383 Nations lately become Literary. 



twenty years, undertakings of this kind have be- 

 come so numerous and so familiar, that the impor- 

 tation of Bibles for the supply of the American 

 market, though not entirely, has in a great measure 

 ceased. The first quarto edition of the Bible 

 printed in the United States was in the year 1791, 

 by Mr. Isaac Collins, then residing at Trenton, 

 in New-Jersey. In a few months afterwards, ano- 

 ther quarto edition was published by Mr. Isaiah 

 Thomas, of Worcester, in Massachusetts; who, 

 in the same year, laid before the public the first 

 folio edition of the Holy Scriptures that was printed 

 in the United States. Since that time several folio 

 editions of the Bible, and a number of quarto 

 editions, have been printed in our country, and 

 begin to be considered by our printers and book- 

 sellers as small and easy undertakings. 



Those kinds of literary productions which have 

 been most common and most successful in the 

 United States, are theological and political works, 

 and those intended for the use of schools. For the 

 first we are indebted to that seriousness and taste 

 for religious inquiry which prevails in New-Eng- 

 land, and in a considerable, though less degree, in 

 the Middle and Southern States. The almost uni- 

 versal taste for the second class of books we owe 

 to the nature of our government, which is emi- 

 nently calculated to foster, to bring forward, and 

 to display political talents, and to excite the at- 

 tention of every class of citizens to political inqui- 

 ries. And the general encouragement given to 

 productions of the last-mentioned kind arises from 

 that disposition to attend to the education of chil- 

 dren, which has long characterized the Eastern 



took place, when it was soon found that Bibles could be imported from 

 Great -Britain cheaper than it was possible to print them here. Mr. Ait- 

 kEN, therefore, not obtaining a ready sale for his edition, which had been 

 carried on with great difficulty, was nearly mined by the undertaking, 



