ELIOT, John - Bible: A Leaf from a Copy of the First Bible Printed in America

1680. ELIOT, John. THE FIRST AMERICAN BIBLE: A leaf from a copy of the Bible translated into the Indian Language by John Eliot. Presented with explanatory text by Wilma Corcoran, Zion Research Library, Boston University. Cambridge, MA: S.Green and M.Johnson, 1680. Second edition. (17 years after the original.) Single leaf.5 5/8" x 7 1/8" Darlow and Moule identify of Eliot's bible as the "The first .. Bible, with Metrical Psalms." Our leaf is from the Book of Psalms. In addition it is the first Bible printed in America, the first scripture printed in North America, and the first example of translation and printing of the entire Bible in a new language as a means of evangelization. Eliot (1631-1690) known as "Missionary to the Indians" learned the Algonquin language and translated the entire Bible into this unwritten and now extinct tongue. "The exigencies of metre and rhyme, combined with the extraordinary length of words in the agglutinative language, must have rendered his task one of supreme difficulty: the result must be considered a veritable tour de force." [Darlow & Moule 6737] The bible was printed by Samuel Green with the help of James Printer, an Indian compositor and corrector of the press. A bit of browning and spotting with a few faint contemporary ink marks. .

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