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[The Complete Bible in the Massachusett branch of Algonquin] [Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God]
The first complete Bible printed in the Western Hemisphere. Translated by John Eliot, ‘the Apostle of the Indians.’
Leaf Availability
Psalms 124:5 - 135:4 $2,000
Psalms 144:15 - 150:6 (fore-edge strengthened and gutter repaired) $2,000
Proverbs 6:23 - 9:10 (inner margin repaired with a few letters in facsimile) $1,800
Proverbs 3:24 - 6:22 (repair to fore-edge with a few letters in facsimile) $1,800
Proverbs 27:19 - 30:10 (inscription of “Diligence” to bottom margin recto) $1,800
Song of Solomon 6:1 - Isaiah 1:14 (repair to fore-edge with a few letters in facsimile) $2,000
Isaiah 38:7 - 40:31 $1,800
Isaiah 66:24 - Jeremiah 2:30 $2,000
Jeremiah 52:19 - Lamentations 2:4 $2,000
Lamentations 2:5 - 3:53 $1,800
Lamentations 3:54 - Ezekiel 1:9 $1,800
Ezekiel 23:24 - 25:1 (repaired closed tear without loss) $1,800
Amos 9:5 - Jonah 1:12 $2,000
Note
John Eliot (1604–1690), the Puritan minister of Roxbury, devoted much of his life to bringing Christianity to the Native peoples of New England. Believing that the Scriptures should be available to them in their own language, Eliot learned Massachusett, an Algonquian language, with the assistance of Native speakers and undertook the formidable work of translating the Bible. Describing the painstaking process by which he mastered the language, carefully tracing nouns and verbs through their grammatical variations, Eliot summarized his approach: “We must not sit still, and look for Miracles; Up, and be doing, and the Lord will be with thee. Prayer and Pains, through Faith in Christ Jesus, will do any thing.” Eliot was already connected with one of the landmarks of early American printing, having participated in the translation of the Psalms that resulted in the Bay Psalm Book of 1640, the first book printed in British North America. His missionary work increasingly combined preaching with education and literacy, and the translation of Scripture became central to his efforts among the Native communities of Massachusetts.
The scale of the undertaking required substantial support from across the Atlantic. The Corporation in England for the Propagation of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New England financed the project, while the experienced English printer Marmaduke Johnson was sent to Massachusetts to assist Samuel Green at the Cambridge press. Eliot’s Massachusett New Testament appeared in 1661, followed in 1663 by the completion of the Old Testament and publication of the first complete Bible printed in the Western Hemisphere and the first complete Bible printed in a Native American language. The magnitude of the achievement was recognized within Eliot’s own generation. Cotton Mather wrote: “Behold, ye Americans, the greatest honor that ever you were partakers of. The Bible was printed here at Cambridge, and is the only Bible that ever was printed in all America, from the very foundation of the world. The whole translation he write with but one pen; which pen, if it had not been lost, would have certainly deserved a richer case than was bestowed upon that pen with which Holland writ his translation of Plutarch.” Complete copies are now exceedingly rare and largely confined to institutional collections; USTC records only 25 copies. Surviving leaves are important artifacts of early American printing, Native American language, and the history of the Bible in America.
Shipping
All of our Eliot Indian Bible leaves will be supplied with backing board, in a clear hanging bag, protected in cardboard, placed in a box, and shipped via UPS.
References
Wright pp.1-12; D&M 1093; USTC 3082553; ESTC W38287.