•  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)

Binding: Contemporary red straight-grain morocco, covers framed in gilt rolls, spine gilt extra, front cover gilt-stamped “John Bradley.” All edges marbled.

•  Shoemaker 31685. Binding as above, sides darkened, corners and spine rubbed, joints cracked with sewing holding but quite fragile. Fly-leaves with early pencilled ownership inscriptions and annotations. Light to moderate foxing. Separate title-page for second section (only) lacking.

A major element in any Mormon collection and a requisite for any major collection of American Bibles.

•  Hills 618; O’Callaghan 189. Contemporary plain calf, spine with raised bands, gilt-ruled above and below and with gilt-lettered title in second compartment; gilt a little rubbed. Hinges (inside) repaired with paper. Shallow chipping and tattering, and many dog ears; tears mostly in the margins of pages and plates, but a few closed tears into text, on pp. 283–84 with loss of individual letters but not of sense; tattering on last leaf just touching text, leaf repaired with cellophane on verso; tissue repairs on pp. 273–74 and on the reverse of the frontispiece. Moderately foxed throughout; lacking pp. 765–68 of supplementary material (only). Pp. 618–19 are here misprinted in place of pp. 622–23—all text being present, if out of order! This significant Bible is here in a trim, neat contemporary binding. (10785)

•  O’Callaghan 213; Hills 765; not in Herbert. Straight-grained roan, covers gilt-ruled and spine gilt extra; rubbed, especially on spine, and corners bumped. Pp. 5–6 and 229–30 chipped on lower outer corner, with loss of part of page number from the former. Free endpapers chipped with loss; title-page partially detached in the gutter. Some old dog-ears, light foxing and occasional brown spots, and occasional light waterstaining. An attractive, solid little American Testament.

The story of the publication is this: In 1833 the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions asked Dr. Elijah Coleman Bridgman, the first U.S. Protestant missionary to China, to obtain a set of wood printing blocks containing the Sermon on the Mount and a supply of Chinese paper and to send these to Boston. The purpose was to use the wooden blocks to cast stereoplates in hopes that their long-lasting qualities and relatively low amortized cost would obviate the need to develop a system of producing Chinese in roman characters or an entirely new alphabet to be used on presses printing from moveable type. All reports are that only a small number of copies were printed from the plates; the exercise was, after all, an experiment, and indeed a commitment to moveable type was soon made for printing work going forward.

Searches of NUC, WorldCat, and COPAC locate only four holding libraries worldwide of this text, at Harvard-Yenching, Cambridge University (in the collection of the British and Foreign Bible Society), the Boston Athenaeum, and the Massachusetts Historical Society; but we know of a copy at the Watkinson Library, Trinity College, Hartford. All other copies reported are microforms, all taken from the copy at the Yenching Library.

Provenance:  Signature of William Jenks on wrapper with date of 1834. Jenks was a Congregational Minister, member of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, and founder of a mission for seamen; he opened the Mariner's Church on Central Wharf, in Boston. Besides his pastorate, he was a scholar and author who taught Oriental Languages and English at Bowdoin College; a member of the American Antiquarian Society, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the New England Historic Genealogical Society; and a founding member of the American Oriental Society.

•  Spillett, Catalogue of Scriptures in the Languages of China, 36; Darlow & Moule 2481. Not in Shoemaker. On the history of this printing of the Sermon, see: Chinese Recorder, Vols. 10–11, p. 208.   Printed on Chinese paper and bound (sewn) in the Asian style, in yellow wrappers; small piece missing from corner of rear wrapper at spine and another corner chipped and repaired. Housed in a quarter red morocco tray case. A fine copy.  (31850)

•  Not in Herbert, Hills, or O’Callaghan, but see Herbert 1802, Hills 818, and O’Callaghan 221–22. Contemporary sheep, spines with black and tan labels, all edges marbled green; leather scratched and abraded but volumes sound and attractive. Pp. 1049–56 lacking and pp. 1057–64 repeated. Pages generally clean and even bright; endpapers and many plate leaves however with foxing and age-toning, mostly light but sometimes darker (and off-setting from the plate leaves to adjoining pages). Overall sound and serviceable and nice. (5476)

Binding: Contemporary red straight-grain morocco, covers framed in gilt roll, spine with gilt-stamped title and compartment decorations.

Provenance: Ownership initials of William R. Whittingham (G.R.W., the "William" being rendered as "Guillelmus" for his love of Latin), fourth Episcopal Bishop of Baltimore; stamp of an Episcopal Diocesan lending library.

•  Front joint almost entirely broken, back joint starting from top, head of spine chipped, with binding showing minor darkening and scuffing overall. Free endpapers excised. Front pastedown with rubber-stamp as above (no other institutional markings); first text page with inked ownership inscription as above dated [18]64. Title-page of first work lacking. Pages slightly age-toned, some creased; one leaf with lower outer corner torn away. Small emphasis marks to index of Hymns, with an additional manuscript entry in the table of first lines.

Uncommon: WorldCat and American Imprints locate only eight U.S. institutional holdings of this edition.

•  American Imprints 36168. This ed. not in NSTC.   Publisher's printed paper–covered boards; extremities rubbed, spine paper chipped, front cover with a few spots of discoloration. Pages very slightly age-toned, otherwise clean. An exceptionally good, solid representation of the genre.  (31710)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with small label of prominent collector Michael Zinman. The family record leaves have been used for Willard family weddings, births, and deaths from 1809 through 1861.

Binding:  Contemporary sheep embossed with geometric and stylized foliate designs in typical Phinney style, spine with gilt-stamped red leather title-label and gilt-decorated compartments. All edges rather subtly marbled.

•  Hills, English Bible in America, 972; O'Callaghan 250.   Binding as above, front cover and spine almost entirely sueded and/or sunned to a golden color (and back one showing original state); extremities rubbed. Free endpapers lacking; frontispiece crumpled (but present), with margins (only) chipped; one plate with tear from upper margin, extending into image, neatly repaired from the rear; mild to moderate foxing only. Front pastedown with collector's label as above; family record leaves inscribed as above; small, tied lock of hair laid in. A solid, interesting example of a very popular American Bible.  (27214)

•  Adomeit, Three Centuries of Thumb Bibles, A90.   Period-style speckled calf, spine with two raised bands and gilt-stamped title. One leaf with most of lower half torn away, resulting in partial loss of image on one side and loss of roughly 20 words on the other; otherwise, pages slightly age-toned only, with occasional faint spotting.  (25202)

Click the images for enlargements.

OCLC and American Imprints locate only five U.S. institutional holdings of this edition, one of which has since been deaccessioned.

•  American Imprints 40-701. This ed. not in O'Callaghan or Hills.   Contemporary treed calf, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title-label; board edges darkened, corners and joints lightly rubbed. Title-page and first text page institutionally pressure-stamped and front pastedown with bookplates; first text page with numerals in lower margin. Front free endpaper with early inked annotation (apparently incorrect, unfortunately) regarding edition, signed by H. Cone. Fly-leaves foxed, some pages with scattered lighter spotting, most clean.  (25941)

The wrappers are illustrated on the front with vignettes of children playing various games and on the back with a fancy border framing a publisher's advertisement interesting in itself.

•  Pomeroy, Alexander Anderson, 1945(a); Carstens, Babcocks, 788.   Publisher's pale pink wrappers (now faded) printed in black. Small hole from natural flaw in lower corner of front wrapper; rear wrapper partially detached; foxing, sometimes heavy, throughout.  (31237)

Provenance:  Front inside wrapper with inked gift inscription: “Presented to Miss Janette C. Browning by her friend S.W. Welbe [/] South Kingston 1859.”

•  Pomeroy, Alexander Anderson, 1960c. Not in American Imprints.   Publisher's printed creamy tan paper wrappers, very faintly discolored but otherwise showing virtually no wear; pages with faintest foxing only, very clean. A remarkably nice specimen of its ilk.  (31389)

The title's use of the word “illuminated” refers not (as usual) to decoration in gold, but both to the huge number of illustrations and to the fact that the half-titles, the title-leaves, and the presentation and birth, death, and marriage leaves are printed using colored inks. Concerning the illustrations, Frank Weitenkampf wrote in The Boston Public Library Quarterly (July, 1958, pp. 154–57): “The engravings after Chapman carefully reproduced the prim line-work method of the Englishman Bewick, introduced here by Alexander Anderson. . . . [T]his Harper publication was a remarkable production for its time and place, and retains its importance in the annals of American book-making. W.J. Linton, noted wood-engraver and author, knew ‘no other book like this, so good, so perfect in all it undertakes.'”

•  O'Callaghan 288–89; Hills 1161.   Binding as above, joints and extremities rubbed, covers with scrapes and discolorations but gilt still bright; repair to foot of front cover joint (hinged in place with appropriate papers; exterior secured with toned tissue), abraded leather consolidated. As might well be expected of such a massive volume, hinges and joints are tender. Occasional very faint spotting, pages generally clean, with family register leaves unused. Last (index) leaf with tear from inner margin extending into text, repaired with long-fiber tissue and wheat starch paste. In its signed binding, this is an interesting example of a very impressive production.  (28808)

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)

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)

Provenance:  The family register leaves record that one Peter Paul Shank, presumably the Bible's original owner, outlived three wives (born in 1833, he married in 1857, 1896, and 1903, and died in 1913 in Mineral Springs, NY). The birthdates of Shank and his wives are all listed, but no offspring are recorded.

Binding:  Publisher's deluxe embossed brown roan in imitation of morocco, covers with central medallions surrounded by ivy motifs, spine with gilt-stamped title and blind-tooled knotwork and floral decorations.

•  Hills 1796. Not in Wolf, From Gothic Windows to Peacocks.   Binding as above, minor rubbing to joints, edges, and extremities. 64 pp. of appended material (index, concordance, metrical Psalms) lacking, with Biblical text and index complete; four plates (of six) lacking, with no indication of their ever having been present. Sewing loosening; first few leaves partially separated. Pages age-toned with some foxing. Front free endpaper torn from outer edge; one leaf with tear from outer margin, extending into text without loss.  (24453)

•  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)