136 



BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE 



Eliot (J.) — Continued. 



been Translated into their own Language, which 

 hath occasioned the undertaking of a greater 

 Work, viz: The Printing of the whole Bible, 

 which (being Translated by a painful Labourer 

 amongst them, who was desirous to see the Work 

 accomplished in his daj^es) hath already pro- 

 ceeded to the finishing of the New Testament, 

 which we here humbly present to Your Maj esty , 

 as the first fraits and accomplishment of the 

 Pious Design of your Eoyal Ancestors. The 

 Old Testament is now under the Press, waiting 

 and craving your royal Favour and Assistance 

 for the perfecting thereof." 



The Commissioners also wrote to Mr. Eich- 

 ard Hutchinson and Mr. William Ashurst in 

 England, September 12, lt561: " youer desire 

 that the printing of the bible may not bee Re- 

 tarded wilbee attended according as wee shall 

 see suitable. The ISTew Testament is alreddy 

 finished and of all the old the fine bookes of 

 Moses ; wee haue heerwith sent you 20 peeces 

 of the New Testament which wee desire may 

 bee thuse disposed viz : that two of the speciall 

 being uery well bound vp the one may bee pre- 

 sented to his Majeatie in the first place the 

 other to the Lord Chancellor; and that fine 

 more may bee presented to Docter Reynolds 

 Mr. Carrill Mr. Baxter and the two vischancel- 

 ler's of the vniuersities whoe wee vnderstand 

 haue greatly Incurraged the worke ; the Rest 

 wee leaue to bee disposed as you shall see cause 

 . . . By the account you will find wee haue re- 

 maining 414 lb : 4: 4 stocke a great part wherof 

 wilbee expended in printing the bible and a new 

 . Impression of a Catichisme." The treasurer's 

 account for the year contained a charge of 196 1. 

 19s. Id., "To sundry Disbursments vpon 

 the account of printing as appeers by account 

 now sent." The Commissioners also wrote to 

 Mr. Usher in Boston, September 13, 1661, as 

 follows: "youer care in pro aiding matterialls 

 and furthering the printing of the bible wee 

 thankfully accept desiring the continuance of 

 the same vntil it bee Issued ; and the paying of 

 Mr. Green as formerly together with the salla- 

 ries and other paiments according to youer or- 

 der heer enclosed . . . and it is our desires that 

 you will take care for the printing of the pre- 

 face before the New Testament with the title 

 according to the coppies as alsoe to send to Mr. 

 Ashurst and Mr. huchenson about twenty 

 coppies of the New Testament to be disposed of 

 according to our directions and order to them." 

 To this was added a postscript : ' ' Wee pray you 

 to demaund and Receiue of Mr. Green the whole 

 Impression of the New Testament in Indian now 

 finished ; and take care for the binding of tw(J 

 hundred of them strongly and as speedily as 

 may bee with leather or as may bee most seru- 

 icableforthe Indians; and deliuer them forth as 

 you shall haue order or direction from any of the 

 Comissioners for the time being of which keep 

 an exact account that soe it may bee seen how 

 they are Improved and disposed of." 



The treasurer's account rendered in Septem- 



Eliot (J.) — Continued. 



ber, 1662, contained the entries: "To printing 

 the title sheet to the New Testament," 11., and 

 "To binding 200 Testaments at 6d. a peece,"5Z. 

 On the 10th of September, 1662, the Commis- 

 sioners wrote to the Hon. Robert Boyle, the 

 chief ofiicer of the Corporation in England: 

 " Wee haue heer with sent twenty Coppies of 

 the new Testament to bee disposed of as youer 

 honors shall see meet." In accordance with 

 this letter they directed Mr. Usher "to send 

 ouer to Mr. Boyle twenty of the Indian Testa- 

 ments with the preface or Epistle. " The entire 

 edition may have consisted of only 1,000 copies, 

 as proposed by the Commissioners in September, 

 1659; but if 1,500 were printed, as was recom- 

 mended by the Corporation in April, 1660, then 

 450 or more were probably bound up separately. 



Fiom the preceding extracts of the records 

 it appears that forty copies in all were sent to 

 England with the English title and dedication 

 prefixed. It is probable that not many more 

 were issued in this form. In the first lot of 

 twenty copies sent over in 1661, seven were 

 specified for particular persons. The first was 

 for King Charles II; the second for the Lord 

 High Chancellor, Edward Hyde, first Earl of 

 Clarendon (born 1608, died 1674); the third for 

 Dr. Edward Reynolds, bishop of Norwich (bom 

 1599, died 1676) ; the fourth for the Rev. Joseph 

 Caryl, an eminent nonconformist divine (born 

 1602, died 1673) ; the fifth for the Rev. Richard 

 Baxter (born 1615, died 1691) ; the sixth and 

 seventh for the vice chancellors of the two uni- 

 versities, Oxford and Cambridge. The remain- 

 ing thirteen, and the second lot of twenty sent 

 over in 1662, were left to the disposal of Mr. 

 William Ashurst and Mr. Richard Hutchinson, 

 the officers of the Corporation. 



Copies: All of these, of which particular 

 descriptions have been obtained, contain the 

 diamond-shaped figure on the Indian title. It 

 has not been ascertained that any copies of this 

 issue are without it. 



(1) Mr. Clarence S. Bement, Philadelphia, 

 Pa. Bound in calf antique, gilt edges. Size of 

 the leaf. 7J by 5^ inches. With the diamond 

 shaped figure on the Indian title. It contains 

 the book-plate of "The Society for propagating 

 the Gospell in Foreign parts, 1704." The title, 

 however, does not appear in White Kennett's 

 catalogue of books intended for that society's 

 library (Bibliothecce Americance Primordia), 

 printed in 1713. On one of the leaves is the au- 

 tograph of Wm. Herbert, 1768, the eminent 

 typographical antiquary (born 1718, died 1795). 

 It was subsequently owned by James Bindley, 

 Esq., F. S. A. (born 1737, died 1818), and at the 

 sale of the fourth portion of his library in Lon- 

 don, August, 1820 (no. 790), was purchased by 

 "Ford" for 3s. 6d. Not long after this time it 

 passed into the collection of Colonel Thomas 

 Aspinwall, the United States consul at London 

 from 1815 to 1853. See the priv^ately printed 

 catalogue of his library (Paris, 1833), where it 

 is described under no. 168. This collection of 



