ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES. 



141 



Eliot (J.) — Continued. 



the bible was presented to ting Charles, con- 

 cerning which Mr. Eoyle wrote, April 21, 1664, 

 as follows: "I waited this Day vpon the King 

 with your translation of theBible.which, Ihope 

 I need not tell you, he receued according to his 

 custome very gratiously. But though he lookd 

 a pretty while vpon it, & shewd some things 

 in it to those that had the honour to be about 

 him in his bed-chamber, into which he carryd 

 it, yet the Unexpected comming in of an Extra- 

 ordinary Enuoy6 from the Eiuperour hindred 

 me from receueing that fuller expression of his 

 grace towards the translators and Dedicators 

 that might otherwise have been expected." 



In September, 1664, the Commissioners wrote 

 to the Corporation in England: "the number 

 of Bibles with Psalm books pricted were vp- 

 wards of a thousand ; of Baxters Call 1000 and 

 of Psalters 500 diners wherof all sort.s are dis- 

 posed to the Indians and the rest reddy for 

 theire vse as they can be bound vp and there 

 may bee occation." Among the charges in the 

 treasurer's account presented at the same date 

 were the following: " For two smale Chests to 

 put the Bibles in that were sent to England," 

 5s.; "To printing the Indian Psalraes 13 

 sheets at2 lb. per sheet," 26^.; "To printingthe 

 epistle dedicatory to the Bible," 11.; " To print- 

 ing 9 sheets of the Psalter at 20«. per sheet," 

 9^; "To Packthred and Dry falls to put the 

 bibles in," 11, 5s.; "To boat hier for carrying 

 and Recarrying paper and bibles," 31. 6s.; " To 

 binding and clasping 42 bibles at 2«. 6d. per 

 bible," 5i. 5s. 



From the account which Samuel Green the 

 printer rendered to the Commissioners, Sep- 

 tember 19, 1663, it appears that he had received 

 80 reams of paper from the Society in England, 

 and 389 reams from Mr. Usher, making 469 

 reams in all. Of this quantity he had used 30 

 reams "for printing two Cattachismes" (Pier- 

 eon's in 1658, and Eliot's in 1662), and 368 reams 

 "for printing the Bible," leaving 71 reams in 

 his possession. In addition, there were 61 

 reams remaining with Mr. Usher. Dr. Trum- 

 bull gives the following estimate in his essay 

 on the Origin and Early Progress of Indian 

 Missions in New England (Worcester, 1874), 

 page 38: "For printing the Bible (not including 

 the Psalms in Metre) Mr. Green used 368 reams 

 of paper. With the usual allowance for waste 

 sheets, this would work 161,920 sheets. The 

 Bible contains 544 leaves, or 136 sheets; the 

 New Testament 128 leaves, or 32 sheets. The 

 Psalms (as printed in the Old Testament, and 

 separately worked as the 'Psalter') 9 sheets. 

 Assuming that the edition of the New Testa- 

 ment was 1,500, of which 500 were bound sep- 

 arately, we have the distribution of the paper 

 nearly as follows: 



500 New Test's, of 32 sheets. Sheets, 16,000 



500 Psalters, 9 " " 4,500 



1040 Bibles, 136 " " 141,440 



161,940 



Eliot (J. ) — Continue J. 



sheets, within a single quire of the 368 reamS' 

 charged. The first edition of the Bible was 

 'upwards of a thousand,' but, probably, not 

 quite 1,050." 



The records of the Commissioners contain, 

 under the date of September 13, 1667, the fol- 

 lowing charges: "To two hundred Indian 

 Bibles bound and clasped 2s. 6d.," 251; and 

 "To Indian bibles primers deliuered to Mr. 

 Elliott and Mr. lohn Cotton and to Scollers, " 2 1. 

 10s. 03d. At a meeting held in Plymouth, Sep- 

 tember 5, 1672, it was resolved that " Thomas 

 Danforth, Esqr. is ordered to take care that 

 all the Bibles and other prints belonging to the 

 Indians be bound vp and not lost; and for that 

 end is to call for the same where they are now 

 nesting and dispose therof." 



It appears that the above-mentioned charge 

 of 2s. 6d. for binding and clasping each bible 

 was not satisfactory to the binder, John Kat- 

 life, who in 1664 addressed the following letter 

 to the Commissioners: "For The Honnoured, 

 The Comissioners of the united CoUonyes in 

 New England met at Hartford, These present. 

 May it please your worships, The providence 

 of god so ordering it, that I could not be sa 

 hapy as to be here at your last meeting at Bos- 

 ton, there to adress myselfe unto your worships 

 about the bindeing the Indian Bibles ; the onely 

 incourageing work which upon good Intelli- 

 gence caused me to transport myselfe, and fam- 

 ily into New England, and which I desire ta 

 promote, by my art, and in my Lawfull calling 

 as a thing tending so much to the honour of 

 god, by the advancement of Religion, wherein 

 your honoured selves doe claime a worthy 

 remembrance, as Chiefe Instruments and prop- 

 agators of it and findeing that your worships 

 had referred the care of bindeing and price to 

 Mr. Usher, I have by his appointment and order 

 made some progress therein, yet not findeing 

 him verry willing without your worships' con- 

 sent, to come up to a suitable price (he profess- 

 ing himselfe but to bee your worships' steward) 

 in that behalfe, have Inforced me to appeal from 

 him unto yourselves in this matter and humbly 

 to acquaint you that under 3s. 4d. or 3s. Qd. p, 

 book I can not binde them to live comfortably 

 upon it, one Bible being as much as I can com- 

 pleat in one day, and out of it finde Thred, 

 Glew, Pasteboard, and Leather Claps, and all 

 which I cannot suply my selfe for one shilling 

 in this country. I question not but the print- 

 ers if they please are able to Inform your Wor- 

 ships of the Reasonableness of my appeal in 

 this case, though I blame not Mr. Usher in the 

 Least, and I finde by experience that in things 

 belonging to my trade, I here pay 18s. for that 

 which in England I could buy for four shil- 

 lings, they being things not formerly much used 

 in this country. Were I before your Worships 

 I could farther amplify my demand by Reason 

 to be Just and Lawfull; so likewise I doubt 

 not but others can that may appear before you ; 

 but Relying upon your Worship's wisdome and 



