-Century Bindery and Its Tools" in The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America vol. 57 no. 4 1963 pp. 422-37. Darlow & Moule 1005; Herbert 1514; Rumball-Petre 184; O'Callaghan 1808.2; Wright p.113; Hills 153; Thomas History of Printing in America p.402 Printed by Jane Aitken unknown
185369294Philadelphia: Isaac Leeser 1853. BIBLE IN ENGLISH; LEESER Isaac. LEESER Isaac translator. The Twenty-Four Books of the Holy Scriptures. Carefully translated according to the Masoretic Text on the Basis of the English Version after the best Jewish Authorities; and supplied with short Explanatory Notes. By Isaac Leeser. Hebrew "For it shall not be forgotten out of the mouth of his seed." Dent. xxxi 21. Philadelphia: Isaac Leeser 1853.<br> <br> Full Description:<br> <br> BIBLE IN ENGLISH. LEESER Isaac translator. The Twenty-Four Books of the Holy Scriptures. Carefully translated according to the Masoretic Text on the Basis of the English Version after the best Jewish Authorities; and supplied with short Explanatory Notes. By Isaac Leeser. Hebrew "For it shall not be forgotten out of the mouth of his seed." Dent. xxxi 21. Philadelphia: Isaac Leeser 1853.<br> <br> First edition of the first complete translation of the Old Testament by a Jewish translator into English building upon Leeser's 1845 translation of the five books of the Pentateuch translation in 1845-1846. Folio 10 3/8 x 8 3/8 inches; 275 x 212 mm.<br> <br> Original full brown morocco. Boards ruled and elaborately stamped in gilt. Spine stamped and lettered in gilt. All edges marbled. Marbled endpapers. Binding with some restoration along joints and edges. A bit of foxing mainly to the preliminaries. Some occasional light dampstaining. Overall a very good copy.<br> <br> "Having published a five-volume Pentateuch-cum-haftarot lections from the Prophets translation in 1845-1846 as well as a complete vocalized and accentuated Hebrew Bible in 1848 the first such edition published in the U.S. he proceeded from April 1852 to September 1853 to extend his translation efforts to the entire Hebrew Bible. The result was his Twenty-Four Books of the Holy Scriptures the first translation of all of Tanakh into English by a Jew complete with short explanatory notes. Leeser explained in the preface to his magnum opus that he undertook the project in order to provide Anglophone Jewry with a vernacular version of the Bible "which has not been made by the authority of churches in which they can have no confidence" pp. iii-iv. The book achieved wide popularity among English-speaking Jews and even some Gentiles especially in America and went through multiple editions." Sotheby's<br> <br> "The translation of the Bible was Leeser's great literary achievement and represented many years of patient labor and devotion to a task which he considered sacred. Leeser was not fully equipped for this work for he was no specialist in Hebrew philology nor a master if Jewish learning in general and he was quite conscious of his shortcomings but he was inspired. He says in his preface: 'I thought in all due humility that I might safely go to task confidently relying upon that superior aid which is never withheld from the inquirer after truth.' He made good use of the various German translations by Jews of the collective commentary known as the Biur vol. III sec. 81 and of other Jewish exegetic works. As a result his translation though based in style upon the King James version can be considered an independent work for the changes he produced are numerous and great. His prime concern was to supply the traditional interpretation when necessary and the retention of the Jewish spirit at times even at the expense of beauty of style. The translation went through numerous editions and until the new Jewish Publication Society version was issued in 1917 it was the only source from which many Jews not conversant with Hebrew derived their knowledge of the Bible in accordance with Jewish tradition" Waxman History of Jewish Literature 1090.<br> <br> HBS 69294.<br> <br> $12500. [Isaac Leeser] unknown
183952150Philadelphia: Bagster & Marshall 1839. First American edition. Hardcover. Good . Octavo. 6 10 778pp. Pointed Hebrew text in two columns the New Testament with only vocal marks. Continuous pagination in Arabic numerals; but separate Hebrew pagination for the Old and New Testaments. Contemporary three-quarter calf over pebbled cloth boards; spine with raised bands ruled and lettered in gilt. Decorative endleaves. Covers rubbed with wear at spine caps and corners. Library pressure stamp at title bookplate and pocket at paste-downs. A good ex-library copy with very clean fresh text throughout.<br /> <br /> First American edition of this Hebrew Bible earlier published by Samuel Bagster at London in 1835; it contains the first printing of the New Testament in Hebrew translation to appear in the United States. That translation was prepared by the philologist William Greenfield 1799-1831 the editorial superintendent of the British and Foreign Bible Society and first published by Samuel Bagster at London in 1831 D&M no. 5186. In preparing his revised Hebrew version Greenfield was allowed to utilise the London Jews' Society Hebrew New Testament published at London between 1813 and 1817 D&M no. 5170. Among the earliest publications of the society founded in 1809 this version was itself based upon Elias Hutter's Hebrew translation of the New Testament published at Nuremberg in 1599 D&M no. 5111. Prepared by a group of scholars under the supervision of Thomas Fry and William Bengo Collyer this London Jews’ Society edition employed only biblical words and translated Old Testament quotations from the Greek not citing them directly from the Hebrew Scriptures.<br /> <br /> The editor of the New Testament version in the present work appears to have had a notable gift for languages. William Greenfield began his Hebrew studies as a young man while apprenticed to a bookbinder taking lessons from one of his co-workers a Jew with some learning who had been described as "a reader of the law in the synagogue" ODNB. Greenfield subsequently left the business in 1824 in order to devote himself to languages and biblical criticism. His defence of the Serampore Mahratta version of the New Testament in response to an 1829 article in the Asiatic Journal brought him to the attention of the British and Foreign Bible Society who then hired him to superintend their editiorial department. "During his nineteen months in the society's service Greenfield wrote on twelve European five Asiatic one African and three American languages and acquired considerable knowledge of Peruvian African-English Chippeway and Berber" ODNB. His revision of the Hebrew New Testament earlier published by the London Jews' Society was among the last works he undertook for the British and Foreign Bible Society along with the revision of the Modern Greek Psalter as it went through the press.<br /> <br /> Provenance: Bookplate and other markings including withdrawal stamp of the Library of the Garrett Theological Seminary Evanston Illinois. Full title in Hebrew: ספר הקדש ×•×”×•× ×ª×•×¨×” × ×‘×™××™× ×•×›×ª×•×‘×™× ×’× ×›×ª×‘×™ ברית החדשה × ×¢×ª×§ מלשון ×™×•× ×™×ª ×ל לשון עברית <br /> Philadelphiae: Sumptibus Bagster et Marshall in via vulgo dicta Chestnut Street ad Repositorium Bibliorum Sacrorum etc. quae in linguis antiquis et hodiernis edita sunt. Anno erae Judaicae I rev. C; rev. C DXCIX.<br /> <br /> References: Goldman Hebrew Printing in America no. 6: "This was the first New Testament published in Hebrew in America." ODNB: "Greenfield William" Gordon Goodwin revised by H. C. G. Matthew. J. R. Marcus "Jewish Americana a Supplement to A. S. W. Rosenbach An American Jewish Bibliography" in: Monographs of the American Jewish Archives 1954 no. 1 no. 164. Cf. Darlow & Moule nos. 5111; 5170; 5186. Bagster & Marshall hardcover
1824373835New York: Edicion Estereotipica por A. Chandler 1824. First American Edition of the Bible in Spanish. 928; 251pp. 4to. Contemporary panelled calf usual wear front hinge neatly repaired. Foxing. Provenance: Essex Institute label on front pastedown. In half red morocco slipcase and chemise. First American Edition of the Bible in Spanish. 928; 251pp. 4to. First American edition of the Bible in Spanish printed by the American Bible Society for the use of missionaries in South America. It is among the earliest Catholic bibles printed in the United States noted on the verso of the titlepage as "Edicion 1". The text was taken from the Madrid edition of 1797 translated from the Latin by Felipe Scio de San Miguel Bishop of Segovia.<br /> <br /> Scarce on the market with no examples in the auction records for the last half century. Shaw & Shoemaker 15340; O'Callaghan 1824; Parsons 813 Edicion Estereotipica por A. Chandler unknown
1843L3LFICT78EKXOahu and Honolulu: American Bible Society 1843. Later half calf. Large 8vo 24 x 14 cm. Including: Ke kauoha hou a ko kakou haku e ola'i a Iesu Kristo oia ka olelo hemolele no ke ola a na lunaolelo i kakau ai. Second edition of the entire Bible in the Hawaiian language but the first edition in octavo to be published in a single volume. The translation a joint effort of American missionaries and Hawaiian advisers was a monumental work of language and scholarship. "Neither of the two very different groups of people who produced the Baibala - the missionary scholars working with ancient texts and the Hawaiian chiefs and advisors guardians of a millennium of traditional Kanaka learning - could have produced even a pedestrian Bible translation on their own. Together through over a decade of incessant and mostly fruitful labor and cooperation they created a work for the ages among the best Bible translations of their century and an enduring literary monument today" Lyon.The first gospels in the Hawaiian language were printed in 1827-1828 ultimately leading to a complete translation of the New Testament in 1835 which was revised in 1837. The first translation of the Old Testament was published in 1838 and together with the 1837 New Testament incorporated in a complete edition of the Bible in three volumes. In 1843 these texts were reprinted with several mistakes corrected in a more compact version and then bound together to form this edition of the Bible. Apparently sales of the 10000 copies printed were slow with records showing that "between 400 and 600 Bibles were bound and presumably distributed each year" Forbes. This slow distribution could explain why no new edition of the complete Bible in Hawaiian appeared until 1868.With an 1853 owner's inscription on the title page. Slightly foxed and with several sections slightly browned; a very good copy.l Forbes 1416; Judd 165; Lyon "No ka Baibala Hemolele: The making of the Hawaiian Bible" in: Palapala I 2017 pp. 113-151. American Bible Society, unknown
1827180737Paris: Darü't T baatü'l Mülkiyyeü'l Mamure 1827. The Old and New Testament in Ottoman Turkish First Ottoman Turkish edition of the Old and New Testaments together funded by the British and Foreign Bible Society and based on the translation made by Ali Ufki Bey d. 1675 an influential agent for European diplomats in 17th-century Turkey. We have only traced four institutional copies. Unusually the Ottoman text is fully vocalized. Ali Ufki Bey christened Wojchiech Bobowski was known in Europe as Albertus Bobovius. After his enslavement by the Tartars in the Ukraine he was forcibly converted to Islam and brought to Istanbul where he worked in the Ottoman palace for over two decades. The editor the famous Turcologist Jean-Daniel Kieffer d. 1833 had published a standalone Turkish edition of the New Testament in 1819 always with the British and Foreign Bible Society. Kieffer's starting point was Ali Ufki Bey's Ottoman Turkish text revised according to critical comments on the first edition of his New Testament. Kieffer also compared the Ottoman text "with the original texts as well as with the standard English French and German versions. W. Seaman's Nogai New Testament of 1666 T. Erpenius' Arabic version H. Martyn's Persian version H. Brunton's Nogai New Testament of 1813 and with the London Polyglot. On crucial questions he had the advice of Baron Silvestre de Sacy" Darlow & Moule. The present edition was printed in 5000 copies on the presses of the Louvre hence the "Royal Printing House" imprint. The same binding - arguably a publisher's binding - is found on another copy of this edition. 2 vols in one large quarto 257 x 222 mm pp. ii 984; ii 3 i 318. Titles within double typographical ruling. Contemporary Ottoman Turkish brown sheep blind stamped to a panel design arabesque cornerpieces on inner corners large arabesque centrepieces flat spine triple blind ruled gilt lettered title. 20th-century inked and pencilled Ottoman Turkish annotations on pastedowns and first title. Spine and extremities refurbished boards a bit rubbed contents slightly toned but overall clean a little light marginal water staining along outer edge of initial gatherings: a very good copy. Darlow & Moule 9456. hardcover
1876R69<p><strong>Description: </strong>Quarto 9.75" x 6.5". Text in two column Roman font. 3-892 Old Testament 1-276 pp. New Testament. The books of the Old Testament are arranged in Jewish order with Chronicles at the end. One of 950 copies.</p><p><strong>Binding: </strong>Rebacked in matching black calf with original spine laid down. Embossed cloth spine with "Holy Bible" and "Translated by Julia E. Smith" lettered in gilt to spine. All edges speckled red. Rubbed to edges with loss of small portions of relaid spine.</p><p><strong>Condition:</strong> Crisp clean and bright.</p><p><strong>Provenance: </strong>Note inked on front flyleaf reads "This Bible translated by my late wife Julia E. Smith is presented to Mrs. Susan E. Tullar by Amos A. Parker Aged Ninety Eight – Fitzwilliam N.H. June 20th 1889."</p><p><strong>Note: </strong>A remarkably well-preserved copy of the first and only Bible translated entirely by a woman. Julia E. Smith 1792–1886 of Glastonbury Connecticut used her knowledge of Latin Greek and Hebrew to render the entire Bible into English. A member of the Sandemanian sect which sought to restore the Apostolic church she dedicated eight years to her translation but did not publish it for another twenty-one years.</p><p>Sampson recounts Julia's deep passion for the project: "I cannot express how greatly I enjoy the work of translating and now the real meaning of different texts would thrill through my mind till I could hardly contain myself." According to one account she became so engrossed in her work that she often failed to hear the dinner bell and had to be summoned by her sisters.</p><p>Elizabeth Cady Stanton in her radical and controversial work <em>The Woman's Bible</em> remarked that Smith's translation would become a rarity in the next century "much sought after by bibliomaniacs to say nothing of scholars who will want it for its real value."</p><p><strong>References:</strong> Herbert 2202; Hills 1918; Rumball-Petre 201; Stanton Elizabeth Cady. <em>The Woman's Bible</em>. Sampson Emily. <em>With Her Own Eyes: The Story of Julia Smith.</em></p> American Publishing Company hardcover
1862ST20857London: Edmund Evans for Sampson Low Son and Co 1862. ONE OF PERHAPS 10 COPIES PRINTED ON VELLUM. 260 x 195 mm. 10 1/4 x 7 3/4". vii 1 235 1 pp. <br/> Publisher's stiff vellum smooth spine with gilt lettering edges untrimmed. In a modern felt-lined blue buckram drop-back box. Decorative initials in red or blue title page and text leaves with full criblé border of vined foliation occasionally inhabited eight or 10 leaves with more extensive illustrations at head or foot all engraved by W. J. Linton after illustrations by John Franklin. Front pastedown with ex-libris of Marion Hope Rattey. A Large Paper Copy. McLean "Victorian Book Design" p. 184. Short thin cracks to head and tail of front joint spine vaguely soiled upper cover with two very small brown spots and one trivial red mark occasional mild rumpling or naturally occurring variations in the grain or thickness of the vellum as usual a couple of minor smudges but still a very agreeable copy the binding solid and without the splaying common in vellum books the interior clean fresh and bright and the margins extraordinarily wide.<br/> <br/> This is an infrequently encountered copy of a beautiful Victorian book on vellum issued by one of the era's top printers. The volume was printed by Edmund Evans 1826-1905 who is now best remembered for his illustrations and advances in color wood engravings. Relatively little is known about this book's production: Ruari McLean tells us that it was "entirely printed" by Evans but it is unknown whether he was responsible for the design as well McLean remarks that "if Evans was responsible for its design it shows his superiority in book-making". We also are unsure how many copies were printed on vellum although the general consensus is 10. Regardless as McLean tells us "it is one of the prettiest books of the 'sixties" with sharp deep impressions of the type on the rich creamy vellum jewel-like colored initials and elegant wood-engraved illustrations. These illustrations are the work of John Franklin ca.1800-68 a painter and draftsman who was highly respected in his own time. The precisely realized borders feature idealized human forms posed within a robust botanical largely acanthus context the figures posing with balletic grace their expressive faces often turned gently away from the reader. The size of the leaf here is significant: the untrimmed edges retain their tiny printing pinholes which would normally have been trimmed away with regrettable loss. And not surprisingly our vellum printing is almost never seen: we could trace just two copies at auction since 1924. Former owner Marion Hope Rattey 1922-97 was likely the daughter of bibliographer Clifford C. Rattey 1886-1970 whose impressive library featured incunabula and block prints. [Edmund Evans for] Sampson Low, Son, and Co unknown
1855313594New York: American Bible Society 1855. Royal 8vo. Bound in full contemporary morocco a.e.g. With "S. Augusta Brown" 1825-1909 stamped in gilt on the upper cover. With two examples of embroidered Berlin wool work laid in one with initals "SAB Oct. 29 1859" and the other an alter scene. Royal 8vo. The bible of Sophia Augusta Brown 1825-1909 wife of John Carter Brown herself an active bibliophile who helped her husband build his library and oversaw its stewardship after his death. Sophia Augusta was 34 and John Carter Brown 61 when they married after a brief courtship on June 23 1859. That event is recorded in the family record between the Old and New Testaments as are the births and marriages of the couple's three children--John Nicholas Brown Harold Brown and Sophia Augusta--the marriages of the two sons and the death of John Carter Brown "dearly loved Husband & Father" on June 10 1874. The younger Sophia Augusta Brown married banker and businessman William Watts Sherman 1842-1912 whose Newport RI house is an architectural landmark.<br /> <br /> The daughter of Patrick Browne an Anglo-Irish jurist and member of Her Majesty's Council of the Bahamas and Harriet Thayer of Providence a direct descendant of Roger Williams Sophia Augusta Brown was "an indomitable force in an era when women were discovering a role for themselves in the charitable sector . For Sophia Augusta perpetuating her husband's mission through the sound management and enhancement of his collection was her way of contributing to the advancement of knowledge and understanding among peoples . From her sons' earliest age Sophia Augusta ensured they would develop an appreciation for the care condition and housing of books . John Nicholas and Harold often accompanied their mother to booksellers and private collectors. At an early age they were shown priceless works: a Columbus letter the papers of Leonardo daVinci a note by Galileo . On his trips to Europe as an adult John Nicholas was expected to report back . with his assessment of the books he encountered . When he turned 22 in 1883 Sophia Augusta entrusted him with the care of the library" Sylvia Brown Grappling with Legacy: Rhode Island's Brown Family and the American Philanthropic Impulse 2017. While her husband was still alive Sophia Augusta oversaw the construction in 1862 of the fireproof library wing in the Nightingale-Brown House which remained the site of the library until it was relocated to its current home at Brown University at the impetus of John Nicholas Brown's will. American Bible Society unknown
187642309Hartford Connecticut: American Publishing Company 1876. 4to. 9 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches. 2 892 pp. Old Testament; 276 pp. New Testament. Original publisher’s brown pebble-grain cloth blind stamped boards spine and upper cover lettered in gilt<br/> <br/> First edition of the first complete English Bible translated by a woman a touchstone of American printing feminism and religious scholarship in the original publisher's binding.<br/> <br/> Born in Glastonbury Connecticut in 1792 Julia Evelina Smith taught herself Latin Greek Hebrew and French while earning a living as a schoolteacher and later as an outspoken abolitionist and suffragist. In 1843 she began to test the English Bible against the originals and soon resolved as she writes in her preface "to put the same English word for the same Hebrew or Greek word everywhere.It may seem presumptuous for an ordinary woman with no particular advantages of education to translate and publish alone the most wonderful book that has ever appeared in the world.It took me about seven years to accomplish the five translations." Working verse by verse Smith produced five complete drafts twice from Greek twice from Hebrew once from Latin finishing in 1855. When commercial publishers declined to issue so unconventional a text she underwrote the project herself consigning it to Hartford's American Publishing Company in the nation's centennial year. The resulting volume is the first complete English Bible translated by a woman and remains the only one executed single-handedly without editorial committee or co-translator. Smith's method is uncompromisingly literal: Hebrew tense shifts and Greek word order are preserved even when the English prose becomes rugged. The translation therefore offers modern readers an unfiltered view of the underlying languages and stands in pointed contrast to the smoother interpretive revisions then underway in Britain and America. Earlier centuries had seen only partial female forays into Scripture such as Anne Locke's 1560 sonnet-cycle on Psalm 51 and the Countess of Pembroke's masterly completion of the Sidney Psalter after her brother's death but none covered the full canon. Smith's 1876 Bible stands today as both a landmark of American print culture and a quiet declaration of intellectual equality.<br/> <br/> Simms The Bible in America pp. 149-50; Stanton The Woman's Bible p. 151; Notable American Women 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Cambridge Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 1971. American Publishing Company unknown
18381176E083Leipzig: Karl Tauchnitz 1838. 1st Edition . Hardback. Printed pages: 8vo. 4 620. Very Good Minus. 5.5 x 8.25 inches 13.5 x 21 cm. Later binding with paper covered boards. Fading and light marking to covers. Uncut pages with wide margins. Some creasing to first and last few pages light foxing to text small stamp to title page dated 13 May 1846. A rare early Russian language edition of the New Testament. The 1838 Leipzig edition published by Karl Tauchnitz - this unauthorised edition was the first Russian language edition of the New Testament to be published outside Russia. The Russian Bible Society had previously issued Russian language editions between 1822 and 1826 but no other edition was published in Russia until the Synod authorised edition of 1860. This 1838 edition had a print run of 2000 copies 500 of which were smuggled into Russia. A good solid example of a very rare item. Overall condition is Very Good Minus. Size: 5.5 x 8.25 inches 13.5 x 21 cm. Karl Tauchnitz hardcover
1819373865Lancaster Penn: Johann Bär 1819. Text in two columns. Engraved frontispieces to the OT and NT. 10 100 12 4 738 26 4 227 1 92pp. Folio. Contemporary calf covers bordered with gilt roll tools and cornerpieces covers with pictorial blocking press and stencil-masked sprinkled motif in relief Moses on the upper cover and Jesus on the lower cover spines with double-raised bands elaborately tooled in gilt with additional stencil-masked motifs in relief red morocco letter piece marbled endpaper gilt edges repair to upper joint and hinge original full calf slipcase. Text in two columns. Engraved frontispieces to the OT and NT. 10 100 12 4 738 26 4 227 1 92pp. Folio. The first German folio Bible printed in America in a very unusual and elaborate American binding and with a very early slipcase. Wright p. 139 Johann Bär unknown
188650292Tokyo: Tokiwaya 1886. Very good. Scarce and exceptional first edition thus a light-hearted illustrated adaptation of the Creation and story of Adam and Eve from the Book of Genesis into Japanese. The story of Bible editions in Japan reflects the country's fraught history with Christianity; after the religion was banned in the early 17th century the portions printed by Catholic missionaries were lost. The ban on Christianity lifted only in the Meiji era first partially in 1873 then enshrined in the Constitution 1889 by means of an article on the freedom of religion. <br /> <br /> The post-Meiji Restoration translation effort of the Hebrew Bible began in 1882 and was finally completed in 1887. Books were completed and issued in parts with Genesis first issued in 1883. This heavily illustrated and lighthearted version of the two most famous stories from Genesis adapts the text to a well-established literary genre of Meiji Japan: KusazÅshi a forerunner of manga popular illustrated works in which the text weaves around the illustrations that dominate most spreads. Because they were meant for a popular audience the text is often primarily in hiragana or kanji with furigana; here the text is shown in three writing styles: kanji hiragana and romaji with furigana glosses. <br /> <br /> This presentation suggests how Christian mythology must have appeared to Japanese readers much as say Greek mythology seems to modern American readers of Homer. God is depicted as a mustachioed wise man while the serpent approaches Eve on legs. Most charmingly one spread depicts God spying on Adam and Eve with a pair of binoculars. <br /> <br /> While listed as the "first part" it is all published with no second volume ever appearing. We find only two copies at the National Diet Library and at Waseda University. 7.75'' x 5.25''. Original printed wrappers. Woodblock printed and illustrated including 16 double-page spreads. Title page matching illustrated cover printed on red metallic-speckled paper. 39 1 pages. Some staining and wear to wrappers with 2.5'' paper repair to rear wrapper verso. Black ink calligraphy to versos of both wrappers. Housed in custom blue cloth chemise. [Tokiwaya] unknown
1877ST20670Stuttgart: Edward Hallberger ca. 1877. Fourth Edition. 430 x 315 mm. 16 3/4 x 12 1/4". Two volumes. Translated into German by Dr. Joseph Franz Allioli. <br/> PUBLISHER'S SPLENDID RED CLOTH VERY ELABORATELY STAMPED IN GILT AND BLIND covers with bevelled edges thick and thin gilt-rule border enclosing ornate blind-stamped frame large central oval containing a lobed gilt frame with gilt lettering inside spine divided into blind-stamped panels by decorative and plain gilt rules two large panels with gilt lettering and volume number original cloth hinges white moiré paper endpapers all edges gilt. IN THE ORIGINAL PRINTED GRAY DUST JACKETS jacket of second volume with small very expert repairs at bottom and the original black cardboard clamshell boxes solidly reinforced with black tape. WITH 230 DRAMATIC PLATES BY GUSTAVE DORÉ. Volume I with four leaves for recording family members marriages births and deaths each with a decorative frame all unused. Malan "Doré" p. 85. Isolated spots of minor foxing due to paper content one cover of the very rarely seen dust jackets with red offsetting from the frame on the cover but AN UNSURPASSABLE COPY--clean fresh and bright internally the bindings and jackets IN SPARKLING CONDITION.<br/> <br/> This is a time-capsule copy of perhaps the most popular illustrated Bible ever issued and one of the very few Bibles which has always been known by the name of its illustrator. According to his biographer the artist was excited by the "almost endless series of intensely dramatic events" he would get to portray; the results originally created for the 1866 Grand Bible of Tours are so evocative that the critic Bouchot called them "the terror of frail readers." Doré 1832-83 makes remarkable use of light shadow and composition to convey the full range of splendor horror pathos and ecstasy contained in the Scriptures. Because he was so prolific it is estimated that he made more than 100000 designs in his lifetime Doré inevitably had his detractors but Ray says simply that he was "one of the greatest of all illustrators." Taine says that "every imagination appeared languid in comparison with his. For energy force superabundance originality sparkle and gloomy grandeur I know of only one equal to his--that of Tintoretto." The Doré Bible was translated into at least 24 languages; ours is the German version by Catholic theologian Joseph Franz Allioli 1793-1873. According to Malan "The Roman Catholic Church has never diminished its praise of these illustrations." And these illustrations endured in many Catholic and Protestant Bibles especially during the last third of the 19th century but actually until the present. The Bible was such a cultural phenomenon that Mark Twain even mentioned it in “Tom Sawyer†as a motivating prize for students to learn Scripture. The Bible’s success prompted Doré to reinterpret his illustrations in huge paintings that were displayed at Doré Gallery in London. Malan says that the exhibition “was considered the greatest collection of religious paintings in the world." The boxes that were issued with our set have clearly weathered some blows over the years but they did their job perfectly as the volumes they protected hardly seem to have been opened in their lifetime and their dust jackets even considering the minor repair are also in a breathtaking state of preservation. Edward Hallberger unknown
186341855London: S.P.C.K. 1863. A Fine Copy. 8vo. ii381p. in the original blind panel decorated dark calf gilt spine title marbled endpapers and edges ~ No copies on WorldCat. Darlow and Moule 1399. The First New Testament printed in a language of the New Hebrides. Translated by J. Geddie and J Inglis. The translation was taken to England by Mr. and Mrs. Inglis who began the work of revision during the voyage and finished it in England with the help of Williamu a native of Aneiiyum. "Rev. John Geddie originally fom Nova Scotia and Rev. John Inglis from Scotland were Presbyterian missionaries sent to the New Hebrides specifically to Aneiteum now called Vanuatu to convert the natives to Christianity. The Bible was the first book published in the Aneiteum language. ~ New Hebrides is the colonial name for the island group in the South Pacific Ocean that is now Vanuatu. Native people had inhabited the islands for three thousand years. S.P.C.K. unknown
18801052551880. BIBLE. Bibl yr Addoliad Teuluaidd. London and New York: London Printing and Publishing Company circa 1880. Thick folio 11-1/2 by 16 inches period-style full dark purple pebbled morocco tooled in gilt and blind raised bands brass name plate on front cover brass clasps and catches all edges gilt. $3500.Victorian edition of the ""Family Worship Bible"" in Welsh with engraved vignette title page frontispiece and 45 folio engraved illustrations beautifully bound with brass furniture.As with many vernacular translations the rendering of the Bible into Welsh was important to the survival of the language. Recognizing Welsh as a liturgical language helped ensure its continued use as a means of everyday communication down to the present day despite the pressure of English. Not in Darlow & Moule. Fine condition splendidly bound. hardcover
1871321050Londra: Printed by William Clowes and Sons 1871. Proof copy gatherings C D and E marked for corrections. Revised and corrected by Borrow from his 1837 translation. 116 1 pp. Collation A-E12. 1 vols. 12mo. Full cream vellum boards ruled in blue marbled pastedowns untrimmed sheets. Remains of ownership signature on upper board Geo Hy Borrow. Bookplate removed else fine. Half morocco slipcase and cloth wrapper. Proof copy gatherings C D and E marked for corrections. Revised and corrected by Borrow from his 1837 translation. 116 1 pp. Collation A-E12. 1 vols. 12mo. George Borrow 1803-1881 spent most of his thirties as a representative of the British and Foreign Bible Society first in Russia and then in the Iberian Peninsula from 1835 to 1840. "In Spain civil war made his expeditions risky while the hostile attitude of the authorities coupled with his own provocative approach led twice to his imprisonment. . In Madrid the Bible Society financed the printing of St Luke's gospel translated into Spanish Romani by Borrow and Gypsy friends" ODNB. His account of his adventures The Bible in Spain 1843 was his first literary success. Other works included Lavengro The Romany Rye and Wild Wales.<br /> <br /> These are a set of Borrow's marked proofs for this second edition of the Gospel of St. Luke first printed in Madrid 1837. Gathering C is marked Revise May 27/72 with five corrections on pp. 59 and 69; gathering B is marked 2nd Revise Aug. 9/71 and corrects the running head Majaro to Majaró on the left hand pages with some 22 corrections to the text; gathering E is marked 10th Revise Feb. 9/72 with one marginal note on p. 116. <br /> Of this 1871 proof OCLC records only the copy at the Huntington with corrections in George Borrow's hand bound in polished brown calf marbled end-papers gilt top; purchased from Maggs Cat. 1924 item 443. Collie and Fraser note a handful of other proofs citing copies at Fales NYU Berg NYPL Brotherton Leeds Liverpool and in the Norfolk Record Office Norwich.<br /> A rare proof from Borrow's late career returning to a work from his early adventures. Darlow and Moule 4543 edition dated 1872 published by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Collie and Fraser pp. 116-7; OCLC 81611475 Huntington [Printed by William Clowes and Sons] unknown
1855ABC_47909London: William Watts 1855. Original elaborately embossed brown calf with the title lettered in gold on the spine red edges. 8vo 22 x 14 cm. Rare edition of one of the best Arabic translations of the Bible. This work is based on the 1671 version from Rome which was the first printed edition of the complete Bible in Arabic. However the version from 1671 was not vocalised written with vowel points but the present edition from London is.The Arabic translation of the Bible from 1671 was done under the direction of Sergius Risi d. 1638 the archbischop of Damascus. It had been requested by the Archbischop of Aleppo and other important figures from the Eastern Church as manuscript copies had become rare and were often found to be incorrect. Risi and his team compared the Arabic manuscripts of the Bible they had access to with Hebrew and Latin versions and then composed their own translation. They first completed the Arabic Pentateuch. The Old and New Testament followed in 1647 and 1650 respectively after Risi's passing. These translations were revised and then finally published in 1671. It was the only Arabic translation of the complete Bible until 1811. Numerous new translations were made in 19th century. The present Catholic edition of the Arabic Bible translation existed alongside the 1860 Protestant translation by Cornelius van Alen van Dyck.According to the title-page this edition of the Old Testament was printed in 1855. However none of the relevant reference works mention an 1855 edition. Since the title-page of the New Testament bears the year 1857 it is possible that the Old Testament was also printed in that year and the date on the title-page is a printing mistake. The 1857 edition is also fairly rare on the market as we have only been able to find it in 1 sales record of the past 100 years.With the label of Watkins' bookbinding factory mounted on the front pastedown and a purple Spanish stamp from the library of someone with a law degree on the final leaf. The edges and corners of the boards are somewhat scuffed the binding is rubbed with some loss of material on the spine. The leaves are somewhat browned mild foxing throughout the back pastedown has a tear in the gutter. Otherwise in good condition.l BM General catalogue vol 2 p. 1276-198/199 other eds.; Darlow & Moule 1684; WorldCat 1402269394 1 copy 1857 ed.; cf. Green Journeymen middlemen: travel transculture and technology in the origins of Muslim printing. In: International journal of Middle East studies vol. 41 2 2009 pp. 203-224. William Watts, unknown
1869G8TDHJ3G5KTIHonolulu: printed by Henry M. Whitney 1869. Stab-sewn in contemporary marbled wrappers nonpareil pattern. Rebacked with brown cloth. 12mo. Rare edition of the Acts of the Apostles in Kosraean Kusaiean spoken on the islands of Kosrae the Caroline Islands and Nauru. The translation is by Benjamin G. Snow a pioneer of Micronesian Mission. He settled in Kosraea in 1852 and published several translations of parts of the New Testament from 1862 until his death in 1880 all printed at Honolulu.The printer of the present booklet Henry M. Whitney was born at Waimea in 1824. He was educated in the United States where he became acquainted with the printing trade working as foreman in the printing office of Harpers & Bros New York. Upon his return to Hawaii Whitney became the editor of the newspaper Polynesian. He later founded an independent newspaper at Honolulu and imported the first power press to Hawaii.In very good condition.l WorldCat 950951212 2 copies; cf. Darlowe & Moule 6036-6045 other Kosraean translations by Snow; for Whitney: The Independent vol. XVIII no. 2894 August 18 1904. printed by Henry M. Whitney, hardcover
181160229Hernösandesne Carolen G. Nordinen Trykkeriast 1811. 8vo. In modest contemporary half calf over marbled boards. Repair to hinges and head of spine. Ex-libris pasted on to verso of front board. Stamp to title-page and last leaf of text. Internally very fine and clean. A fine copy. 2 687 1 pp. <br/><br/><em>Rare second printing published simultaneously with the Editio Princeps of the complete bible Darlow & Moule 6060 of the second translation of the the New Testament into the Sami language. In 1808 Dr. Paterson and Dr. Henderson who were visiting Torneå as delegates of the B.F.B.S. British and Foreign Bible Society reported the preparation of the Lapp Bible the Editio Princeps to the London Committee. ON hearing of the activities of the B.F.B.S. Bishop Nordin suggested that the Society should publish a separate edition of the N.T. The London Committee made a grant of 250l. towards this object; and under the care of the Evangelical Society of Stockholm which supplied the paper an edition … was printed with the same type as athe Bible of 1811 and issued concurrently with it. The edition was intended chiefly for gratuitous circulation and copies were distributed among Lapps by the aid of the Swedish Government. Darlow & Moule 6061 Darlow & Moule 6061. </em> hardcover
1849347800London: Printed for the Use of the Mission in Labrador by the British and Foreign Bible Society 1849. Text in Inuktitut. 4 675 1pp. 12mo. Good. Text in Inuktitut. 4 675 1pp. 12mo. First edition. 12mo. 5 2-675 1 pp. Text aside from title page and publication information in the Eskimo Inuktitut language. Full calf by "Watkins Binder" with their tiny ticket on the rear pastedown. Ex-Bowdoin College Library with their bookplate and withdrawn stamp on front pastedown spine label unobtrusive blindstamp on title page and small inked number on copyright page. Binding worn with a vertical split at the spine and slight loss at the spine ends lacking the rear flyleaf a sound good copy. With a worn leaf from an earlier New Testament translation from the Gospel of Luke laid in. An early Moravian translation of portions of the Old Testament for use in Labrador. OCLC seems to locate 19 copies over several records but only six copies in the U.S. Sabin 75836; Pilling 3461; Darlow & Moole 3518 Printed for the Use of the Mission in Labrador by the British and Foreign Bible Society unknown
