ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES. 



133 



Eliot ,( J. ) — Continued. 



130 printed leaves without page numbers, and 

 2 blank leaves, in the following order: 1 blank 

 leaf, the title of the new testament In English 

 on 1 leaf verso blank, the dedication of the new 

 testament to Charles II. in 2 leaves, the title of 

 the new testament in Indian on 1 leaf verso 

 blank, Matthew to Revelation in 126 leaves, 

 and 1 blank leaf at the end, 4°. Signatures A, 

 A (repeated), B, C, D, E, F, G, II, I, K, L, Aa, 

 Bb, Co, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, li, Kk, LI, Mm, 

 ]S^n, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, and Xx, all in 

 fours. Matthew begins on the second A2, and 

 Revelation ends on Xx3. In the Massachusetts 

 Indian language. See the facsimiles of the two 

 title-pages. 



It is worthy of remark that the Indian title 

 is dated 16G1, the year in which the new testa- 

 ment was finished at the press. At that time 

 it was generally the custom, when the title was 

 on a leaf of the first sheet of the text, as this 

 one is, to give it the date of the year in which 

 the printing was begun. If the gospel of Mat- 

 thew was first put in type, instead of the gospel 

 of John (which begins a new set of signatures 

 with Aa), then the title may have been origin- 

 ally printed with the date of 1659 or 1660, the 

 year of its commencement, and afterwards re- 

 printed with the whole sheet for particular rea- 

 sons. However that may be, in all the copies 

 which I have examined, this title appears to be 

 on the original first leaf of signature A, and 

 not an insertion in place of a canceled leaf. 

 Dr. Trumhull must be mistaken in liis state- 

 ment, that "the English title and the Epistle, 

 printed on a sheet of which the first leaf was 

 left blank, were inserted between the first 

 (blank) and second leaves of the first sheet as 

 originally printed, — and the signature A3 is 

 repeated." In all the copies examined, and of 

 which good descriptions have been obtained, 

 the English title and dedication are not inserted 

 between any of the leaves of the first sheet, but 

 are placed before it; and the first leaf of " the 

 first sheet as originally printed" can not be 

 properly called a blank leaf, as it contains the 

 Indian title, and is blank only on the verso. 



By a typographical error, the page headings of 

 chapters 21 and 24 of the gospel of Luke, on the 

 recto of leaves L2 and L4, were wrongly printed 

 "Chap. 10" and "Chap. 15," as in both of the 

 Lenox copies of the separate issue. Other vari- 

 ations are found in copies bound with the old 

 testament and metrical psalms. In most copies 

 of the bible with the English general title and 

 dedication, the diamond-shaped figure is found 

 on the Indian title of the new testament, and 

 the errors occur in the page headings of Luke 

 on L2 and L4. In a few dedication copies of the 

 bible, which have the same errata in the page 

 headings of Luke, the diamond figure is omitted 

 in the Indian new testament title, the space 

 between the two lines being blank. See the 

 fac-similes. In other respects the two titles are 

 ao much alike that they appear to have been 

 printed from the same type, without resetting. 



Eliot (J.) — Continued. 



Some bibles with the general title in Indian 

 only, and with the diamond figure on the Indian, 

 new testament title, have the page headings of 

 Luke 21 and 24 correctly printed. Mr. O'Cal- 

 laghan {List of Editions of the Holy Scriptures 

 . . . printed in America, p. 2) has called 

 attention to the fact that "each verse forms a 

 distinct paragraph until we come to Luke xv. 

 (verso of K3) ; between that and the end of the 

 Gospel, more than one, sometimes six verses 

 are crowded occasionally into a paragraph, in 

 order apparently to close that gospel and sig. L 

 at the same time," It is probable that sheets 

 A to L (Matthew to Luke) were printed by 

 Green alone, and that Johnson began the gospel 

 of John with sheet Aa, before the printing of 

 Genesis had been commenced. For remarks 

 on the typography and other features of the 

 work, see the note to the whole bible of 1663. 

 The above translation of the Indian title is from 

 Dr. Trumbull's Origin and Early Progress of 

 Indian Missions in New England. 



In a letter to Mr. Richard Floyd, the treas- 

 urer of the Corporation in England, dated 

 from Roxbury, December 28th, 1658, Mr. 

 Eliot wrote as follows: "I shall not trouble 

 you with any thing at present save this one 

 businesse of moment, touching the Printing 

 of the Bible in the Indian Language, touch- 

 ing which businesse sundry of the Elders did 

 petition unto the Commissioners, moving 

 them to further it, as a principall means of 

 promoting Religion among them. And God 

 so guided (without mans contrivance) that 

 I was there when it came in. They moved 

 this doubt whether the Translation I had 

 made was generally understood? to which I 

 answered, that upon my knowledge it was 

 understood as farre as Conecticot: for there 

 I did read some part of my Translation be- 

 fore many hundred English Witnesses, and 

 the Indians manifested that they did under- 

 stand what I read, perfectly, in respect of 

 the language, they further questioned whether 

 I had expressed the Translation in true 

 language? I answered that I feared after 

 times will find many infirmities in it, all 

 humane works are subject to infirmity, yet 

 those pieces that were printed, viz. Genesis 

 and Matthew, I had sent to such as I thought 

 had best skill in the language, and intreated 

 their animadversions, but I heard not of any 

 faults they found. When the Commissioners 

 ended their meeting, they did commit the 

 further consideration of this matter to our Com- 

 missioners, as I understand, of whom our Gov- 

 ernour is president. Therefore at the coming 

 away of this Ship, I repaired to the Governour 

 about it. I proposed this expedient, for the 

 more easie prosecution of this work, viz. that 

 your selves might be riioved to hire some honest 

 young man, who hath skill to compose, (and 

 the more skill in other parts of the work, the 

 better) send him over as your servant, pay 

 him there to his content, or ingage payment, 



