
AMERICANA TO 1820
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AMERICAN BIBLES PART
I
PRE-1820 ORDERED
BY DATE
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Bible.
German. 1743. Luther.
[Biblia, das ist: Die Heilige Schrift Altes und Neues Testaments, nach der Deutschen
Uebersetzung D. Martin Luthers, mit jedes Capitels kurzen Summarien, auch beygefügten
vielen und richtigen Parllelen {sic}. Germantown: Gedruckt bey Christoph
Saur, 1743]. 4to (26.3 cm, 10.375"). [2] ff. (supplied in facsimile), 995, [1
(blank)], 277, [1] pp., [1] f.
$6000.00

1743 saw the first complete Bible in a European language printed
in the New World, in—of all places—Germantown, Pa., and in—of
all languages—German. The colonial powers had granted monopolies for Bible
printing to “home” publishers and their products were priced sufficiently
low to discourage illegal printing by colonial printers, which left it to German-Americans—a
people here as independent settlers, not “colonists”—to first
print a Bible of their own. Christopher Saur (or Sower, as he Englished it)
was something of a renaissance man, university educated and a physician, and
he used his connections in Germany to obtain the gift of the fraktur
type used in this Bible. It was printed in an edition of 1200 copies, and cost
18 shillings. Another complete American Bible did not follow until Saur’s
son, also Christopher, published a further edition in 1763. 
Arndt
lists three states for this edition, of which this appears to be C, based on
the absence of a two-leaf addendum giving a short history of Bible translation—that
a buyer could choose to have bound in or not.
Rumball-Petre, Rare Bibles, 159; Darlow & Moule 4240;
O’Callaghan 22; Wright, Early Bibles of America, 24–44;
Evans 5127–28; Sabin 5191; Arndt, The First Century of German Language
Printing in the United States of America, 47C; Hildeburn, The Issues
of the Press in Pennsylvania, 1685-1784, 804. Contemporary calf over bevelled
boards. Binding scratched and abraded with tears to spine leather. Hinges
(inside only) open. A printed poem has been affixed to the front pastedown,
over a strip of cloth. Ownership inscriptions in German (in gothic cursive)
and English on endpapers. Pp. 1–2 with loss of part of margins, some
text, and part of headpiece, repaired with paper. Lightly age-toned with darker
brown-spotting, some waterstaining, occasional dog ears, and some holing or
chipping in the margins—some of the latter repaired with paper. First
two leaves, i.e., main title-page and preface supplied in facsimile; the New
Testament title-page is present.

Saur Psalms, 1764
Bible. O.T. Psalms. German. Luther. 1764. Das kleine Davidische Psalterspiel der Kinder Zions. Germantown: Gedruckt bey Christoph Saur, 1764. 12mo. [3] ff., 570 pp., [12] ff.
$950.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Third printing in America of the German metrical psalms; from the press of the man to print the first German Bible in America, which was also the first Bible printed in the New
World in a European language. Printed in double-column format, without the music.
Provenance: Old inked inscription of John Ebersole, dated 1793, on front free endpaper; later pencilled signatures of Anna Ebersole and another person to pastedown.
Evans 9602; Hildeburn, Pennsylvania, 2045; Arndt & Eck, First Century of German Language Printing in the U.S., 296; ESTC W20981. Contemporary calf with one clasp working and a remnant of the other; moderate rubbing to covers, leather on spine showing flex marks from the tight-back binding. Later spine labels. Faint library pressure-stamp on title-page;
signatures as above. Age-toning and some staining; in fact the paper in cleaner condition than is often seen. (25959)

Saur's
Lutheran HYMNAL
Bible. O.T. Psalms. Paraphrases, German. Vollständiges Marburger Gesang-Buch zur Uebung der Gottseligkeit, in 649 christlichen und trostreichen Psalmen und Gesängen Hrn. D. Martin Luthers. Germantown [PA]: Christoph Saur, 1770. (16.8 cm, 6.7"). Frontis., [12], 490, [15], 13, 83 (i.e., 84; 85/86 lacking) pp.
$500.00

Fourth edition of the famous Marburger hymnal, from the famous German-American press of the Saur family. The first-ever edition appeared in 1549 and was the first printed in America (by Saur) in 1759. Like other known copies, this one ends with “Evangelia und Episteln auf alle Sonntage . . . und der Historie von der Zerstöhrung der Stadt Jerusalem.”
Click the interior image for an enlargement.
The volume opens with a woodcut portrait of Martin Luther which according to Hamilton (cited in Reilly [see below]) “might have been made by Justu Fox who was working in Philadelphia at this time.”
Evans 11714; Hildeburn, Pennsylvania, 2561; ESTC W21005; Warrington, History and Practice of Psalmody in the United States, p. 39; Reilly, Dictionary of American Printers' Ornaments & Illustrations, 1577. Contemporary sheep, rebacked some time ago, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-, place, “Chris. Saur,” and date labels; rubbed in the ordinary degree and with remnants of clasps. Back free endpaper lacking; pastedowns and blanks with old inked and pencilled signatures and writing practice(?) — which we do not make out much of, beyond “Johann(es).” Three leaves each with closed tear from outer margin extending into text; three index leaves with tattered outer edges, one with loss of lower outer portion; small section of pages with odd little dent to outer edge; last leaf present (and that leaf only) with a couple of pin-type wormholes; final leaf lacking. Pages age-toned, with moderate spotting and staining. Priced according to its described “issues,” not according to its considerable charm on shelf and in hand. (25105)

The “Gun Wad” Bible — The First Bible Printed
from
Type Cast in America
Bible. German. 1776. Luther. Biblia, das ist: Die ganze Göttliche heilige Schrift Alten und Neuen Testaments. Germantown: Gecruckt und zu finden bey Christoph Saur, 1776. 4to. 2 pts. in 1 vol. [2] ff., 992 pp,; 277, [1] pp., [1] f.
$6500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Popularly known as the “Gun Wad” Bible, this is the third edition of the first American Bible in a European language and it precedes the first American Bible in English by six years. It is known as the “Gun Wad” Bible from Isaiah Thomas's recounting of the sale of Saur's estate in 1778, wherein he says that during the Battle of Germantown the purchaser of the unbound sheets of the 1776 Bible “sold a part of [them] to be used as covers for cartridges, proper paper for the purpose being at that time not to be obtained” in the dislocations of the Revolution — well, maybe.
What is not open to question is the fact that this is the first Bible printed from type cast in America. There are several variants of the edition: In this copy the main title-page is printed in black only and on the New Testament title-page the place of printing is given as “Germantown.”
Provenance: On a front blank, “Joseph Price junr his Bible”; on front pastedown, “Abraham Price was born the 22. Day of June 1770.”
Evans 14663; Hildeburn, The Issues of the Press in Pennsylvania, 1685–1784, 3336; Arndt & Eck, German Language Printing in the U.S., 475; O'Callaghan, p. 29; Rumball-Petre 162; Thomas, History of Printing in America, pp. 411–13. Contemporary calf, very plain in style with minimal tooling and no spine label ever; rebacked and old spine reattached. One leather and metal clasp remaining. Hinges (inside) strengthened and free endpapers reattached. The usual foxing, staining, and browning only; perhaps somewhat less than usual — a clean, untattered copy. Now housed in a quarter brown leather folding slipcase. (27227)
Bible. N.T. Gospels. English. 1796. Campbell. The four Gospels, translated from the Greek. With preliminary dissertations, and notes critical and explanatory. By George Campbell. Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson, 1796. 4to (27.7 cm, 10.9"). vii, xvi, 488, 196 pp., [8] ff.
$3000.00

Three American “firsts”
here, counting that of our caption! For
while being additionally the uncommon
first
printing in America of the Gospels in English in any translation other than
the King James or the Douai-Rheims version, this is also
the
first privately accomplished translation of the Gospels printed
in America.
George Campbell (1719–96) was a minister of the Church of Scotland,
theologian, and principal of Marischal College. He wrote a number of theological
works, including a defense of miracles in response to David Hume, and was
noted for originality of argument as well as charity towards his opponents.
This translation of the Gospels was first published in England in 1789; the
work consists of a preface and preliminary dissertations, the actual translation,
and the notes, with the whole being very scholarly, resorting frequently to
the Greek in the dissertations and notes.
Provenance:
Title-page and contents leaf with early inked inscriptions reading “Jas.
Booth.”
ESTC W4383; Evans 30086; Hills, English Bible in America,
56. On Campbell, see: The Dictionary of National Biography. Contemporary
treed sheep, rubbed and abraded with leather lost at corners/spine and cracking
over joints and spine. Title-page and contents inscribed as described above;
endpapers waterstained, and pages with light spots of foxing. Paper in many
sections faintly blue.

“Pr. by A. Bartram” — Philadelphia, 1799
Bible. N.T. Gospels. English. 1799. Campbell. The four gospels, translated from the Greek. Philadelphia: Pr. by A. Bartram, 1799. 4to. viii, xvi, 488 pp.; 196, [8] pp.
$1450.00
George Campbell (1719–96) was a minister of the Church of Scotland, theologian, and principal of Marischal College. He wrote a number of theological works, including a defense of miracles in response to David Hume, and was noted for originality of argument as well as charity towards his opponents. This translation of the Gospels was first published in England in 1789; the work consists of a preface and preliminary dissertations, the actual translation, and the notes, with the whole being very scholarly, resorting frequently to the Greek in the dissertations and notes.
Campbell's translation of the Gospels were first printed in the U.S. in 1796 and was the first privately accomplished translation of the Gospels printed in America. This is only the second edition printed in America.
ESTC W4382; Evans 35200; Hills, English Bible in America, 71. On Campbell, see: The Dictionary of National Biography. Publisher's brown leather, rebacked, board edges refurbished, original spine-label reused. Old library pressure-stamps and a bit of pencilling, stamped numberwith a (properly deaccessioned). Occasional light foxing and with some marginal waterstains. Overall, a rather nice copy. (23757)

German
Bible
Printing Moves
West
Bible. German. 1805. Luther. Biblia, das ist: die ganze Göttliche Heilige Schrift Alten und Neuen Testaments, nach der Deutchen uebersetzung D. Martin Luthers. Reading: Gedruckt und zu finden bey Gottlob Jungmann, 1805. 4to. 2 vols. in 1. [34] ff., 1008 pp., [1] f., 277, [1] pp., [1] f., (family register excised).
$1175.00
Click the images for enlargements.
The first edition of the first Bible in German printed outside of Philadelphia; the first printing of the Bible in Reading. The New Testament here has a separate title-page, pagination, and signatures.
Arndt & Eck, German Language Printing in the U.S., 1467; O'Callaghan 78–79; Seidensticker 166; Shaw & Shoemaker 7984. Publisher's plain brown calf with remnants of metal and leather closures, leather abraded; front board expertly strengthened at joint, new front free endpaper. Family register excised. Interior with foxing, toning, and some staining, including to title-page; initial and final leaves with staining and chipping, as with all copies we've seen in libraries and in commerce.
All said, a solid and satisfactory copy of a famous early American Bible. (27430)

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