
ANTIQUARIAN BIBLES 
I:
ENGLISH-LANGUAGE BIBLES, TESTAMENTS, & “PARTS” (Part
A) (Part B)
II: POLYGLOTS & ANCIENT LANGUAGES (Part
A) (Part
B)
| III: NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES
IV: MODERN
LANGUAGES NOT ENGLISH OR AMERIND (Part
A) (Part B)
V: BIBLE STUDY AIDS, COMMENTARY, &
“RELATED”
(Part A) (Part B)
 |
NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES
A CATALOGUE
ORDERED BY DATE
|
The
First Choctaw New
Testament
Bible.
N.T. Choctaw. Wright-Byington. 1848. The New Testament
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, translated into the Choctaw language.
Pin chitokaka pi okchalinchi Chisus Klaist in Testament Himona, chahta anumpta
atoshowa hoke. New York: American Bible Society, 1848. 12mo (18.1 cm, 7.1").
818 pp.
$2275.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of the first complete New Testament in Choctaw. Variously given as Chahta, Chactas, Chato, Tchakta, Chocktaw, or Chactaw, Choctaw is a language of the Muskogean family, spoken by Native Americans who originally lived in parts of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana before being relocated to Oklahoma. This translation was done by two Presbyterian missionaries, the Revs. Alfred Wright and Cyrus Byington; the Book of a Thousand Tongues says that they were “substantially assisted by Joseph Dukes and W.H. McKinney, educated Choctaws.”
The Rev. Wright (1788–1853) spent over 30 years among the Choctaw people in Mississippi and Oklahoma. He founded the Wheelock Mission (named for his friend Eleazer Wheelock, Dartmouth College's first president) in 1832, where he was directly involved in developing the Choctaw written language, along with Byington and Dukes.
Darlow & Moule 3051; Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Choctaw-9; North & Nida, Book of a Thousand Tongues (1972), 265; Pilling, Muskhogean, 101; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 2744. Not in Field; not in Sabin. Period-style half morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and date. First and last pages slightly smudged, text otherwise clean; a few scattered signatures unopened. A handsome copy of an uncommon and significant New Testament. (29504)

First Complete Testament in
Cherokee
Bible. N.T. Cherokee. Torrey. 1860. [New Testament in Cherokee, title-page in Sequoya's Cherokee syllabary, transliterated as] Itse Kanohedv Datlohisdv Ugvwiyuhi Igatseli Tsisa Galonedv utseliga Digalvquodi Goweli Diniyelihisdisgi Unadatlegv Watsiniyi tsunileyvtanvhi; Nuyagi Digaleyvtanvhi. New York: American Bible Society, 1860 (i.e., 1862?). 12mo (19 cm; 7.375"). 408 pp.
$1200.00
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First printing of the New Testament in Cherokee, printed in double-column format with title and text all in Cherokee, in
syllabic characters. The principal translators were Samuel Austin Worcester ( 1798–1859), a medical missionary; Elias Boudinot (d. 1839), a Cherokee who had been educated at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut; and Stephen Foreman (1807–81). This edition was revised by Charles C. Torrey, and “though dated 1860, the book was not actually published until 1861 or 1862" (Darlow & Moule).
Prior to this, various books of the New Testament had been printed at the Park Hill Mission Press but a complete Testament was never attempted there
Provenance: Bookplate of Dr. Andrew Pickens, late a professor of theology at Furman University.
Evidence of readership: Occasional marginalia and interlinear notes in the neat small hand of Dr. Pickens, mostly suggestions for translations or meanings of words; a leaf of notes and a syllabic “key” are laid in.
Darlow & Moule 2448; North & Nida, Book of a Thousand Tongues (1972), 215; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 3743. Publisher's black pebble-textured cloth. Very good condition. (27811)

First Roman Character
Micmac Gospels
Bible. N.T. Matthew. Micmac. Rand. 1871. Pela Kesagunoodumumkawa tan tula uksakumamenoo westowoolkw Sasoogoole Clistawit ootenink. Chebooktook: Megumagea Ledakun-weekugemkawa moweome, 1871. 12mo (16.1 cm, 6.3"). 126, [2 (blank)] pp. [with] Bible.. N.T. John. Micmac. Rand. 1872. Wooleagunoodumakun tan tula Saneku. Megumoweesimk. Chebooktook: Megumagea' Ledakun-weekugemkawa moweome, 1872. 103, [1 (blank)] pp.
$875.00
First editions thus, revised from the first published Micmac translations of Matthew and John, which originally appeared in 1853 and 1854. Printed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the texts here are entirely in Micmac given in roman characters with diacritical marks (except for chapter headings and running titles in English). The translations were done by Silas Tertius Rand, a Canadian Baptist missionary who also published the first Micmac dictionary and grammar.
Neither work is tremendously common in United States institutional collections, but John in particular is reported by only eight U.S. institutions.
Matthew: Darlow & Moule 6788. John: Darlow & Moule 6789. Both: Pilling, Algonquian, 420; North & Nida, Book of a Thousand Tongues (1972), 296. Contemporary pebbled brown cloth, front cover detached, spine sunned. Pages age-toned. First two leaves of John each with short tear from upper margin, not touching text. (26209)
For
an unillustrated, PDF-format list of 100 Bibles, Testaments,
& Bible Parts in Non-European Languages, click
here.
For
much more NATIVE AMERICANA including
mission-born linguistic
works, catechisms,
hymnals, etc. click here.
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