
ANTIQUARIAN BIBLES 
I: ENGLISH-LANGUAGE BIBLES, TESTAMENTS, & “PARTS” (Part A) (Part B)
II: POLYGLOTS & ANCIENT LANGUAGES | III: NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES
IV: MODERN LANGUAGES NOT ENGLISH OR AMERIND
V: BIBLE STUDY AIDS, COMMENTARY, & “RELATED” (Part A) (Part B)
[
]
 |
ENGLISH-LANGUAGE BIBLES, TESTAMENTS, & “PARTS”
AMERICAN IMPRINTS INCLUDED HERE CATALOGUE ORDERED BY DATE
|
FIRST 4TO “KING JAMES,” Book of Common Prayer, Genealogies,
& Booke of Psalms
ALL TOGETHER
(A Volume both Typical *&* Special). Bible. English. 1612. Authorized (i.e., “King James Version”). The Holy Bible, conteyning the Old Testament and the New. Newly translated out of the originall tongues: & with the former translations diligently compared and revised by his Maiesties speciall comandment.... London: Robert Barker, 1612. 4to in 8s (23 cm, 9"). [652 of 656] ff. (lacks title-leaf and three text leaves [D1,8, Ii4, Mm7], all supplied in pre-WWII facsimile). [also bound in] Church of England. The book of common prayer. London: Robert Barker, 1613. 4to. [46] ff. [also bound in] Speed, John. The genealogies. [London: printed by John Beale, 1613 or 1614]. 4to. [1] f., 34 pp., [2] ff. [also bound in] Bible. O.T. Psalms. Sternold & Hopkins. The booke of psalmes, collected into English. London: Imprinted for the Companie of Stationers, 1614. 4to. [5] ff., [1], 115 pp., [5] ff. (last leaf in facsim.).
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
A very typical combination of religious texts in one thick, handsomely bound volume, but
of extra interest as the Bible is the presence of the first quarto printing of the “King James Version.” The Bible is printed in roman type, double-column format, with Ruth III, 15 reading “she went,” and the last register marks are in square brackets.
Binding: 17th-century dark red goat, covers with ornate corner and centerpiece design composed of gilt-stamped foliate motifs and drawer-handle decorations of inlaid black leather and gilt, framed in black inlaid band and gilt rolls, spine with similar motifs between raised bands. Marbled endpapers; turn-ins with gilt rolls.
Provenance and other markings: Main title-page with elements of its woodcut border highlighted in old red ink; front endpapers and blank opposite title-page both with extensive notes and doodles, some in early ink, some in pencil, some heavily inked over, and some strikingly calligraphic. Among these are a very large rendering of a
flying dragon, large swooshes of pen-testings (some in red ink), and the names of Thomas Cobb and Peter Whatly (twice).
Bible: ESTC S4001; STC (rev. ed.) 2220; Herbert 314; Darlow & Moule 242. PCB: ESTC S93848; STC (rev. ed.) 16338.3; Griffiths, Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer, 1613, #4 Psalmes: ESTC S101975; STC (rev. ed.) 2548. Speed: STC S123482; STC (ref. ed.) 23039d.2. Binding as above, rubbed overall especially at edges and corners with joints (outside) refurbished and hinges (inside) reinforced some time ago with brown cloth tape; front cover with limited area of dark discoloration at bottom center, spine leather showing fine cracks. Pages age-toned with intermittent spotting and staining, some sections waterstained. First few leaves with edges tattered, one with outer corners torn away; one leaf torn across with old tissue repair affecting upper outer portion of text. Several leaves lacking and supplied in early facsimile.
A worn and imperfect copy priced accordingly — still worthwhile, as a binding still striking and encasing a landmark printing of the English Bible — with appealing handiwork applied to boot. (34712)

Chromolithographed/ILLUMINATED Symbols & Stories
A Victorian “Medievalesque” Binding
(One to Pore Over). Humphreys, Henry Noel. The miracles of our Lord. London: Longman & Co., 1848. 8vo (17.1 cm, 6.75"). iv pp; 16 double-sided col. plts.
$700.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of this Victorian interpretation of a medieval book of meditations: Biblical miracles, delicately calligraphed and
framed in 32 vividly illustrated, chromolithographed, illuminated borders. The main figures were adapted from the Old Masters and the decorative details “all strictly original, and not borrowed,” according to the artist (p. ii), a successful illustrator with particular interests in natural history, numismatics, and classical and medieval studies.
Binding: Publisher's boards of papier-mâché and black plaster, molded to resemble a medieval carved binding, each cover with six figural medallions surrounded by a border of interlaced vines and strapwork incorporating small creatures; spine with embossed title, edges and turn-ins with gilt roll. All edges gilt; marbled endpapers.
Ray, Illustrator and the Book in England, 232. Binding as above, small red shelfmark at foot of spine; corners and spine extremities chipped, one small chip to outer edge of back panel design, one very unobtrusive break in inner frame of front panel design, nicely refurbished. Sewing loosening as is common, with last leaf separated and previous one threatening; pages gently age-toned with occasional minor smudging in margins; text pages (not plate pages) foxed.
A striking binding and equally striking color-printing. (41192)

The First Catholic Old Testament in English — Once Owned by an “Unfit” Reader?!?
(Rather Unnerving Evidence of Readership)
(A “Personalized” Example of this Important Set). 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
Click the images for enlargements.
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)



A Catholic Bible The Second Edition, REVISED Vervliet, 1600
Bible. N.T. English. 1600.
Rheims. The New Testament of Iesus Christ, faithfully translated into English, out of the authentical Latin, diligently conferred with the Greeke, and other editions in divers languages. Antwerp: By Daniel Vervliet, 1600. Small 4to (21 cm; 8.25"). [18] ff., 745, [1] pp., [13] ff.
$3200.00
Click the images for enlargements.
The second edition of the Roman Catholic new Testament in English. The translation is the work of a number of English Catholic priests, but principally of Gregory Martin, who fled to France in 1568 because of persecution in their native land, and, under the direction of Dr. (later, Cardinal) William Allen, founded the English College at Douai. (The college moved for a short time to Rheims, but subsequently returned, as the title-page here attests.)
The first edition of this translation was issued at Rheims in 1582, in over-sanguine hopes that its sale would be successful enough to underwrite the cost of a prompt production of the Old Testament. The two-volume O.T. did not appear, however, until 1609/1610.
The second edition of the Rheims N.T. is a revision of the first, not merely a reprinting of it, and contains a “Table of Heretical Corruptions” not found in the 1582 printing and a new preface. In an era of noticeable decline in the art of printing, this Testament enjoys far better than average typography.
Darlow & Moule 198; Herbert 258; STC 2989; ESTC S102510. Late 17th-, early 18th-century English calf, with concentric blind panels on covers in contrasting tones of brown and tan, all edges deep red; covers with scrapes and bumps, rebacked with hinges (inside) strengthened, new endpapers with 1906 owner's inscription on front free one. Title-page dust-soiled and torn in upper margin with some loss of decorative border, page skillfully remargined with blank paper. Some foxing and age-soiling in early leaves; this similarly at rear (starting around p. 640 and most notable in Tables), with also some dust-soiling and with light waterstaining across a good number of upper outer corners. Overall a good to very good copy, sturdy and appealing. (33612)

KJV Bifolium, 1611
Bible. English. 1611. Authorized (i.e., “King James Version”). Bifolium extracted from the Old Testament of the first edition of the King James Version of the Bible. London: Imprinted ... by Robert Barker, 1611. Folio (39.8 cm, 15.625"). [2] ff. (i.e., 4 pp.).
$500.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Nehemiah 7:11–9:29, from the first edition of the English translation best known to the vast majority of the English-speaking world, i.e., the King James Bible. The text is printed in large English black-letter (i.e., gothic type) with the occasional use of roman, composed in double-column format with 59 lines per column and marginal notes, all sections ruled in black.
Present on this bifolium are two large woodcut initials, one being an “A” on a field of foliage and another an “N” within an arabesque square.Provenance: From the leaf collection of printing specimens of the Grabhorn press.
STC (rev. ed.) 2216; Darlow & Moule 309. Disbound. Light age-toning, a few very short tears along edges and creases at corners, with one chipped edge and evidence of three small wormholes. (38319)

A Handsome KJV with Genealogies & Psalms
Bible. English. Authorized (i.e., “King James Version”). 1632. The Holy Bible conteyning the Old Testament and the New. London: Robert Barker...by the assignes of John Bill, 1632. Folio (34 cm, 13.4"). [15], 507, [1] ff. (lacking 7 prelim. ff.).
$5750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
[preceded by] Speed, John. The genealogies recorded in the Sacred Scriptures, according to euery familie and tribe. [London: F. Kingston, 1632?]. Folio. [2], 34 pp. [with] Bible. O.T. Psalms. English. Sternhold & Hopkins. 1632. The whole booke of Psalmes. Collected into English meeter.... London: Pr. by R. Badger for the Co. of Stationers, 1632. Folio. [2], 114 pp. (lacking 8 index pp.).
Attractive folio King James Bible, set in roman in double columns ruled in red throughout, with woodcut headpieces and decorative capitals. Darlow and Moule suggest that this edition was actually printed in early 1633, as a number of copies are recorded as having their title-page dates altered by hand to read 1633, as is the case here.
The Apocrypha are present, with the blank space on the last page of Malachi filled with an early inked “account of the several books in the Apocrypha.”
The Psalter following the Bible includes music. The O.T. title-page is engraved and signed (very faintly in this example) by William (here “Guilielmus”) Hole, and is framed by an elaborate architectural border displaying the coats of arms of the 12 tribes of Israel and portraits of the 12 Apostles.
The recto of the list of books is a full-page engraving of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, surrounded by animals. The New Testament has a separate title-page, dated 1632, with an ornate wood-engraved border featuring Justice and Truth along with the British lion and unicorn and various architectural motifs.
The volume opens with two fly-leaves bearing genealogical records in several different early inked hands, with dates ranging from 1743 through 1847. A copy of Speed's Genealogies precedes the Old Testament, while the “Description of Canaan” with map that should close the Genealogies has been bound in after the O.T. title-page.
ESTC S122379; Darlow & Moule 359; STC (2nd ed.) 2298.5. Speed: ESTC S126191; STC (2nd ed.) 23039a.4. Psalms: ESTC S122383; STC (2nd ed.) 2633. Recent mottled calf, covers fillet-framed and panelled in blind with decorative inner blind roll and blind-tooled corner fleurons; spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-ruled raised bands. Front cover with two slender scrapes; title-page with date altered in ink to 1633, as above. Front fly-leaves with margins repaired; “Description of Canaan” with inner margin reinforced. Bible, seven preliminary leaves lacking (calendar, dedication, preface, and list of books all present); Psalms, four final index leaves (only) lacking; foliation slightly erratic. Varying degrees of age-toning, occasional light waterstaining, some margins with faint smudging; in fact and in sum
a nice volume to hold and work with. (26102)

Fulke's Refutation — THE ENGLISH CATHOLIC BIBLE
Bible. N.T. English. Rheims–Bishops' version. 1633. The text of the New Testament of Iesus Christ, translated out of the vulgar Latine by the Papists of the traiterous Seminarie at Rhemes ... Whereunto is added the translation out of the original Greeke, commonly used in the Church of England. London: Pr. by Augustine Mathewes on[e] of the assignes of Hester Ogden, 1633. Folio (33.3 cm, 13.25"). Frontis., engr. t.-p., [58], 912, [18], 25, [1], 206, [2], 17, [1 (blank)] pp.
$2775.00
Click the images for enlargements.
When the Jesuit scholars at Rheims succeeded in printing their Catholic translation of the New Testament into English (first edition, 1582), the event affected various English Protestant scholars in different ways: Some were offended or outraged, others intrigued, and yet others spurred to action. William Fulke, of Pembroke College, Cambridge, was among those offended, outraged, and spurred: In 1589 he produced the first edition of his work attempting to refute the Rheims New Testament. His approach, however — which was to print the Rheims NT in parallel columns with the Bishops' NT (the then accepted version of the Church of England), supplying accompanying notes and explanations — had unforeseen consequences.
As Darlow and Moule comment, “by printing the Rheims Testament in full, side by side with the Bishops' version, [Fulke] secured for the former a publicity which it would not otherwise have obtained, and was indirectly responsible for the marked influence which Rheims exerted on the Bible of 1611.” Alan Thomas elaborates by observing that “many a dignified or felicitous phrase was silently lifted by the editors of King James's Version, and thus passed into the language” (Great Books and Book Collectors, p. 108).
This is the fourth edition, “wherein are many grosse absurdities corrected.” A portrait of William Fulke precedes the engraved title-page, both done by William Marshall. The Biblical text is followed (as issued) by Fulke's Defense of the Sincere and True Translation of the Holy Scriptures into the English Tongue, against the Manifold Cavils, Frivolous Quarrels, and Impudent Slanders of Gregorie Martin.
STC (2nd ed.) 2947; Darlow & Moule 371; ESTC S121246; Herbert 480. Contemporary mottled calf, covers framed and panelled in gilt double fillets with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, all edges gilt; binding rubbed, leather moderately acid-pitted, joints cracked, rectangle of leather lost at upper inner corner of front cover. Lower edges of closed book rubber-stamped; free endpapers excised; lower outer corners lightly waterstained at rear; pages otherwise slightly age-toned but notably clean. A sound, good copy. (24066)

The First English THUMB BIBLE in Prose
Beautifully Bound & with Sharp Lovely Plates
Bible. English. Selections. Biblia. Or a practical summary of ye Old and New Testaments. London: R. Wilkin, 1728 (i.e., 1727). 64mo (4 cm, 1.57"). [6], 154, [2], 155–278, [6] pp.; 16 plts.
$6500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Delightful example of an illustrated thumb Bible, this being
the earliest known prose appearance of such according to Adomeit. Wilkin printed this tiny volume in 1727, and Adomeit notes that “copies are most commonly found with date altered in ink to 1728" — as is indeed the case here — “but there seems to be no difference between the copies outside of this change.” In addition to the two engraved title-pages, the text is illustrated with
16 minscule engraved plates.
Binding: Full black calf, gilt extra, board edges and turn-ins with gilt roll. All edges gilt; marbled endpapers.
Adomeit, Thumb Bibles, B16 (see also p. xvi); ESTC N64949; Opie L 25. Binding as above, slightly (expectably) sprung, spine gilt showing one crack. Dates inked in an early hand as above; frontispiece for New Testament affixed to final page of Old Testament. Pages and plates very clean.
A remarkable copy of a desirable item. (41004)
For 18TH-CENTURY BOOKS, click here.
For ILLUSTRATED BOOKS, click here.
For FINE, ATTRACTIVE, & INTERESTING
BINDINGS, click here.
For MINIATURE & NEAR-MINIATURE ITEMS, click here.
“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
Click the images for enlargements.
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.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
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)

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)

“It Is Hoped, the
Psalms Will Be Freed From All Objections”
Bible. O.T. Psalms. English. Episcopal Church. 1795. The psalter or Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be sung or said in churches. With the order for morning and evening prayer daily throughout the year. New-London [Conn.]: Printed by Thomas C. Green, on the Parade, 1795. 12mo (15.6 cm; 6.125"). [83] ff.
$250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Early American psalter edited by Samuel Seabury (1729–96), the First Bishop of the American Episcopal Church. The text is based on the 1790 Book of Common Prayer created by that newly formed Episcopal Church.
Provenance: Two owners have written “Cushing Cooks Book, Norwich Port” and “Moses Pierce Book” on front endpaper; later in the library of the Pacific School of Religion (properly released).
Evans 28282; Johnson, New London Imprints, 1285; Trumbull, Connecticut, 1278; ESTC W4406. 18th-century calf, rubbed and abraded; front joint (outside) cracking, turn-ins offsetting to first and last few leaves, front free endpaper with corner cut out, text block starting to detach from binding but definitely still comfortable to handle. Ex-library as above: call number label on spine, bookplate on front pastedown, rubber-stamp on front free endpaper and title-page, pencilling on title-page, paper call number label on spine and circulation materials at back. Provenance markings as above, inking on back free endpaper, light age-toning. (36742)

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
Click the images for enlargements.
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
Click the images for enlargements.
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)

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

The First Illustrated Catholic Bible Printed in
AMERICA
Bible. English. 1805. Douai. The Holy Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgat ... The Old Testament first published by the English College at Doway, A.D. 1609, and the New Testament first published at the English College at Rhemes, A.D. 1582 ... Philadelphia: Mathew Carey, 1805. 4to (28 cm, 11"). [3] ff., 772 pp. ; 214 pp., [6] ff., 3 maps (2 fold.), 10 engr. plts.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
This first illustrated Catholic Bible printed in America is also only the second printing of the Douai-Rheims Bible in the United States overall, and in its text it differs from the first chiefly in being a reprinting of the Rev. Troy's fifth Dublin (1791) edition, which in its turn was a revision of Dr. Challoner's version. The first American Douai (Philadelphia, 1790) had been taken from the second edition of Challoner's Bible (1763–64).
Both the first and this second American Catholic Bible are rare. Rumball-Petre says of the 1790 edition that “As of the year 1954 only 35 copies this rare Bible have been traced as extant in public and private collections,” but, frankly, that is a very old estimate and there are more copies now known. However, its rarity is real and its demand significant: Copies only occasionally appear at auction and the last one auctioned, in 2016, brought $28,800. Of this second, first illustrated edition, fewer than two dozen American libraries report ownership, as per WorldCat.
This is only the second copy that we have ever offered for sale, and we have long specialized in rare Bibles.
There are two issues of this edition: one with 8 plates and 3 maps and the issue offered here with 10 plates (all in the New Testament) and 3 maps. The maps are the same in both issues but only one plate is shared by the two issues.
Parsons 271; O'Callaghan 75–76, issue 2 (no priority assigned); Hills 120; Herbert 1481; Rumball-Petre 180; Shaw & Shoemaker 7991; Finotti 34–37; Clarkin 482. Contemporary sheep, expertly rebacked with old spine label preserved and laid on; new endpapers. Expectable age-toning and less than expectable spotting, with leaves pre-Genesis and a few random others browned; folding frontispiece map with old water- and dampstaining, general title and next few leaves showing this also but in much lower degrees, and last two leaves (“Table”) tattered at edges not approaching text. The plates show the expectable age-toning and show (almost entirely in their margins) the expectable foxing of their age and nature, but the latter does not affect the appeal of the illustrations.
This is a decidedly acceptable, presentable, and treasurable copy of a very rare American Catholicum. (41017)
For GENERAL RELIGION, click here.
PLACE
AN ORDER | E-MAIL
US | PRB&M HOME