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Greek Psalms from the Bibliotheca Heberiana
Bible. O.T. Psalms. Greek. 1555. Dolscius. [transliterated from Greek] Davidou prophetper Ioannem Oporinumou kai basileos melos, elegeiois perieilemmenon hypo Paulou tou Dolskiou Plaeos [then in Latin] Psalterium prophetae et regis Dauidis, uersibus elegiacis redditum a Pavlo Dolscio Plauensi. Basileae: per Ioannem Oporinum, [colophon: 1555]. 8vo (15.9 cm, 6.25"). [16], 341, [7] pp.
$1250.00
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Sole edition of these Greek paraphrased psalms, done by Paul Dolscius while he was serving as a rector in Halle. Melanchthon was a great supporter of Dolscius (1526–89), whose translation work was so proficient that at one point his authorial byline on the Greek translation of the Augsburg Confession was assumed to be merely a pseudonym for the great reformer himself.
The text here is simply printed with the Latin preface in roman and the main text in Greek using single columns; a 5-line decorative initial and a 7-line inhabited one (showing two kings in profile) complete the work. This is now an uncommon edition, with searches of Worldcat, COPAC, USTC, and NUC Pre-1956 revealing only three U.S. institutions reporting ownership.
Provenance: An inked ownership stamp of notable 19th-century English bibliomaniac Richard Heber (1774–1833), reading “Bibliotheca Heberiana,” appears on the front free endpaper; Thomas Frognall Dibdin added this stamp to select rare books in Heber's collection following the collector's death. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Bibliotheca Palatina F5048/F5049; VD16 B3122; USTC 626665. Not in Adams; not in Darlow & Moule. On Dolscius, see: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (online). 19th-century half calf and paste paper–covered boards, spine with gilt rolls and green leather gilt title-label, all edges stained blue; rubbed, slight loss of leather on front joint (outside) and corners, a few small spots and leather repairs, isolated glue action to endpapers. Light age-toning with occasional slivers of marginal staining (possibly thanks to the blue edge stain?), one interior tear touching letters and two marginal spots. Provenance indicia as above, small round paper shelflabel on spine, a few bibliographical notes pencilled on endpapers.
A skillfully produced work with a pleasing provenance. (39566)

“I Consider It a Great Curiosity”
Bible. N.T. Greek & Latin. Arias Montano. 1572. Novvm Testamentvm Graece, cum vulgata interpretatione Latina Graeci contextus lineis inserta ... [Heidelberg]: Ex officina Commeliniana, 1599. 8vo (19.9 cm, 7.75"). [14], 827, [1] pp. Lacks interior blank (only).
$925.00
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One of the last 16th-century interlinear editions of the Greek New Testament and Vulgate Latin, as first presented in Plantin's monumental Royal Antwerp Polyglot Bible of 1569–72. The text is printed in Greek with the Vulgate in roman type inter-linearly; additionally, there are decorative letters, and head- and tailpieces. When the Vulgate differs from the Greek, its text is printed in the margin as a shouldernote and a literal Latin rendering by the great Spanish theologian Benedictus Arias Montanus (a.k.a. Benito Arias Montano) is printed in italics in the text. The Commelin device appears on the title-page, which describes this printing as “Editio postrema, multò quàm antehac emendatior.”
Evidence of Readership: Marginal notes or accents in at least two early hands have been added in ink in two dozen–plus places, with one page used for scribbling and content ranging from a squiggle to a word to real notes; two Latin words and the publication date, in Arabic numerals under the publisher's roman, have been inked to the title-page.
Provenance: Early calligraphic ownership note of “Dudley” dated 1843 on binder's blank; later ownership signature of E.F. Whitehouse with the shelfmark 354 and an acquisition note
including the collectorly report, “It was all to bits, I had it bound and consider it a great curiosity.”
Adams B1716; Darlow & Moule 4656a; VD16 ZV 1904; USTC 440704. Recent half brown calf and mustard buckram cloth, red leather spine label lettered in gilt, all edges speckled brown, new endpapers; very gently rubbed, one short tear at bottom gutter of binder's blank. Light age-toning and waterstaining of various darknesses throughout most of the text with the occasional spot. The title leaf has been backed with a later paper with no loss of content; interior blank (only) lacking as above, three leaves with small interior holes affecting letters, two leaves with marginal sections torn away. Readership and provenance evidence as above, with some inked notes trimmed or bled onto surrounding leaves.
Read and engaged with by multiple people, and all the more intriguing because of it. (39429)

HEAVILY ANNOTATED — The Gospels & Acts in an Important Edition
Bible. N.T. Greek & Latin. 1588. Testamentum Novum, sive novum foedus Iesu Christi, D.N. Cuius Graeco contextui respondent interpretationes duae: vna, vetus altera, Theodori Bezae, nunc quartò diligenter ab eo recognita... [Genevae]: [Henricus Stephanus], 1588. Folio (33 cm; 13"). [6] ff., 555, [1 (blank)] pp., [8] ff. (lacks final blank leaf); lacks vol. II (Epistles, Revelation).
$2500.00
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An interleaved and heavily annotated copy of the Gospels and Acts of “Beza's third major edition [of the Greek New Testament]. The text follows that of the second major edition (1582) with only five exceptions” (Darlow and Moule).
One should note that the title-page proclaims this “quarta editio,” and that this is Estienne's third folio printing of Beza's N.T.
Beza's New Testament Greek text is here accompanied by his Latin and the Vulgate (i.e., Catholic Latin) translations, the trio appearing in parallel columns on each page with
extensive notes that often fill as much as one-third to one-half of a page and with parallel references additionally set in the margins. The volume's title-page is printed in red and black and bears Henri Estienne's printer's device; a different finely wrought woodcut headpiece opens each book, with each column on those pages bearing a woodcut initial at its head, and a few of the books of the N.T. end with woodcut tailpieces.
Evidence of readership: An interleaved copy with
the vast majority of the leaves bearing an early 19th-century reader's notes and annotations. The notes cite references published as late as 1809 and it is clear that the natively German-speaking scholar was comfortable in Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and English.
Provenance: Ownership signature on title-page of Leon St. Vincent. Later in The Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released; no markings).
The paper stock used for the interleaving has the classic ProPatria watermark and that and its countermark match Churchill's 151, which has a starting date of 1799.
Darlow & Moule 4650; Adams B1711. On the interleaves' watermarks, see: Churchill, Watermarks in paper in Holland, England, France, etc., in the XVII and XVIII centuries. 19th-century half vellum with German pastepaper over boards, spine with tinted and tooled label, text recased and new endpapers; vol. I (only) of this production, without the Epistles and Revelation. Title-page creased and dust-soiled, all leaves before pp. 9/10 rodent-gnawed in lower outside corner with loss of paper but not of text or manuscript annotation, and a bit of light waterstaining to rearmost leaves only.
An important edition and a singular copy. (37032)

“Breeches” Bible — But Not Really the 1599 — Illustrated
& in a Red Morocco Binding by Hering
Bible. English. 1599. Geneva–Tomson–Junius. The Bible, that is, the holy Scriptures conteined in the Olde and Newe Testament, translated
according to the Ebrew and Greeke, and conferred with the best translations in diuers languages.
With most profitable annotations vpon all the hard places, and other things of great importance.
London: Impr. by the deputies of Christopher Barker, 1599 [i.e., 1633 or later]. 4to (22 cm, 8.6").
Add. t.-p., [3], 190, 127, 121, [11] ff.; illus.
$3800.00
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At least five editions appeared with this 1599 imprint, almost none of which were actually printed that year. Darlow and Moule note, “The phenomena of the various editions described under the year 1599 . . . constitute one of the most curious problems in the
bibliography of the English Bible.” Clearly there was a demand (by English Puritans and by
Pilgrims in the Low Countries and America, among others) for Geneva Bibles, with their
strongly Protestant marginal notes, well after they could no longer be printed openly in London.
Pocock is of the opinion that recognizing this, Robert Barker “adopted” various early-17th-century Amsterdam and Dort Genevas; the back-dating and “back-attributing” on their title-pages
would have associated these with and effectively disguised them as a popular and approved Bible
printed by his own father, who died in that year and whose press he took over in the year
following. STC attributes the whole array of editions purely to Stam in Amsterdam, who as
publisher also would have benefitted from the fame and innocuousness in England of
Christopher Barker's actual 1599 edition, though he would have had no reason in Dutch law for
disguise.
The text at hand here is the Geneva version (as usual, without the Apocrypha), with
Tomson's revised New Testament and Junius's Revelation — but this copy thoroughly muddies
the waters with a title-page supplied from another copy, possibly even the genuine 1599 printing.
The New Testament title-page also gives 1599 (as does the colophon), but is original to the
present copy.
The woodcut title-page border (repeated for the New Testament's separate title-page) is the classic depiction of the Twelve Tribes of Israel in panels on the left and the Twelve Apostles
on the right, with rondelles of the Four Evangelists. The text is illustrated with woodcuts of Noah's Ark, the crossing of the Red Sea, the artifacts associated with the Tabernacle and the
Temple, the vision of Ezekiel, etc., along with maps of the suggested location of the Garden of Eden, the Israelites' wanderings in the wilderness, and the Holy Land.
Binding: Early 19th-century signed binding by Hering (stamped on front free endpaper): oxblood morocco framed and panelled in gilt triple fillets, spine with gilt-stamped title and dateline and gilt-ruled compartments, turn-ins with gilt roll. All edges gilt.
Hering, one of the most prominent London binders of his period, was spoken of by Timperley as“the head of the craft” at that time.
Provenance: Laid-in letter from a London bookseller to Pennsylvania collector John S.
Cochran of Lancaster, dated 1948, optimistically but incorrectly affirming this to be “the earliest
of many editions of this date.”
See Rumball-Petre, Rare Bibles, 116; Darlow & Moule 193; Herbert 254; STC 2178. For note on Hering, see: Charles Henry Timperley's Dictionary of printers and printing (1839), p. 835. Binding as above, lightly rubbed and spine slightly sunned; front hinge (inside) cracked, joint holding strongly. Two original brown silk bookmarks present and still attached. Front free endpaper with affixed slip of earlier cataloguing. A few early leaves with old repairs to upper or outer areas, in one case resulting in slight darkening of one woodcut and in another with loss of printed text, very carefully and neatly supplied in ink. Scattered light spotting, pages clean overall. A sound copy of an interesting Bible, modestly but elegantly bound. (30958)

The First Catholic Old Testament in English — Once Owned by an “Unfit” Reader?!?
(Rather Unnerving Evidence of Readership)
Bible. O.T. English. Douai. 1609–10. The Holie Bible faithfully translated into English, out of the authentical Latin. Diligently conferred with the Hebrew, Greeke, and other editions in divers languages. With arguments of the bookes, and chapters: annotations: tables: and other helpes, for better understanding of the text: for discoverie of corruptions in some late translations: and for clearing controversies in religion. By the English College of Doway. Doway: Laurence Kellam, 1609–10. 4to (I: 22.3 cm, 8.75"; II: 21 cm, 8.3"). 2 vols. I: [2], 1115, [1] pp. (5 leaves supplied). II: 1124, [2 (errata)] pp. (5 leaves in facsimile).
$12,000.00
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First edition of the first Catholic Old Testament in English — editio princeps of the Douai (or Douay, or Doway) Old Testament, half of what is commonly known as the Douai–Rheims Bible. The New Testament first appeared at Rheims in 1582; at that time the Old Testament was said to be ready for printing, but its actual publication was delayed until 1609 due to lack of funds. Both portions were translated from the Latin Vulgate mainly by Gregory Martin (with the intensely controversial Old Testament notes done by Thomas Worthington), under the supervision of Cardinal William Allen at Douai, the center of English Catholicism in exile during Elizabeth's reimposition of Protestantism.
This translation is important for all, not just Catholics, as an enduringly influential milestone in Bible history.
One of the foundational works in any collection of Bibles and Testaments.
Evidence of Readership / Provenance: Vol. I front free endpaper with early inked inscription: “Cloister of Nazareth”; pastedown with inscription in a different hand, reading “The holy Bible some pages cut out, (for modesty's sake) thro' ignorance yt. each word hear in [sic] is sacred, & too sacred for such, as finds thmselves unfit to read it.” Vol. II front pastedown inscribed “Men have many faults / Women have but two / Nothing wright thay say / Nothing good they doo” [sic], signed by the Rev. Folkins of Derbyshire, dated MDCCCX; back pastedown with inked inscription of John Caldwell and pencilled inscription of Thomas R. Kilching.
Darlow & Moule 231; ESTC S101944; Rumball-Petre, Rare Bibles, 119; STC (rev. ed.) 2207. Vol. I: Contemporary vellum with yapp edges, spine with early hand-inked title; vellum moderately dust-soiled and worn, spine with remnants of shelving label. Vol. II: Contemporary mottled calf framed in gilt double fillets, spine with gilt rules; rubbed with small cracks in leather overall, especially at joints and spine, very unobtrusively rebacked. Inscriptions and annotations as above, vol. II also with pencilled annotations on front pastedown and bookseller's small ticket on rear pastedown. Sometime after the “immodest” pages (in Genesis) were removed, they were supplied from another copy, tipped in (so one can readily see what they were!); five lacking leaves in vol. II (in appended historical table and index) were supplied in facsimile. Occasional minor foxing and smudging; vol. II with waterstaining to some outer and lower edges, edges of first and last few leaves slightly tattered.
A landmark Old Testament, here in an intriguing copy. (36730)

Elzevir's Received Text — From the Syston Park Collection
Bible. N.T. Greek. 1633. [in Greek, transliterated as] He Kaine Diatheke. [then in roman] Novum testamentum. Ex regiis aliisque optimis editionibus cum cura expressum. Lugduni Batavorum: Ex officina Elzeviriana, 1633. 12mo (13 cm, 5.125"). [16], 861, [35] pp.
$1650.00
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Syston Park copy of the editio recepta of Beza's text, following the first Elzevir edition of 1624 and largely agreeing with the octavo edition of 1565. Greek New Testaments were a staple of the renowned Elzevir family of printers, and Willems declares that of the three printed by the Leyden Elzevirs, “celle-ci est la plus belle et la plus recherchée.”
It was in the preface to this edition that this text was first labelled “Textus Receptus.”
After the preface, the text is printed entirely in Greek, except for Latin chapter headings in the table of contents; verse numbers are given in the inner margin of each page. The title-page features the printer's woodcut device of a man picking grapes from a vine on a tree and the motto “Non solus.”Binding: 18th-century crimson straight-grain morocco, covers framed in dotted gilt rules, board edges and turn-ins with dotted gilt rule, spine similarly ruled and with gilt-stamped title. All edges gilt and a light blue silk ribbon placemarker still present. Almost certainly done by
Roger Payne, Syston Park's preferred binder.
Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplates of H. Walter Webb and Syston Park (i.e., the famous
Syston Park Library, collected at Lincolnshire by Sir John Hayford Thorold, Bart., and his predecessors); front free endpaper with bookplate of Leila Howard Codman; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.The Sotheby's catalogue of the Syston Park sale suggests that the present copy was Sir John's duplicate, this example having marbled endpapers rather than the “silk linings” described in another copy.
Darlow & Moule 4679; Willems 396. Bound as above, spine slightly dimmed. Bookplates as above; front free endpaper and fly-leaf with affixed slips of old cataloguing and pencilled annotations. Pages clean.
A nice copy with pleasing, in fact prestigious, provenance. (37819)

English Black Morocco, Gilt Extra
Bible. English. Authorized (i.e., “King James Version”). 1648. The Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New. Newly translated out of the originall tongues, and with the former translations diligently compared and revised by his Majesties speciall command. London: Printed by John Field, 1648. 4to (23 cm; 9"). OT: [478] ff. NT: [148] ff. [bound with] Bible. O.T. Psalms. 1655. The whole book of Psalms: collected into English metre by Thomas Sternhold, John Hopkins, and others. Lonodn [sic]: Pr. for the Company of Stationers, 1655. 4to. [1] f., 122 pp., [2] ff.
$1500.00
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Two issues occur of this Bible, this being the one without the engraver's name on the title-page and with the printer's name spelled out and not abbreviated; the issues are the same after the first two leaves. This copy is without the Apochrypha, but with the final two leaves of the 1655 Psalms, which leaves are lacking in some reported copies.
Provenance: On blank leaf before Psalms, “William Ingram His Booke 1660.” Later in the Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released).
Binding: 18th-century black morocco, spine with raised bands. Gilt-tooled on covers with concentric frames incorporating foliate corner devices and particularly elegant, delicate side toolings; these last notably well complement the similarly refined tools used to compose the gilt-extra spine. Gilt rolls on turn-ins, French combed endpapers, all edges gilt.
Whole Bible: Darlow & Moule 469; Herbert 606; Wing (rev. ed.) B2225; ESTC R43605. Psalms: Wing (rev. ed.) B2458; ESTC R39598. Binding as above, lightly rubbed. Ex-library: Bookplate, small rubber-stamp in lower margin of engraved title, charge pocket at rear. Three leaves torn and repaired; some upper and lower margins closely trimmed affecting or costing captions, catchwords, signature marks, etc.; some foxing, dust-soiling, age-toning; waterstain to rear endpapers and faintly into final four leaves of the Psalms. Contemporary ownership note as above. Faults noted, this is yet a handsome mid-17th-century Bible — and, solid. (34195)

Gutbier's Labor of Love — Printed on the
Editor's Own Press
Bible. N.T. Syriac. 1664. Novum domini nostri Jesu Christi Testamentum Syriace, cum punctis vocalibus, & versione Latina Matthaei ... plene & emendate editum, accurante Aegidio Gutbirio. Hamburgi: Typis & impensis authoris, 1664. 8vo (17.2 cm, 6.75"). [32], 218, 281–604 pp.
$750.00
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First edition of Gilles Gutbier's acclaimed Syriac New Testament,
produced at the author's own expense using types he cut himself. Gutbier (1617–67), a distinguished professor at Hamburg, was universally recognized as one of the leading Orientalists of his era. His work on this New Testament was based on all of the previously published Syriac editions and on two unpublished manuscripts, one of which had belonged to the emperor Constantine. Darlow and Moule note that Gutbier also includes the previously missing “five books, the 'pericope de adulter' and the 'comma Johanneum.'”
This copy has the additional engraved title-page (dated 1663) but is not one of the variant issues that include the supplementary pieces mentioned on that title. The printed title-page present here matches Darlow and Moule's state d.
Binding: Contemporary calf, round spine, gilt spine extra, handsome metal and leather closures with gilt tooling on the leather; very pretty, simple single gilt-roll border on each board. German floral paste-decorated endpapers and all edges red.
Provenance: Ownership signatures of I. Duvarus (1774); J.G. Drunnburg (1822) Johann O. Nordendam (1830) on front fly-leaf.
Darlow & Moule 8966; Graesse 103. Leather “shellacked” and shiny; volume now solid with front board reattached using the long-fiber method and areas of spine similarly improved. A sophisticated copy: four leaves of the prefactory matter (b1–4) are inserted from a small copy (possibly even a different edition). Some early underscoring; overall
very decent as a text and very attractive on shelf or in hand. (36974)

In Gothic & Anglo-Saxon & With an Extensive Glossary
Bible. N.T. Gospels. Gothic. 1665. Quatuor D.N. Jesu Christi evangeliorum. Versiones perantiquae duae, Gothica scil. et Anglo-Saxonica. Dordrechti: Typis & sumptibus Junianis; Excudebant Henricus & Joannes Essaei, 1665. 4to (20.5 cm; 8"). 2 parts in 1 vol. [9] ff., 565, [3] pp.; [12] ff., 431 pp.
$3000.00
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This is the first printing of the Gospels in Gothic and the second of them in Anglo-Saxon; it is also the first edition of Ulfila's Gothic version of the Gospels — based on the Codex Argenteus — parallel with the Anglo-Saxon version, which is based on the 1571 Day printing of the Anglo-Saxon Gospels. The presentation is double-column, with the Gothic to the left. The volume opens with a handsome architectural engraved title-page by A[braham Dircksz van] Santvoort (1624–69), featuring the four evangelists with their symbols and the tetragrammaton, preceding the typographic one.
Thomas Marshall (1621–85) was the work's chief editor and later was rector of Lincoln College, Oxford. His assistant on the large project was François du John, the Younger, (1589–1677), whose Gothic–Latin dictionary with its own pagination ([12] ff., 431 pp.) and title-page — “Gothicum glossarium, quo pleraque Argentei Codicis vocabula explicantur ... praemittuntur ei Gothicum, Runicum, Anglo-Saxonicum, aliáque alphabeta. Operâ Francisci Junii” — follows the Gospels.
Darlow and Moule (4557) observe: “Beyond their interest to the student of textual criticism, these fragments possess special value for the philologist as preserving what is 'by several centuries the oldest specimen of Teutonic speech.'”
Provenance: The Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released).
Darlow & Moule 1604 & 4557; Brunet, II, 1118. Late 17th- or early 18th-century Cambridge style calf; recently well rebacked with blind-tooled device in four of the five spine compartments, a very dark brown leather spine label neatly gilt, and new endpapers. Despite provenance, NO library markings.
A very nice copy. (36163)

Printed in England in 1665 & Bound in
AMERICA in 1829
Bible. O.T. Greek. Septuagint. 1665. [four lines in Greek, then] Vetus testamentum graecum ex versione Septuaginta interpretum, juxta exemplar Vaticanum Romae editum. Cantabrigiae: Excusum per Joannem Field, 1665. 12mo (14 cm; 5.5"). [1] f., 19, [1], 755 [i.e. 767, 1], 516 pp. (without the initial blank).
$1800.00
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The second English edition of the Septuagint. There are different issues: This a copy of the one with the third word of the Greek title readiing “Diathēche” and not “Diathēke” and with the printer's device showing the man holding the sun in his left hand. Thus, this is Darlow and Moule issue “B.”
Thomas Jefferson owned a copy of one of the issues of this edition.
Provenance: Manuscript ownership inscription of John Ray dated 1716 (on retained fly-leaf); ownership signature of Robert L. Wilson, New York, 1818 (on title-page); gilt supra-libros of Barzillai Slosson, dated 1829. Later in the Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released).
Binding: American binding of dark blue goat, richly gilt, with wide floral border on covers and spine distinctively gilt using rules and floral roll. Board edges with a gilt roll; turn-ins gilt tooled. Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Gilt supra-libros of Barzillai Slosson as above. Unsigned.
Barzillai Slosson may have been related to the lawyer of the same name who was active in Kent, CT, at the end of the 18th century and into the fourth decade of the 19th, whose account books are in the Yale Law Library; perhaps, the Barzillai who graduated from Columbia College in 1818 and later moved to Geneva, NY, where he was active and successful in business and civic affairs.
Wing (rev. ed.) B2719. Darlow & Moule; 4702; ESTC R236848; Sowerby, Catalogue of the library of Thomas Jefferson, 1473. Binding as above, lightly rubbed. Pages closely cropped in the 19th-century rebinding and some initial or final letters touched or lost. Very good. (34786)

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
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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)
“William Tillsons Bible” & BCP
(Bible). Church of England. Book of Common Prayer. [The book of common prayer, and administration of the sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies of the church, according to the use of the Church of England; together with the Psalter, or Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be sung or said in churches]. [Oxford: W. Jackson & A. Hamilton, 1783?]. 4to (28 cm, 11"). [52] ff. (lacking ff. [1][3]). [bound with] Bible. English. 1783. Authorized (i.e., King James Version). The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments: translated out of the original tongues: and with the former translations diligently compared and revised.... Oxford: W. Jackson & A. Hamilton, 1783. 4to (28 cm, 11"). [144] ff. (lacking final blank?). [bound with] Bible. O.T. Psalms. English.Paraphrases. 1770. Sternhold and Hopkins. The whole book of psalms, collected into English metre.... Oxford: Pr. by T. Wright & W. Gill, 1770. 4to (28 cm, 11"). [28] ff.
$800.00
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Large, heavy, quarto family bible smaller and more manageable and less expensive than the large folios intended to be used at the lectern in church, but still quite substantial. These family Bibles also could contain, as in this case, the Book of Common Prayer and the "old" version metrical psalter with the expectation that they would serve the master of the house in leading family worship.
Provenance: "William Tillsons Bible" in manuscript above manuscript family records on the front free endpaper.
Prayer Book, Psalter: not in ESTC. Bible: not in Darlow & Moule or ESTC; Herbert 1286. Contemporary calf, covers panelled in blind with remnants of clasps. Front joint open with cords strongly holding; covers abraded with incisions and leather loss to edges; spine leather dry and cracking; front fly-leaf detached. Lacking title-page and two preliminary leaves of Prayer Book; another early leaf detached with a closed tear across, no loss of text; four or half a dozen leaves with a crescent of waterstaining along upper margin and some lines into text. Bible: scattered foxing and brown spotting, with a few closed tears and occasional chipping in the margins, resulting in loss of words from a few shouldernotes. The copy described by Herbert had engravings and maps not present here; this copy is complete textually. (4031)

Ann Hall's Bible
Bible. English. 1790. Authorized (i.e., King James Version). The Holy Bible, containing the Old Testament, and the New: Translated out of the original tongues, and with the former translations diligently compared and revised, by His Majesty's special command. Oxford: Pr. at the Clarendon Press by W. Jackson & A. Hamilton, 1790–92. 12mo (13.6 cm, 5.7"). [1232] pp.
$500.00
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A late 18th–century personal Bible from Oxford University's Clarendon Press, in a dignified contemporary binding. The New Testament has a separate title-page, dated 1792; the Apocrypha are not called for and not present.Binding: Contemporary black morocco, covers framed in gilt roll and single gilt fillet with red- and gilt-stamped IHS central medallions surrounded by gilt-stamped flames, with gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spine with gilt-tooled bands and compartment decorations. All edges gilt.
Provenance: Front pastedown with gilt-stamped red leather ex-libris label of Ann Hall, dated 1798.
ESTC T95085; Darlow & Moule 953. Binding as above; extremities rubbed, sides with small scuffs and scratches, medallions rubbed and gilt dimmed in spots, spine leather cracked. Corners of front pastedown and free endpaper chewed; front free endpaper with early inked doodles; pages trimmed closely enough to occasionally touch a signature marking. and some corners bumped. One leaf with tear from outer margin, extending into text without loss; two pages with small ink blots in lower and outer margins, not affecting text; four leaves with lower outer corners crumpled.
Worn, yet still a very pleasing example of its type. (35351)

Typeset in Scotland Printed in New York
Bible. English. 1792. Authorized. The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments: translated out of the original tongues; and with the former translations diligently compared and revised. New York: Printed & Sold by Hugh Gaine, 1792. 12mo (17 cm; 6.75"). [408] pp.
$775.00
Click the images for enlargements.
An early American Bible with a fascinating creation story. According to Margaret Hills, “The ruby type of this edition is said to have been set up in Scotland and imported [by Hugh Gaine] in page form, ready for printing. The type was apparently kept standing.” It is said that Isaiah Thomas bought five hundred copies of this Bible in sheets, due to the delay in the completion of his school edition of the Bible.
Provenance: Timothy Hall's family bible ca. 1800). Later in the Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released).
Evidence of Readership (or Something else — Engagement?): Former owners and their children have filled the blank endpapers with names and scribbles in pencil and ink; the New Testament title-page verso and an endpaper record important family dates, such as Timothy Hall's marriage to Elizabeth Morgan and Harry Harmon Hall's birth in 1801, while endpapers and blank sections of the Bible have provided scribble space and handwriting practice for Harry and a presumably different Timothy.
All of this endearing, none of it off-putting.
ESTC W4514; Evans 24098; Hills, English Bible in America, 40; Sabin 5175; O'Callaghan 45–6. 18th-century calf, spine with raised bands; well-rubbed with leather crackled and loss at spine extremities, especially to top compartment. Ex-library as above, light pencilling on t.-p., pencilled call number and accession number on title-page verso; family penmanship and genealogical contributions as noted. One torn corner, a short tear on N.T. title-page, a handful of leaves trimmed closely with loss of a letter per line; light to moderate age-toning with the occasional spot.
An interesting Bible bibliographically, and a “family” Bible in every sense. (36652)

Uncommon Scottish
Bible & Psalter
Bible. English. 1793. Authorized (i.e., King James Version). The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments: Translated out of the original tongues; and with the former translations diligently compared and revised, by His Majesty's special command. Edinburgh: Mark & Charles Kerr, 1793. 4to (30.4 cm, 12"). [508] ff. [with] Bible. O.T. Psalms. English.1795. Paraphrases. The Psalms of David in metre. Translated, and diligently compared with the original text, and former translations. More plain, smooth, and agreeable to the text, than any heretofore. Allowed by the authority of the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, and appointed to be sung in congregations and families. Edinburgh: Mark & Charles Kerr, 1795. 4to. [24] ff.
$850.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
The Kerrs, printers to His Majesty, published a number of Bibles in the late 18th century, with minor to significant variations among the editions — including several different formats in 1793. In the present (uncommon) large quarto edition, the Apocrypha are not present although listed in table of contents, but the signatures of the Old and New Testaments are continuous and uninterrupted; the New Testament has a separate title-page.
This edition ends with leaf 6M4 and does not match Darlow and Moule 957 (Edinburgh: M. & C. Kerr, 1793), described as a folio with text ending on 9R2, although that entry's statement that “The insertion of the Apocrypha interrupts the signatures” would seem to explain the absence of the non-integral Apocrypha; the accompanying Scotch Metrical Psalms of 1795 are also present in Darlow and Moule's listing. Herbert finds additional Kerr printings of 1793, but none that match the format and
collation of this copy.
Scarce: ESTC, OCLC, and NUC Pre-1956 find only two U.S. holdings.
Provenance: The beautifully written ownership note, “Rebecca Jane Emack,” at top of first text leaf.
ESTC T91818; this ed. not in Darlow & Moule or Herbert. Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped thistle decorations, leather edges tooled in blind. Upper portion of title-page neatly excised and probably something off the bottom also; early inked ownership inscription as above. Light staining and foxing; several instances of laid-in dried plant matter. (25336)

American 18th-Century
Illustrated Lectern Bible
Bible. English. 1796. Authorized (i.e., King James Version). The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments...and the Apocrypha. Philadelphia: Pr. by Jacob R. Berriman for Berriman & Co., 1796. Folio (42.2 cm, 16.7"). [748] pp. (2 final ff. of back matter lacking); 18 plts.
$3500.00
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Bible collector's treasure: the first edition of the Berriman Bible. Noted for its excellent illustrations by several contemporary American engravers, including Alexander Anderson, Cornelius Tiebout, Francis Shallus, and William Rollinson, this large and handsomely produced lectern-sized folio Bible is printed in two columns with sidenotes including scriptural cross-references and a chronology. The plates include scenes of Adam and Eve in paradise (frontispiece), the Egyptian midwives drowning the Hebrews' infant sons, Judas Maccabaeus slaying Apolloninus, and Judas betraying Christ with a kiss; the maps show the presumed historical setting of the Garden of Eden and the Holy Land. One plate in this copy (“The Parting of Lot and Abraham”) is bound in upside-down.
Provenance: Title-page with inked inscription in upper margin: “Benjamin Morris to Samuel White Sept. 17th 1826,” and with tipped-in typed slip noting presentation to a seminary by the Rev. John Cyrus Madden (class of 1893), who had received the book from Charles Reifschneider, a descendant of White. Spine with gilt-stamped leather label reading “Deborah Morris to” — only!
Herbert 1402; Hills 53; O'Callaghan 51; Rumball-Petre 175; Wright, Early Bibles of America, 325; Evans 30065; ESTC W004506. Early 19th-century mottled sheep, covers framed in blind roll, spine with gilt-stamped title label and compartment decorations; binding scuffed and rubbed, gilt now mostly lost, front cover with inkstain, front joint cracked but holding and back one holed, back free endpaper lacking. Spine head chipped with one label partly cut (yes, cut) away, and foot with inked shelving number; other library markings including institutional bookplate, pressure- and rubber-stamps, and a few typical annotations. Pages age-toned to browned with offsetting and foxing ranging from mild to moderate, occasional spotting and smudging, some dog-eared corners; some leaves with margins chipped or short edge tears, a few with tears extending into text (some with loss of a few letters). Two leaves in Jeremiah torn with upper portions lacking, one leaf crudely repaired some time ago, last leaf tattered; two final leaves (last portion of tables section and the subscribers list) lacking, with scraps of the “Table of Kindred & Affinity” laid in. Marked by time and use, still an agreeable and interesting example of a noteworthy edition. (31848)
Campbell’s GOSPELS in their
First! American Edition
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
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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; nicely rebacked with original label laid on. Title-page and contents inscribed as described above; endpapers waterstained, and pages with light spots of foxing. Paper in many sections faintly blue. (11489)

First Stereotyped Bible Printed in America
Bible. English. 1812. Authorized (i.e., “King James Version”).
The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments: Translated out of the original tongues, and with the former translations diligently compared and revised. Philadelphia: Stereotyped for the Bible Society at Philadelphia, by T. Rutt, Shacklewell, London, [and pr. by William Fry], 1812. 12mo (17.9 cm, 7"). 456, 459–78, 481–633, [1] pp., [1] f., 191, [1] pp.
$500.00
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The first Stereotyped Bible Printed in America. The Bible Society of Philadelphia, founded in 1808 with Bp. William White as its first president, was the first Bible society organized in the United States. It published this, the first stereotype Bible printed in the U.S., from plates imported from London; the B.F.B.S. contributed £500 towards the purchase of the plates, and they were admitted to the U.S. free of import duties. The initial run produced 1050 copies of the complete Bible and 750 copies of the New Testament, in double columns in very small type.
Provenance: Signature of Edward H. Mills dated 27 May 1843 on front pastedown. From the collection of Michael Zinman.
Shaw & Shoemaker 24835; Hills 213; Herbert 1560; O'Callaghan 110; Wright, Early Bibles of America, 192–93; Rumball-Petre 189. Contemporary sheep, rubbed with joints opening and leather lost at spine head; wormwork to spine and some margins of text. Volume “soft” with sewing pulling away from spine and a few gatherings separated; text foxed and browned, as often; several leaves, perhaps two dozen, damaged with some loss of text, perhaps a dozen more with small tears. Lacking two leaves of the Old Testament, all others present. A distressed copy of this important edition and priced accordingly. (35967)

Printed from the
D. & G. Bruce Stereotype Plates
Bible. English. 1816. Authorized (i.e., “King James Version”). The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments: translated out of the original tongues; and with the former translations diligently compared and revised. New York: Printed & published by W. Mercein, 1816. 12mo (18.2 cm, 7.25"). 684 pp.
$150.00
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In 1815, New Yorker David Bruce produced the first Bible made from stereotype plates manufactured in the United Sates. This Bible, produced only a year later, was printed using exactly the same plates with only a date and imprint change on the title-page and on that of the New Testament. D. & G. Bruce's notice dated June, 1815, appears on verso of the main title-page, telling us that the text “has been copied from the Edinburgh edition printed under the revision of the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, and are [sic] fully compared with the Cambridge, Oxford, Hartford, and New-York editions.”
Provenance: From the Michael Zinman collection.
Hills 301; O'Callaghan p. 135; Shaw & Shoemaker 36953. Brown period calf with damaged spine, lacking perhaps ten percent of leather, and rubbing; joints open with rear board firmly attached, front one loosening; old ink and pencil annotations on endpapers. Some gatherings closely trimmed with no loss of text; one leaf torn with loss of part or whole of bottom line of one column, each side. Foxing, browning, age-toning throughout; waterstaining intermittently. An interesting example of how stereotype plates can “move” after they are made. (35968)
Bible. English. 1819. Authorized (i.e., “King James Version”). The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments...stereotype [7th] edition. New York: American Bible Society (stereotyped by E. & J. White; pr. by D. Fanshaw), 1819. 8vo (24.2 cm, 9.5"). 705, [1], 215 (lacking 1/2), [1 (blank)] pp.
$600.00
Early American Bible Society Bible, following its first, which appeared in 1816. This stereotyped New York Bible was done from the same plates as Fanshaw’s 1818 Long Primer Octavo, and this 1819 example is seen institutionally far more often in microform copies than in genuine holdings.
Provenance: Front cover with blind-stamped logo of the American Bible Society; title-page with inked inscription reading “Mary Ann Lanings [word obscured] August 24 1823.”
Shaw & Shoemaker 47213; Hills 375. Contemporary sheep double-panelled in blind, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title label; binding rubbed and unevenly faded, leather cracking over spine. Foxing ranging from mild to severe; last few leaves waterstained; some dog-earing. One worm track to upper outer margin of a few leaves. New Testament lacking title.
Well used but not abused; an evocative copy. (7970)

The ONLY Portion of
the Bible in This Indian Language?
Bible. N.T. Bikaneri. 1820. The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments. Vol. 5, containing the New Testament. Serampore [India]: Printed at the Mission Press, 1820. 8vo (20.5 cm; 8.125"). 649 pp.
$2500.00
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First and apparently sole printing of any portion of the Bible in Bikaneri (a.k.a.Vikanera), a Marwari language of the Rajasthan region of India. The text is in Devangari characters with an added title-page in English that reports the text was “translated from the originals into the Vikanera language by the Serampore missionaries.” The title-page also makes clear that this was meant to be vol. V of a complete translation of the Bible, but that project was never completed and it seems no other books of the Bible have been translated into the language.
The non-English title-page reads, in transliteration: “Svaraki sagali katha, jake adamyamkem uddharavei aura calanavei codem karyochem, u, Dharma pustaka, unko chedalo virada, va mhakem taranavala Bhagavanna Yisukhrishtaka phayadaki, Mangalika vatam.”
The paper used for the text seems to be native-made laid stock.
WorldCat and NUC combine to locate only six copies in U.S. libraries, one of which is this one, properly deaccessioned.
Provenance: Ex–Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School library; properly deaccessioned.
Darlow & Moule 7651; North & Nida, Book of a Thousand Tongues (1972), 826. Contemporary boards covered with blue paper a bit scuffed, soiled, and with areas of wear; original paper shelfback replaced with cloth of a closely matching color. A very little library pencilling; no stamps. (35167)
Bible. O.T. Psalms. English. Paraphrases. 1827. Watts. The Psalms, hymns, & spiritual songs ... to which are added, select hymns from other authors; and directions for musical expression. Boston: Samuel T. Armstrong and Crocker & Brewster,
[1827]. 12mo (15.6 cm, 6.2"). 496, [5]–156 pp.
$225.00
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“Stereotype edition, carefully revised, and improved with Copious Indexes.” The editor was Samuel Worcester, who also selected the added hymns at the back of this volume.
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. (20597)

NOAH WEBSTER Revises the Language of the BIBLE
for Americans
Bible. English. Webster. 1833. The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, in the common version, with amendments of the language by Noah Webster. New Haven: Durrie & Peck; Sold by Hezekiah Howe & Co., and by N. & J. White, 1833. 8vo (23 cm; 9"). xvi, 907 pp.
$8000.00
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First edition of the Bible in English (Authorized Version) tailored for American readers by Noah Webster (1758–1843). “His purpose was to remove obsolete words and those offensive to delicacy” (Rumball-Petre), Webster himself further stipulating, “To avoid giving offense to any denomination of christian [sic], I have not knowingly made any alteration to the passages of the present version, on which the different denominations rely for the support of their peculiar tenets” (Preface, p. iv). Webster further explains that the purpose of his revisions is to make the language clearer and purer so as to not “divert the mind from the matter to the language of the scriptures, and thus, in a degree, frustrate the purpose of giving instruction” (Preface, p. xvi).
Webster considered his work on the revision of the Bible more important than that on the dictionary and was sorely disappointed at the Bible's poor reception among all levels of readers.
Provenance: 19th-century ownership signatures of Luther P. Hubbard (undated) and R.T. Hall (1894); after ca. 1954 in The Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released).
Darlow & Moule 1793; Hills 826; Rumball-Petre 197. Publisher's sheep, spine dry and tending to flake; front board once detached and resecured with a cloth tape repair at the hinge (inside). Foxing as usual. Priced to encourage better repair to its binding, this is a complete, sound copy. (33830)

In a
GOOD AMERICAN Binding — Sarah Leverett's French Bible
Bible. French. 1839–40. Martin. La Sainte Bible...revue...par David Martin.... New York: Stéréotypé par Henry W. Rees, pour la Société Biblique Americaine, D. Fanshaw, Imprimeur, 1839–40. 8vo. 819 [1 (blank)] pp., 261, [1 (blank)] pp.
$525.00
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Only the second edition in the U.S. of the Martin edition of the French Bible. (Prior to 1835, the American Bible Society favored using the text of the 1805 French Bible.)Binding: This copy is exquisitely bound in full black leather in good imitation of morocco, elaborately stamped in gold on the covers forming a five-element frame or border, with gilt tooling on the board edges and with gilt inner dentelles. The spine has slightly raised bands and elaborate gold stamping in its compartments.
This is the second copy of this Bible that we have had and we are convinced that this is a publisher's deluxe leather binding. A choice of colors was apparently available, for the other copy we had was of an olive-green color.
Provenance: The name “Sarah B. Leverett” is lettered in gilt on the front cover, and the same name is given in precise gothic calligraphy on the front free endpaper.
Not in O'Callaghan; not in Darlow & Moule. Bound as above, corners a little bumped with a bit of long ago refurbishing thereto, dulling outermost elements of gilt border (only) on front cover, just at those corners. Evidence to endpapers of the volume's once having been sewn into a chemise or wrapper; old notes just discernible (not really readable) in a minute hand on front free endpaper (i.e., “behind” Sarah's name); see our image. Faint waterstaining in lower inside area for the first few pages (only).
The whole very attractive and well preserved. (2666)

Hannah's Legacy — Illustrated N.T.
Bible. N.T. English. Authorized. 1841. The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; with the marginal readings; and illustrated by marginal references, both parallel and explanatory, and a copious selection, carefully chosen, and newly arranged. New York: John C. Riker, 1841. 16mo (11 cm, 4.4"). Frontis., add. engr. t.-p., [2], 350 pp.; 4 plts.
$200.00
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A small, hand-size English New Testament based on that of the Polyglott Bible. Riker printed several variations on this edition from 1831 onwards; in this case, the added engraved title-page still gives the publication date as 1831, but the main title shows 1841. The text is printed in double columns with a central column of references, and
illustrated with a frontispiece, an additional engraved title-page, wood-engraved headpieces, and four steel-engraved plates, the latter done by Illman and Pilbrow after various artists.
Provenance: Tipped-in leaf with inked inscription: “Hannah M. Williams / Presented by directive from her grandmother Williams when on her death bed with this injunction to be read with careful attention”; in pencil below is “A precious legacy.” Williams (or a contemporary) apparently took the directive seriously; there are several instances of pencilled bracketing, marks of emphasis, and marginalia in the “precious legacy” hand.
Binding: Contemporary diced-grain red sheep, covers framed in gilt roll surrounding gilt-stamped acanthus and acorn design, spine with gilt-stamped title (“Polyglott Testament”) and decorative motifs, board edges with gilt roll. All edges gilt.
See Hills, English Bible in America, 768 for 1831 ed.; 1841 not listed. Bound as above, rubbed at joints and extremities with front hinge (inside) cracked yet sound. Front pastedown and free endpaper with pencilled inscriptions dated 1853; inscription leaf as above; one front fly-leaf with pencilled annotations (and with hole in lower center). Additional annotations as above; one plate with “My Saviour” pencilled in lower margin. Intermittent mild foxing and a bit of other staining; a few corners bumped. Worn, yes — still luminous in its own way, and an interesting example of two early 19th-century women's engagement with the Bible. (35204)
Harper’s
ILLUMINATED
“1600 Historical Engravings” & Handsomely Bound
Bible. English. 1846. Authorized (i.e., “King James Version”).English. 1846. Authorized (i.e., “King James Version”). The illuminated Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments...With marginal readings, references, and chronological dates. Also, the Apocrypha....Embellished with sixteen hundred historical engravings by J.A. Adams, more than fourteen hundred of which are from original designs by J.G. Chapman. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1846. Folio (34 cm, 13.4"). Frontis., add. engr. t.-p., [6], 844, [2], 128, [6], frontis., add. engr. t.-p., [2], 256, 3, [1], 8, 14, 34 pp.; illus.
$2850.00
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When the Harper firm published The Illuminated Bible near the midpoint of the 19th century, the company produced one of the most elaborate and costly American Bibles to that time. O'Callaghan says, “This work was originally announced in 1843, and was issued in 54 numbers at 25 cents each. J.A. Adams, the engraver, is credited with having taken the first electrotype in America from a woodcut. Many in this Bible are so done. Artists were engaged for more than six years in the preparation of the designs and engravings . . . at a cost of over $20,000.”
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.'”
Binding, signed: Contemporary red morocco, cover panels deeply beveled, inside bevel framed in wide gilt roll with gilt-stamped corner decorations, spine gilt extra, turn-ins w ith beautiful, bright gilt rolls. Signed by Cook & Somerville of New York.

Provenance: Front cover gilt-stamped “Mary Van Horne Clarkson”; inscriptions of several members of the Van Horne Clarkson family, mostly in New York.
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)

A Prize Won by
Well-Behaved Master Ireland
Bible. N.T. English. Authorized. 1847. The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; with the marginal readings; and illustrated by marginal references, both parallel and explanatory, and a copious selection, carefully chosen, and newly arranged. New York: J.C. Riker, 1847. 16mo (11.5 cm, 4.5"). Frontis., add. engr. t.-p., [2], 350, [2 (blank)] pp.; 4 plts.
$200.00
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English New Testament based on that of the Polyglott Bible. Riker printed several variations on this edition from 1831 onwards; here, the text is printed in double columns with central column of references, and
illustrated with a frontispiece, an additional engraved title-page, wood-engraved headpieces, and four steel-engraved plates, the latter done by Illman and Pilbrow after various artists.Prize copy: Front pastedown with presentation bookplate to Neal W. Ireland from New York Sunday School No. 41, for “good conduct and diligent study” in 1847.
Hills, English Bible in America, 1356. Contemporary straight-grained sheep framed in single gilt fillet, spine with gilt-stamped title, moderately rubbed overall with front hinge (inside) cracked and back hinge starting; sewing holding but just starting to loosen. Front pastedown with bookplate as above; endpapers with a few pencilled annotations. Pages gently age-toned with scattered faint spots of foxing; one leaf dog-eared in Ephesians.
An appealing little Testament with a charming engraved presentation plate. (35189)

Handsomely Printed Black-Letter Edition of the Wycliffe N.T.
Bible. N.T. English (Middle English). 1848. Wycliffe. The New Testament in English translated by John Wycliffe. Chiswick: Pr. by Charles Whittingham for William Pickering, 1848. 4to (25 cm, 9.8"). [10], [248] ff.; 1 plt.
$950.00
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The second of only two non-Greek New Testaments published by Pickering. John Wycliffe (d. 1384) is revered as the first to translate the Bible into English — as opposed to Anglo-Saxon — and, though his heterodox religious opinions brought his translation (and those based on it) into disrepute at the time and well after, it circulated widely in manuscript. This grand
Pickering Press edition announces itself as being from an early manuscript (“ca. 1380") that was “formerly in the monastery of Sion Middlesex and late in the collection of Lea Wilson, F.S.A” (of Norwood), and of that manuscript an extensive description appears as the preface here.
Printed in
a very handsome and legible English black-letter gothic font on Pouncy handmade paper, this Pickering Wycliffe N.T. is
uncut, mostly unopened, and bears a red and black half-title and title-page, with a red and black version of the firm's printer's device incorporating the Aldine dolphin and anchor. The plate, which follows the half-title, depicts a page from the source manuscript, and the prefatory matter is printed in a handsome large roman.
Provenance: Armorial bookplate of Elizabeth Attwood on the front pastedown; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Keynes, Pickering, p. 81; Herbert 1868; NSTC 2W19213. Not in Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering; not in Pickering & Chatto, William Pickering (catalogue 708). On Wycliffe, see: Dictionary of National Biography, LXIII, 202–223. Quarter black roan in imitation of morocco and marbled paper–covered sides; rubbed with slight loss of leather and paper, corners bowed inward, front board with evidence of one-time crack (well repaired and now solid). Mild to occasional heavy foxing, with most leaves actually quite clean; light age-toning and typical offsetting from print to leaf opposite, throughout; one torn corner. Bookplate and label as above.
Good to work with and a pleasure to handle. (38823)

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.
$900.00
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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, CT; 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).
Provenance: Bookplate of the Mattatuck Historical Society.
Darlow & Moule 2448; North & Nida, Book of a Thousand Tongues (1972), 215; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 3743. Publisher's beautifully, elaborately blind-embossed deep claret calf, sometime very simply rebacked; edges rubbed, sides scuffed. Foxing to endpapers and one very small inkspot affecting early leaves, with the paper in excellent condition and the copy notably clean. Very good condition. (39598)
Bible. N.T. English. Authorized. 1864. The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. With engravings on wood from designs of Fra Angelico, Pietro Perugino, Francesco Francia.... London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green, 1864. 4to (29.5 cm, 11.75"). Frontis., [iii]–xvi, 540 pp.; illus.
$1200.00
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First edition, and one of 250 large paper copies printed of this lavishly illustrated, quintessentially Victorian Bible. The decorations and initials were drawn and engraved by Henry Shaw, who also supervised the engravings of the illustrations after Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Raphael, and other Italian masters; engravers involved with the project included F. Anderson, James Cooper, Messrs. Dalziel, W.T. Green, William Linton, and many others, all of whom labored mightily in this attempt to reproduce the feel of a 16th-century production.
Binding: Signed reddish-brown morocco binding by Root & Son, with covers and spine gilt extra; extremely wide and handsome turn-ins elaborately gilt tooled these last are illustrated in our last image here.
Provenance: Front fly-leaf with attractively inked gift inscription to the Rev. John Francis O’Hern, the third Bishop of Rochester, NY, dated 1929.
Not in Darlow & Moule. Leather with light restoration; front pastedown with traces of a now-absent bookplate. Small area of front joint (outside) expertly resealed/repaired; the weight of this substantial volume dictates storage on the volume's back, not its lower edge.
A lavishly produced Victorian New Testament, in an impressive binding. (13347)

Marginalia to
the Max, & Other Notes
Bible. O.T. Psalms. Hebrew. 1880. [two lines in Hebrew, then] Liber psalmorum. Textum masoreticum acuratissime expressit ... notis criticis confirmavit S. Baer. Praefatus est edendi operis adjutor Franciscus Delitzsch. Lipsiae: Ex officina Bernhardi Tauchnitz, 1880. 8vo (22.4 cm, 8.8"). [1] f., 82 pp.; manuscript notes bound in.
$1000.00
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This “textum masoreticum” book of psalms, i.e., the traditional Hebrew text, was edited by masoretic scholar Seligman Baer (1825–97) and theologian Franz Delitzsch (1813–90) as part of their Masoretic Bible series, published by Tauchnitz between 1869 and 1895. A truly
unique copy, this particular volume is thickly interleaved with variously sized sheets and tabs containing the fastidious manuscript notes of published author
Walter Robert Betteridge, D.D. (1863–1916), a notable faculty member in the Old Testament Department of the Rochester Theological Seminary who swathed page after page in minute inked marginalia, and added yet more bulk with clippings from related texts — annotated, of course.Among the doctor's publications was an article on “The Accuracy of the Authorized Version of the Old Testament” (1911), including the Hebrew psalms.
Provenance: Donated by Mrs. Betteridge to the seminary library, with institutional bookplate noting this on rear pastedown.
Recent black moiré silk, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Ex-library with bookplate on rear pastedown as above, pressure-stamp on title-page, call number in lower margin of second leaf; paper brittle, dust- or sometimes soot-soiled(?) at edges, and prone to chipping. Replete with scholia, this is
a stunning testament to one scholar's study of the O.T. (31077)
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