
TRANSLATIONS
A-B
Bibles
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I-L M
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— BIBLES —
ORDERED BY DATE

The
Famous September Testament Well Evoked!
Bible.
N.T. German. (1522)1883.
Luther. Die Septemberbibel: Das Neue Testament deutsch von Martin
Luther. Berlin: G. Grote, 1883. Folio (32.4 cm, 12.75"). [4], 9, [9] pp., CVII,
[6], LXXVII, [26] ff.; illus.
$1,250.00
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Excellent limited-edition facsimile production of Luther's New Testament, with an introduction by Julius Köstlin. This is no. 22 of 500 copies printed, with an added title-page and “regular” title-page both in red and black; the volume is decorated with numerous historiated capitals and with the
21 full-page woodcuts by Lucas Cranach. The woodcuts illustrating the Book of Revelation appear here in their original state, before ordinary crowns took the place of the papal tiaras worn by the Antichrist and the Whore of Babylon.
Binding: Publisher's pigskin, front cover elaborately framed and panelled in gilt and maroon, back cover framed similarly in maroon, spine with gilt- and maroon-stamped decorations. Beautiful foliate endpapers, and all edges red with gilt fleurs de lis imposed. Silk bookmark present. Small ticket of Leipzig bookbinder, present.
Binding as above, with light rubbing overall and significant rubbing to spine and corners; spine pulled at top and bottom and joints (outside) rubbed, with rear lower joint starting and with remnant of old inked shelf location to one band. Occasional faint smudges; pages mostly remarkably clean.
A handsome and studyable thing. (27372)

Milton's
Favorite
Latin
Translation of the Bible
Bible. Latin. Tremellius–Junius. 1617. Testamenti Veteris Biblia sacra, sive, Libri canonici priscae Iudaeorum ecclesiae a Deo traditi. Genevae: Sumptibus Matthaei Berjon, 1617. Folio (39.5 cm; 13.5"). I: [6] ff.; 177, [1] pp.; [3], 292, [1] ff. II: [2] ff., 448 pp., [8] ff.; 74 ff.
$700.00
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A later, folio format edition of the Tremellius–Junius translation of the Bible into Latin, being a reprint of the 1603 “fourth edition.” Despite its Latinity this is not a Vulgate, rather it is a Protestant Bible: Immanuel Tremellius (1510–80) converted to Catholicism from Judaism via Cardinal Pole but a year later left the Church of Rome for Protestantism. He served in various universities, including Cambridge, as a professor of Hebrew or of Old Testament, settling finally at Sedan. His collaborator in the translation of the O.T. was his son-in-law Francicus Junius (1545–1602) and the latter also supplied the translation of the Apocrypha, while Tremellius translated the N.T. from the Syriac, which is presented here in parallel with Beze's Latin translation from the Greek of the N.T.
The O.T. is in five parts here, the first and last having their own registers and pagination; each testament's title-page bears a large, nicely executed version of the printer's device (stolen from the Estienne family). The text is dotted with woodcut initials and accented with head- and tailpieces; the main body of the text is printed in double-column format surrounded by notes.
Darlow & Moule 6192 (note). 19th-century acid-stained calf, raised bands, each volume with one red and one dark blue spine label, Apocrypha bound in after N.T. at end of vol. II; some scuffing or light abrasions. Extensive 19th-century commentary in ink on pastedowns and some fly-leaves; one manuscript note (and a pasted-in old bookseller’s description) on cut down and mounted title-page of vol. I; a very few other notes (“not in Syriac”). Ex-library with bookplates but no stamps; first volume's first foliation with slender worming into text from lower margin on ff. 16–29; age-toning, foxing, and some medium-sized brown stainings generally. A solid and acceptable copy of a less than common edition of this important translation that was Milton's favorite Latin version of the Bible. (30347)

The
First Translation of the
Bible into Italian
from
Hebrew
& Greek Sources
Bible.
Italian. Diodati.
1641. La sacra bibbia tradotta in lingua Italiana, e commentata da
Giovanni Diodati. Stampata in Geneua: Per Pietro Chovët, 1641. Folio (30.5
cm; 12.125"). [3] ff., 837, [3], 331, [1], 148, 68 pp.
$2200.00
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Second edition of Giovanni Diodati's translation, “migliorata, ed accresciuta. Con
l'aggiunta de' Sacri Salmi, missi in rime per lo medesimo.” The first edition appeared in 1607.Diodati (1576–1649), a Protestant theologian, in 1609 succeeded Theodore Beza as
professor of theology at Geneva, and in fact was Beza's choice for his successor. He is best
remembered today as the first to translate the Bible into Italian from Hebrew and Greek sources.
The added engraved title-page of this edition is dated 1640 and signed “A. Bosse jn. et
fecit”; it bears two old ownership notes, not deciphered. The biblical text is printed in roman
and italic in double-column format and has woodcut initials; Diodati's commentary is in smaller
roman type at the bottom of pages in very wide single-column format. The New Testament,
Apocrypha,and Psalter have sectional titles.
Darlow & Moule 5600.
Contemporary vellum over paste boards, elaborately tooled in gilt, rebacked
and the gilt of the front board mostly perished leaving the tooling attractively highlighted in
black; gilt of the bottom board still bright. Vellum with old stains and slightly yapp edges
defective in part, showing signs that silk ties were once present. The half-title leaf for the N.T. is
not printed, but blank. Light waterstaining in upper margin of early leaves; otherwise occasional
spotting only. All edges gilt. In sum, a rather nice copy. (26298)

First Greek O.T. Printed in England
Bible. O.T. Greek. Septuagint. 1653. [four lines in Greek, then] Vetus testamentum graecum. Londini: Rogerus Daniel, 1653. 8vo (17.5 cm, 6.9"). [8], 1279, [3], 186, [2] pp.
$850.00
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First edition of the Septuagint printed in England, edited by the scholar and Socinian controversialist John Biddle. Two issues of this edition are known to exist: This is a copy of issue B: Further, there are two states of issue B: This is the variant with 16 lines of text in the dedication.
The Greek type is small, but readable and elegant.
This edition includes the Scholia, with a separate title-page (“In Sacra Biblia Graeca ex versione LXX. interpretum Scholia; simul et interpretum cæterorum lectiones variantes”); the Old Testament is printed in double-column format, and the title-page in red and black.
Darlow & Moule 4692; ESTC R210989; Wing B2718; Bowes, Catalogue of Cambridge Books, 266; Rumball-Petre 254. Contemporary speckled calf, covers framed in triple blind fillets, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label (chipped) and blind-tooled ray decorations in head and foot compartments; sides with small scuffs and patches of mild to moderate discoloration, leather chipped at head of spine and nicked at lower front edge, spine leather showing thin cracks. Pastedowns and front free endpaper lacking, back free endpaper and fly-leaves partially excised. Pages trimmed very closely, in a few cases touching headers or first or last letters. Title-page with early inked ownership inscription, lined through. Occasional small ink spots, touching but virtually never obscuring letters; one leaf with three words corrected in an early inked hand; scattered instances of early underlining in colored pencil. Mild age-toning.
A landmark of Bible printing in England. (30034)

The
Leipzig Polyglot
Bible. Polyglot. 1747. Reineccius. Biblia Sacra quadrilinguia Veteris [ac Novi] Testamenti Hebraici ... accurante M. Christiano Reineccio. Lipsiae: Sumtibus Haeredum Lanckisianorum, 1747–51. Folio (37.4 cm, 14.75"). 3 vols. I: [20], 1604 pp. II: [36], 607, [1] pp. III: Add. engr. t.-p., [22], 968 pp.
$8000.00
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Uncommon first complete edition, with extensive notes and much supplementary matter. This well-known and generally acclaimed polyglot Bible was edited by Christian Reineccius, a Lutheran scholar; Dibdin calls the work “very excellent and commodious.” The Old Testament is present in German, Greek (ancient and modern), Hebrew and Latin; the Apocrypha in Greek, Latin, and German only; and the New Testament (which has a separate title-page) in Greek, Syriac, Latin, and German. The New Testament was originally published in 1713; Darlow and Moule says it was “reissued with a new title and preface in 1747; and the two volumes containing the O.T. and
Apocrypha followed in 1750 and 1751.”
Each volume is decorated with two engraved headpieces (with the exception of vol. II, which has only one), several tailpieces, and decorative capitals. Vols. I and II have title-pages printed in red and black, while vol. III has an additional engraved title-page signed by Leipzig engraver Johann Gottfried
Kriigner, known for his editions of works by Bach.
Darlow & Moule 1451; Dibdin, I, 36–37. Recent quarter morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges with gilt roll; spines with gilt-stamped title and volume, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Title- and final pages each with one institutional pressure- and one rubber-stamp, a few other pages rubber-stamped; lower (closed) book edges rubber-stamped. Title-page of vol. I with unobtrusive small repair; last page of vol. III at one time tattered, now with creases, tiny holes, and small repair. Offsetting and foxing throughout, necessary to note and not sparing title-pages — but not nasty. A sound and satisfactory set. (24891)

“No Loose Amours; But That Holy Wedded Love”
Bible. O.T.
Song of Solomon. English. 1764. Percy. The song of Solomon, newly translated from the original Hebrew, with a commentary and annotations. London: R. & J. Dodsley, 1764. 8vo (17.8 cm, 7"). xxxv, [1] p., 103, [1] pp.
$600.00
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First edition of “one of the most beautiful pastorals in the world,” newly translated by Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore (1729–1811). Percy sketches its history in his Introduction, then dissects the eclogues in the commentary, which is followed by the Song — spaciously printed — and a section of annotations, citing the original Hebrew.
The poetic Song of Solomon is here interpreted and typeset as a drama, with, as full-fledged characters, the Bridegroom, the Spouse, and choruses of Virgins and Companions; Percy's introduction and notes explain that choice and, otherwise, deal largely with the background of Jewish marriage ceremonies.
This is a good copy of one of Bishop Percy's scarcer books. England in the 18th century seems to have been fertile ground for the springing up of new translations of parts of the Bible such as this; creating them seems to have been a pleasure (often a “gentlemanly” pleasure) as much literary as pious — though the impulse of piety should never be cynically discounted, and serious scholarship, as here, was often applied to the exercise.
The title-page is printed in red and black, with the author supplied in old ink. Dodsley has supplied a light scattering of ornaments, including a rather charming mini-manicule that introduces the most significant notes.
See: Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, II, 242; not in: Darlow & Moule. On Percy, who later became one of the king's chaplains-in-ordinary, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. 19th-century half calf over gray marbled boards, spine gilt-ruled with red label, speckled edges; joints and board edges rubbed and faded, leather cracking along spine. Lacking the first leaf (half-title?). Offsetting from binding to endpapers, mild foxing throughout, a copy sound and pleasant. (30122)

It's the Notes that Are the Real Treat Here
Bible. N.T. English. Wakefield. 1795. A translation of the New Testament ... the second edition, with improvements. London: Pr. by A. Hamilton for George Kearsley, 1795. 2 vols. 8vo (21.3 cm, 8.4"). I: [4], viii, 410, [2] pp. II: [4], 472 pp.
$600.00
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Wakefield first published a volume of “those parts only of the New Testament which are wrongly translated in our common version” before having this complete Testament printed in 1791; this is the second edition, revised and corrected, of the entire translation. A theological and political controversialist, Wakefield adopted Unitarian principles, although the Cambridge History of the Bible says his New Testament is “in no sense sectarian.”
Each volume closes with extensive Notes; the last leaf of vol. I offers a list of other works by this author for sale from the same publisher; and the last page of the second volume has an affixed errata slip. The notes are quite direct and personal, with Wakefield remarking, e.g., on what effect or variety of accuracy he is trying to achieve; what the knot of difficulty at a particular point actually is, for the translator; and whose “excellent” reading he is following (and how the chosen version from the Coptic differs from the Syriac or AEthiopic). He expresses surprise that an “obvious construction” has “escaped the critics” so “remarkabl[y]” long as it has, and in another case confesses that he is “quite at a loss” as to how one clause is supposed to connect with another — definitely, he's a scholar who yet
lives in his pages.
Provenance: Armorial bookplates of Justinian Minoch laid in.
ESTC T93093; Darlow & Moule 933 (see note); Herbert 1362. On Wakefield, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Recent quarter black morocco and stone pattern marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges tooled in blind; spines with gilt-stamped title, volume number, place/date, and compartment decorations. Bookplates laid in as above. Half-titles and title-pages with handsome old institutional pressure-stamp; each first text page with inked numeral. Intermittent light foxing, pages otherwise clean. An engaging pair of books in all respects. (25784)

The First B.F.B.S. Irish Bible
Bible. Irish. Bedell-O'Domhnuill. 1817. An Biobla Naomhtha; ann a bhfuilid an Tsean Tiomnadh; ar na tharruing go firinneach as a neabhra ughdarach. London: Pr. by J. Moyes for the British & Foreign Bible Society, 1817. 8vo (22.3 cm, 8.75"). [4], 1119, [1] pp.
[SOLD]
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First edition of the Irish Bible printed for the British and Foreign Bible Society, done in roman type in a run of 5,000 copies and closing with
a glossary of obscure terms. William Bedell (1571–1642) translated the Old Testament into the Irish language with the assistance of Murtagh King and Dennis Sheridan; it was later revised by several hands. The New Testament, originally printed in 1602 and the first Irish translation from the original Greek, is attributed to William Daniell (or Huilliam O'Domhnuill, d. 1628), who completed it after the death of Nicholas Walsh, Bishop of Ossory. The whole was edited for the Society by James McQuige, who adapted the text of the 1690 one-volume Irish Bible to incorporate “the textual corrections of the English version” and more closely resemble the KJV, according to Darlow and Moule.
Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., and with bookplate of the American Bible Society.
Darlow & Moule 5543; NSTC 2B22433; North & Nida, Book of a Thousand Tongues (1972), 558. Contemporary speckled calf framed in gilt roll, rebacked with speckled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and blind-tooled decorations in compartments; original leather surfaces crackled, edges rubbed. Front pastedown with bookplates as above, one bearing later institutional rubber-stamp; endpapers with outer edges chipped; title-page verso and five others with old stamps. One leaf with small edge nicks; one leaf with repaired short tear from lower margin, partially obscuring a few letters without loss of sense; a few corners bumped. Pages faintly age-toned with scattered mild foxing and one marginal smudge, otherwise clean. (28120)

Protestant
French–German
DIGLOT
Bible. N.T. French & German. 1819. Beausobre–Lenfant & Luther. Le Nouveau Testament suivant la traduction des Mrs. [sic] de Beausobre et Lenfant ... das Neue Testament nach der Uebersetzung D. Martin Luthers. Basel: In der Schweighauser'schen Buchhandlung, 1819. 8vo (18.5 cm, 7.3"). [8], 1101 (i.e., 961), [1 (blank)] pp. (536–37 used twice in pagination, 959–1098 skipped).
$275.00
Uncommon diglot New Testament printed in parallel columns of French and German, intended for students of both languages. The French translation is a much-acclaimed version done by two Huguenot divines, Isaac de Beausobre (known for his groundbreaking Manichaean studies) and Jacques L'Enfant (chaplain to the Electress Dowager Palatine at Heidelberg, and a prolific historian); the German translation, printed in black-letter, is Luther's. This is the second edition to pair the two, following the first of 1746.
OCLC locates only one U.S. institutional holding of this edition, which has since been deaccessioned.
Darlow & Moule 4318. Recent speckled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, all edges stained blue. Front fly-leaf with early inked inscriptions, one dated 1851. Title-page with early institutional rubber-stamp, last page with pressure-stamp, second page of contents with inked annotation along inner margin and rubber-stamped numeral in lower margin. Pp. 959–1098 skipped in pagination; text complete. Foxed, but not badly; clean. (25856)
Bible. N.T. French. 1824. Ostervald. Le nouveau testament de notre seigneur Jésus-Christ... seconde édition Américaine. Boston: J.H.A. Frost, 1824. 12mo (18.2 cm, 7.1"). 379, [5 (1 blank)] pp.
$600.00
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Early American edition of the translation by eminent Swiss Protestant Jean Frédéric Ostervald, based on a Paris edition and following 1811 and 1814 U.S. printings. Likely intended for use among French Canadians and French émigrés in the United States, this is a good example of an early American printing of a complete Testament, either Old or New, in French.
Shoemaker 15382. Contemporary speckled sheep, worn and abraded, spine with gilt-stamped leather title label. Front pastedown with early numerical inscription. Outer margins of last few leaves waterstained; some pages with mild cockling or light spotting, others with varying degrees of age-toning. (6030)
“The
Uninterrupted Harmony” of
the
New
Testament
Bible.
N.T.
English
& Greek. 1825. Scientia biblica: Containing the
New Testament, in the original tongue, with the English Vulgate, and a copious
and original collection of parallel passages, printed in words at length. London:
W. Booth, 1825. 8vo (23.2 cm, 9.2"). 3 vols. I: xvii, [3], 592 pp.; 1 plt. II:
[4], 669, [3 (2 adv.)] pp. III: [4], 546, [2], [547]–551, [1] pp.
$975.00

First edition of this English and Greek compilation of New Testament passages, intended to facilitate Scriptural comparison and analysis for both biblical scholars and general readers. The editor was William Carpenter, a reformer, journalist, and prominent member of the Chartist movement — as well as an active Freemason who was a “constant contributor to the London Freemason,” according to his obituary in the 1874 New England Freemason.
Click the interior image for an enlargement.
Vol. I opens with a copper-engraved dedication to the king; vol. III closes with a list of subscribers.
Complete sets in good condition are not commonly found on the market.
Herbert 369; NSTC 2B26321. Original boards (signed binding:
each front pastedown with small ticket of G. Peck, bookbinder), newly rebacked
in the style of the era with tan paper spines in mottled tones bearing new
printed paper labels; corners and edges rubbed, sides showing moderate wear.
Each front pastedown with early inked numeral. Page edges untrimmed; pages
lightly age-toned, with intermittent spotting.
A
very good set. (25087)
For
BIBLE SCHOLARSHIP,
click here.

Uncommon Edition of
Martyn's Landmark Translation
Bible. N.T. Persian. 1841. Martyn. The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, translated from the original Greek into Persian, at Sheeraz.... Calcutta: Pr. at the Baptist Mission Press for the American & Foreign Bible Society, 1841. 8vo (24.2 cm, 9.5"). [4], 584 pp.
$425.00
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Revised edition of the Rev. Henry Martyn's Farsi New Testament, translated by Martyn with the assistance of Mirza Saiyad Ali Khan and first published in 1815. Darlow and Moule note that the translation “won the encomiums of Persian scholars for the beauty of its style”; it became the basis of “all other Persian versions of note,” according to The Book of a Thousand Tongues. The present edition states that “there has been made by the editors, a slight alteration in a few of the theological terms.”
Scarce. OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 find only one U.S. holding of this edition.
Darlow & Moule 7340; Book of a Thousand Tongues (2nd ed.) 1047 (for first ed.). Publisher's blue textured cloth, spine with printed paper label; boards and spine sunned (spine more so), with cloth cracked at joints and rubbed at extremities, spine label chipped and faded, spine with small area of discoloration and inked shelving number. Front pastedown with institutional bookplates. Two leaves towards front and last two leaves each with inner margins reinforced some time ago. Pages slightly age-toned, with occasional small pencilled marks of emphasis and marginalia in both English and Farsi. (25151)

Armenian Psalter
Bible. O.T. Psalms. Armenian, Modern Eastern. Dittrich. 1843. Girk' Saghmosats'. [The Psalms. A version in Eastern Armenian by A. H. Dittrich.]. I Zmiwrnia [Smyrna]: [British & Foreign Bible Society], 1843. 12mo (13.3 cm, 5.25"). [2], 277, [1] pp.
$700.00
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First edition of the first appearance of the Psalms in Eastern Armenian, also known as Ararat Armenian. Darlow and Moule describe this printing thusly: “In 1833 the Emperor Nicholas I, at the instance of the Armenian Patriarch, forbade the missionaries at Shushi to proceed with the version in Eastern Armenian; and as the missionaries soon after left the country, the B.F.B.S. was unable for a time to carry out its purpose of printing a corrected edition. A plan to publish at Moscow editions of the N.T. and the Psalter (also translated by A.H. Dittrich) was frustrated in 1841. But in 1843 the B.F.B.S. published this edition of the Psalter at Smyrna.”
WorldCat fails to locate any U.S. institutional holdings but we know that the American Bible Society recently acquired a copy.
Darlow & Moule 1823; North & Nida, Book of a Thousand Tongues (1972), 60. Recent maroon fabrikoid with black fabrikoid spine label. Original free endpapers retained, soiled, chipped at edge, and with some writing in Armenian. Text generally age-toned but paper good; all edges saffron. (29737)

Calcutta
Baptist
Mission
Press
Bible. O.T. Psalms. Bengali. 1844.; Bible. O.T. Proverbs. Bengali. 1844. [four lines in Bengali, then] The Psalms of David and the Proverbs of Solomon in Bengálí. Calcutta: Pr. for the Bible Translation Society and the American and Foreign Bible Society, at the Baptist Mission Press,
1844. 12mo (16.3 cm; 6.5"). 178, 53, [1 (blank)] pp.
$475.00
Other than the title-page in Bengali and English, the entire work is in Bengali. “Second edition” is declared on the title-page with an additional edition statement on verso of same; this edition consists of 1000 copies, while the first was issued in only 500 and immediately exhausted. “Translated from the original Hebrew by the Calcutta Baptist Missionaries” — though just which of the Baptist missionaries translated this edition is unclear.
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Publisher's purple cloth with faded printed paper spine label. Ex-library: call number on spine, bookplate removed, pencilled notations, rubber-stamps. Withal, a clean crisp copy. (21736)

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
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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)

Association Copy
Bible. N.T. Matthew. Sanskrit. 1848? [publisher's title label] The Gospel of Matthew, in Sanskrit. No place [Calcutta?]: no printer/publisher [American & Foreign Bible Society], n.d. [1848?]. 8vo. 73 pp.
$300.00

Great association copy of this very scarce translation: This copy a gift to Colgate University from S.S. Day, a Baptist missionary to the Telugu of India. The ascribed date is due to the binding style, printing, and fact that Day left India in 1853 never to return.
Click the image for an enlargement.
We trace no other copy of this edition.
Not in Darlow & Moule. Publisher's quarter cloth with plain blue paper board sides. Title-label on front cover; area of discoloration on front cover. Institutional bookplate on front pastedown. Institutional perforation-stamp on first leaf; one rubber-stamped number and two inked ones; charge pocket residue on rear pastedown. (20094)

Association Copy
Bible. N.T. Mark. Sanskrit. 1851? [publisher's title label] The Gospel of Mark, in Sanskrit. No place [Calcutta?]: A. & F. B. S. [American & Foreign Bible Society], [1851?]. 8vo. 43 pp.
$300.00
Great association copy of this very scarce translation: This copy a gift to the Eastern Baptist Association from S. S. Day, a Baptist missionary to the Telugu of India, with his autograph inscription on the front cover. The ascribed date is due to the binding style, printing, and fact that Day left India in 1853 never to return.
We trace only one other copy of this edition.
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First text leaf with old note, “This reads from left to right.”
Not in Darlow & Moule. Publisher's quarter cloth with plain tan paper board sides. Title-label on front cover; area of discoloration on front cover. Institutional bookplate on front pastedown; two rubber-stamped numbers and an inked one, and occasional pencilling; charge pocket residue on rear pastedown. Annotations as above. (20093)

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)
Scarce
Madras Publication
Bible.
O.T. Genesis; Exodus I-XX. Tamil. 1860. The book of
Genesis and first twenty chapters of Exodus. Madras: Madras Auxiliary Bible
Society (pr. at the American Mission Press), 1860. 12mo (14 cm, 5.5"). [288]
pp.
[SOLD]
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Printed entirely in Tamil characters except for the title-page,
this is called by Darlow and Moule “A specimen of the O.T. portions in
small size published by the Madras Auxiliary.”
WorldCat
fails to locate any U.S. institutional holdings.
Darlow & Moule 9129. Publisher's limp textured cloth, front cover with printed paper label; corners and spine extremities very very slightly rubbed. Outer edge of front free endpaper a bit chewed; pages clean. A lovely copy. (29276)

Conant's Diglot Matthew “Baptizein” in Appendix
Bible. N.T. Matthew. Greek & English. 1860. The Gospel by Matthew. The common English version and the received Greek text; with a revised version and critical and philological notes, prepared for the American Bible Union by T. J. Conant, D.D. New York: American Bible Union; Louisville, Ky., Bible Revision Association, 1860. 4to. xxix, 171 pp.
$125.00
Click the images for enlargements.
“The Greek text is from Bagster's edition of Mill's reprint of Stephens' third edition (1550). The Common Version is printed from the edition prepared by the Committee of the American Bible Society.” The revised version referred to in the title “is not . . . a new translation, but a revision of the common English version.”The three versions are printed in triple-column format with notes below.
The appendix is Conant's The meaning and use of baptizein, New York, 1860, with its own title-page and pagination.
Publisher's textured brownish-green cloth, spine sunned. Light wear to board edges. Ex-library: paper call number label on spine, bookplate on front pastedown, perforation-stamps, inked accession(?) number, charge pocket (at rear). A very clean copy, the paper very good. (27442)

Matthew
in Tamil — Scarce
Madras Printing
Bible.
N.T. Matthew. Tamil. 1861. St. Matthew's gospel.
Madras: Madras Auxiliary Bible Society (pr. at the American Mission Press),
1861. 12mo (12.1 cm, 4.75"). [190] pp.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
Printed entirely in Tamil characters except for the title-page,
this appears to be Fabricius's version. The work serves as what Darlow and Moule
call “a specimen of the N.T. portions in small size published by the Madras
Auxiliary,” although this particular book is not described by them.
WorldCat
locates only one U.S. institutional holding
of this 1861 printing.
Not in Darlow & Moule. Publisher's limp textured cloth, front cover with printed paper label; minimal wear to spine. Pages clean. (29294)

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)
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First Published Complete Bible Translation by a WOMAN
The “Julia Smith” Bible
Bible. English. 1876. Smith. The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments; translated literally from the original tongues. Hartford: American Publishing Co., 1876. 8vo (25.5 cm, 10"). [2], 892, 276 pp.
$6500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First and only edition of this interestingly nonconformist translation, done by a vocal suffragist known for protesting the taxation of unenfranchised women. Julia Evelina Smith (1792–1886), one of the five celebrated, talented siblings sometimes referred to as the “Marvelous Smith Sisters of Connecticut,” became a member of the Sandemanian sect after much independent religious study. She chose to have her private labor of love published to serve as a public demonstration of the intellectual capabilities of women, rebuking one dubious banker with the comment that she “thought it just as well to spend money to print this Bible as to put it into a thousand-dollar shawl” (New York Times, 9 March 1886).
Smith endeavored to provide an extremely literal, word-for-word rendition to enhance her and her sisters' understanding of the text. Regarding the rather tangled results, she notes in her preface that “readers of this book may think it strange that I have made such use of the tenses . . . It seems to me that the original Hebrew had no regard to time, and that the Bible speaks for all ages.”
Herbert 2002; Hills 1918; Rumball-Petre 201; Wright, Early Bibles of America, 234–35. On Smith, see: McHenry, Famous American Women, 383 (under entry for Smith, Abby Hadassah). Publisher's pebbled brown cloth, title and translator's name simply gilt-stamped within blind-stamped panel; recently rebacked and original spine reapplied (spine slightly rumpled), one corner restored, other corners mildly rubbed. Hinges (inside) reinforced. Front pastedown with affixed newspaper clipping on the Smith sisters. One page with short tear from lower edge, not extending into text; pages clean.
A nice copy of a very desirable Bible. (27574)

The Gospels in a
Turkic Language
Bible. N.T. Gospels. Yakut. 1898. [title-page in Cyrillic transliterated as] Gospoda nashego Iisusa Khrista Sviatoe Evangelie na iakutskom iazykie. Kazan: Tipo-lit. V.M. Kliuchnikova, 1898. 8vo (24 cm; 9.5"). 237, [1(blank) pp.
[SOLD]


First edition of the second translation of the Gospels into Yakut (a.k.a. Sakha), a Turkic language spoken in the Sakha Republic (whose northern border is on the Arctic Ocean) in the Russian Federation. The first Gospels had appeared in an anonymous translation in 1858; this translation, “prepared at the suggestion and uner the supervision of N. Bobrovnikoff,” was “[t]ranslated by D. S. Kuchneff, a Russian by race, who had been born and reared among the Yakuts, assisted by two Yakuts who were brought to Kazan at the expense of the B. F. B. S. for this purpose” (Darlow and Moule).
Click the interior image for an enlargement.
Uncommon: We find only one copy reported as held in a U.S. library.
Darlow & Moule 9538. Publisher's red cloth stamped in blind and with one word in gilt on front cover. A very good copy. (25045)

First Pentateuch in this
Island Language
Bible. O.T. Pentateuch. Pangasinan. 1912. Benitez. Saray simaran onaan á lebro'y Santa Biblia ya Genesis, Exodo, Levitico, Numero tan Deuteronomio. Manila: Sociedad Bíblica Británica y Extrangera, 1912. 12mo (18 cm; 7.25"). 541, [1 (blank) pp.
[SOLD]
Pangasinan (a.k.a., salitan Pangasinan) is an Austronesian language of the Philippines and is one of that nation's twelve major languages.
The first translation of any book of the Bible into Pangasinan did not come about until 1887, followed by the first Testament in 1908 and the first complete Bible in 1915.
This is the first printing of the Pentateuch. It was translated by Eduardo Benitez assisted by Teodoro Basconcillo and A. Rayner, all of the American Methodist Episcopal Mission. It has chapter headings and some footnotes.
Rare. Searches of NUC Pre-1956, COPAC, and OCLC locate no copies in U.S. libraries and only the B.F.B.S. copy at Cambridge.
North & Nida, Book of a Thousand Tongues (1972), 346. Publisher's flexible black fabric over light boards, stamped in blind on front cover; expertly rebacked and remnants of original spine reapplied. Small “nick” to fore-edge of first two leaves, without loss; paper a little age-toned, with interior otherwise quite clean. Housed in a dark blue cloth clamshell case. (25180)

A Language of
Kazakhstan
Bible. N.T. Gospels. Udmurt. 1912. [title-page in Cyrillic type transliterated as] Gospoda nashego Iisusa Khrista Sviatoe Evangelie ot” Matfeia, Marka, Luki i Ioanna na votskom” iazykie. Kazan: TSentral’naia tipografiia, 1912. 8vo (21 cm; 8.25"). 327, [1 (blank)] pp.
[SOLD]

Second edition of the first printing of the Gospels in Udmurt (a.k.a. Votiak, Wotjak, Votyak, Votjak), a Finno-Permic language spoken in Russian and Kazakhstan. The first printing of the Gospels in Udmurt was in 1904 in “a translation prepared under the direction of the Kazan Orthodox M[issionary] S[ociety]” (Darlow and Moule).
Only one U.S. library reports owning a copy of this translation.
Click the interior image for an enlargement.
Darlow & Moule 9564 (for the 1904 printing). Publisher's quarter brown cloth with tan paper covers, stamped in blind. “Kazakhstan Russia” in ballpoint on the front free endpaper. A very good copy. (25046)

First Printing of
Any Portion of the Bible
in This
Pacific Island Language
Bible. N.T. Gospels. Roviana. Goldie et al. 1946. Ka made Gosipeli pa zinama Roviana (Matiu, Maka, Luke, meke Jone). Sydney: Commonwealth Council of the British & Foreign Bible Society, 1946. 8vo (18 cm; 7"). 77, 43, 82, 59 pp.
[SOLD]

First printing of any portion of the Bible in Roviana, an Austronesian language of the Solomons, mostly spoken in North Central New Georgia and the Western Provinces. The translators were J.F. and Mary Goldie and assistants.
Click the interior image for an enlargement.
The title-page states: “This book is one of 300 [copies] paid for by the parishioners of Beecroft and Cheltenham in the Diocese of Sydney, in memory of the Rev. Joseph Young, Rector of the Parish 1903-1926. He passed to his rest on the 21st January, 1945.”
Uncommon. We trace only two copies in U.S. libraries.
Publisher's red cloth. “North Central New Georgia” in ballpoint on the front free endpaper. A very good copy. (25022)
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