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[The Complete Bible in the Massachusett branch of Algonquin] [Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God]
The second edition, carefully revised by John Eliot and John Cotton.
Leaf Availability
Numbers 23:21 - 26:3 (some browning) $400
Psalms 25:4 - 30:1 $500
Psalms 78:14 - 79:13 $500
Psalms 80:1 - 84:11 (inner margin repaired) $500
Amos 1:4 - 4:8 (lower inner corner with text in facsimile) $400
Note
The second edition of John Eliot’s Indian Bible appeared more than twenty years after the historic first edition of 1663 and near the end of Eliot’s long missionary career. In the intervening years, King Philip’s War (1675–1676) had devastated the Native communities of New England, including many of the Christian communities among whom Eliot had worked. Despite this upheaval, Eliot, now in his eighties, undertook a careful revision of his Massachusett translation with the assistance of John Cotton. The New Testament appeared in 1680, followed by the Old Testament and the complete Bible in 1685. Printed at Cambridge by Samuel Green, the second edition continued the project begun decades earlier: the translation and printing of the Scriptures in Massachusett, an Algonquian language, for the Native peoples of New England.
The 1685 Bible consequently belongs to a very different moment in Eliot’s work than the celebrated first edition. Rather than marking the beginning of his great publishing achievement, it represents its continuation after the destruction and displacement of King Philip’s War. Ironically, a work originally created for Puritan missionary purposes has assumed another important role centuries later: Eliot’s Bible has provided an extensive written record used in the modern reclamation of Wôpanâak, a language that ceased to be spoken conversationally for generations. These leaves therefore survive not only as witnesses to early American printing and Eliot’s missionary work, but also as part of the documentary record through which a Native American language has been recovered and taught again.
Shipping
All of our Eliot Indian Bible leaves will be supplied with backing board, in a clear hanging bag, protected in cardboard, and shipped via UPS.
References
Wright pp.1-23; D&M 1094; USTC 3110648; ESTC W4376.