Nations lately become Literary. T>87 



in a still greater proportion/ Thirty years ago, he 

 who undertook to dispose of a moderately large 

 edition, even of a Spelling-book, considered him- 

 self as engaging in a hazardous cnterprizc. Ed 

 in 1790, a single bookseller thought himself war- 

 ranted in attempting an American edition of the 

 Encyclopccdia Britanniea, in eighteen quarto vo- 

 lumes, and completely succeeded in making it a 

 profitable undertaking/ And since the last-men- 

 tioned year, a number of works extending to many 

 volumes have been carried through American pres- 

 ses, with great ease and readiness. 



The first edition of the Bible ever printed in 

 America was that by the Rev. John Eliot, the 

 celebrated Apostle of the Indians, in the language 

 of the Natieks. This monument of pious labour 

 was first printed at Cambridge, in Massachusetts, 

 in 1664, and a second edition at the same place 

 sixteen years afterwards. F r om this period till 

 near the close of the revolutionary war, at so low 

 an ebb was the book-trade in our country, that we 

 hear of no attempt to print an edition of the Bible 

 on this side of the Atlantic. About the year 1781, 

 Mr. Robert Attken, of Philadelphia, undertook 

 to present the American public with a duodecimo 

 edition of the Sacred Scriptures. This laudable 

 undertaking was executed, but with great difficul- 

 ty, arising from the peculiar situation of the coun- 

 try at that time/ But within the last eighteen or 



c In 1802, the German plan of disposing of books by means of Literary 

 Fairs, -was adopted in the United States. The first Book-fair was held in 

 New-York ; and it is proposed, in future, to hold them statedly in that 

 city. It is believed that Mr. Matkew Carey, a well informed and 

 enterprizing bookseller of Philadelphia, was one of the first who suggested 

 the propriety and utility of the undertaking, which has so far happily suc- 

 ceeded, and bids fair to be highly useful, both to the book-trade and to 

 the cause of literature. 



d The person here alluded to is Mr, Thomas Doeson, of Philadelphia, 

 an intelligent and respectable bookseller, who has probably contributed as 

 much as any individual in his line to the promotion of American literature. 



e Immediately after the publication of this edition of the Bible, pea£$ 



