Two consecutive leaves from the second edition of the Eliot Indian Bible, Mamusse Munneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God, comprising the entirety of the Book of Jonah]
- Text in two columns. 5L4 and 5M1. 4to
- Cambridge: Samuel Green, 1685
Cambridge: Samuel Green, 1685. Text in two columns. 5L4 and 5M1. 4to. Later brown cloth. Small loss at lower outer corner of the first leaf. Housed in a matching chemise and slipcase. Provenance: American Antiquarian Society (deaccessioned in 1951); Edwin A. R. Rumball Petre (typed note laid in). Text in two columns. 5L4 and 5M1. 4to. A pair of consecutive leaves from the second edition of the famed "Eliot Indian Bible," the first Bible printed in any language in the American colonies, and one of the most important issues of the 17th-century colonial press.
"Not the least of the many features of interest which concentrates in this volume, are the statements of undoubted authorities, that Eliot was engaged for ten years in its translation; that it was the first Bible printed in America; that a large portion of the composition in the printing of the second edition at least, was performed by Indian James; and that the work was three years in passing through the press" (Field).
The leaves comprise Obadiah 1:6 through Micah 3:4, but contain the entire four chapters of the Book of Jonah, an appropriate selection given its teachings on how to be a missionary. Indeed, Jonah is often viewed as the first missionary to preach to a foreign Gentile nation. Evans 385; Pilling, Algonquian, pp. 139-52; Wing B2756; ESTC W4376
"Not the least of the many features of interest which concentrates in this volume, are the statements of undoubted authorities, that Eliot was engaged for ten years in its translation; that it was the first Bible printed in America; that a large portion of the composition in the printing of the second edition at least, was performed by Indian James; and that the work was three years in passing through the press" (Field).
The leaves comprise Obadiah 1:6 through Micah 3:4, but contain the entire four chapters of the Book of Jonah, an appropriate selection given its teachings on how to be a missionary. Indeed, Jonah is often viewed as the first missionary to preach to a foreign Gentile nation. Evans 385; Pilling, Algonquian, pp. 139-52; Wing B2756; ESTC W4376