1685 Eliot Indian / Algonquian Bible Leaf
06-01-2023. We are so very truly genuinely excited to bring you this information, for a number of important reasons, and share another incredible acquisition with our site visitors and friends here at The Wilma Lucille White Holy Bible Collection!! A full leaf from an original 1685 Eliot Indian Bible / Algonquin Bible 2nd edition, purchased from a bible museum in Tennessee. Through our experience and research, we have discovered that any and all printed material and or manuscripts written or printed in America, or “British North America” and or the colonies prior to the year 1700 are exceedingly rare, difficult to obtain, and very expensive. John Eliot spent 14 years working on this amazing project, the first partial edition was printed in 1661, the full edition with 1000 printings in 1663, and the 2nd edition with 2000 printings in 1685. Any printed material surviving 338 years is of course rare but much more common in Europe, here in America the very first printing press didn’t arrive until 1638. We hope you enjoy reading the data below and viewing and studying the included images of the actual page we have acquired, all the glory goes to Jesus Christ, Father Abba Yahweh God, and The Holy Spirit. Marc White ~ Principle Curator.
From Wikipedia, “The first successful English colony was Jamestown, established May 14, 1607, near Chesapeake Bay. The business venture was financed and coordinated by the London Virginia Company, a joint-stock company looking for gold. Its first years were extremely difficult, with very high death rates from disease and starvation, wars with local Amerindians, and little gold. The colony survived and flourished by turning to tobacco as a cash crop. By the late 17th century, Virginia’s export economy was largely based on tobacco, and new, richer settlers came in to take up large portions of land, build large plantations and import indentured servants and slaves. In 1676, Bacon’s Rebellion occurred, but was suppressed by royal officials. After Bacon’s Rebellion, African slaves rapidly replaced indentured servants as Virginia’s main labor force.”
“The Eliot Indian Bible (Massachusett: Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God;[1] also known as the Algonquian Bible) was the first translation of the Christian Bible into an indigenous American language, as well as the first Bible published in British North America. It was prepared by English Puritan missionary John Eliot by translating the Geneva Bible[2][3][4] into the Massachusett language.[5][6] Printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the work first appeared in 1661 with only the New Testament. An edition including all 66 books of both the Old and New Testaments was printed in 1663.[7]“
“The inscription on the 1663 edition’s cover page, beginning with Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up Biblum God, corresponds in English to The Whole Holy His-Bible God, both Old Testament and also New Testament. This turned by the servant of Christ, who is called John Eliot.[8] The preparation and printing of Eliot’s work was supported by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, whose governor was the eminent scientist Robert Boyle.”
“History
The history of Eliot’s Indian Bible involves three historical events that came together to produce the Algonquian Bible.
America’s first printing press
Further information: Early American publishers and printers
Stephen Daye of England contracted Jose Glover, a wealthy minister who disagreed with the religious teachings of the Church of England, to transport a printing press to America in 1638. Glover died at sea while traveling to America.[9] His widow Elizabeth (Harris) Glover, Stephen Daye, and the press arrived at Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Mrs. Glover opened her print shop with the assistance of Daye.[9] Daye started the operations of the first American print shop which was the forerunner of Harvard University Press.[9] The press was located in the house of Henry Dunster, the first president of Harvard College where religious materials such as the Bay Psalm Book were published in the 1640s. Elizabeth Glover married president of Harvard College Henry Dunster on June 21, 1641.[9]
Act of Parliament
In 1649 Parliament enacted An Act for the Promoting and Propagating the Gospel of Jesus Christ in New England,[10] which set up a Corporation in England consisting of a President, a Treasurer, and fourteen people to help them.[11] The name of the corporation was “The President and Society for the propagation of the Gospel in New England,”[11] but it was later known simply as the New England Company.[12] The corporation had the power to collect money in England for missionary purposes in New England.[11] This money was received by the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England and dispersed for missionary purposes such as Eliot’s Indian Bible.[13][11]
Arrival of John Eliot
Eliot came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony from England in 1631. One of his missions was to convert the indigenous Massachusett to Christianity.[6][14] Eliot’s instrument to do this was through the Christian scriptures.[6] Eliot’s feelings were that the Indians felt more comfortable hearing the scriptures in their own language than in English (a language they understood little of).[6] Eliot thought it best to translate the English Christian Bible to an Algonquian Bible rather than teach the Massachusett Indians English.[6] He then went about learning the Algonquian Indian language of the Massachusett people so he could translate English to the Natick dialect of the Massachusett language.[6] Eliot translated the entire 66 books of the English Bible in a little over fourteen years.[6][15] It had taken 44 scholars seven years to produce the King James Version of the Christian Bible in 1611.[6] Eliot had to become a grammarian and lexicographer to devise an Algonquian dictionary and book of grammar.[6] He used the assistance of a few local Massachusett Indians in order to facilitate the translation, including Cockenoe, John Sassamon, Job Nesuton, and James Printer.[6][16]
Eliot made his first text for the Corporation for the propagation of the Gospel in New England into the Massachusett language as a one volume textbook primer catechism in 1653 printed by Samuel Green.[17] He then translated and had printed in 1655-56 the Gospel of Matthew, book of Genesis, and Psalms into the Algonquian Indian language.[18][15] It was printed as a sample run for the London Corporation to show what a complete finished Algonquian Bible might look like.[19] The Corporation approved the sample and sent a professional printer, Marmaduke Johnson, to America in 1660 with 100 reams of paper and eighty pounds of new type for the printer involved to print the Bible.[6][20] To accommodate the transcription of the Algonquian Indian language phonemes extra “O’s” and “K’s” had to be ordered for the printing press.[6]
Johnson had a three-year contract to print the entire Bible of 66 books (Old Testament and New Testament).[19] In 1661, with the assistance of the English printer Johnson and a Nipmuc named James Printer, Green printed 1,500 copies of the New Testament.[6] In 1663 they printed 1,000 copies of the complete Bible of all 66 books (Old Testament and New Testament) in a 1,180 page volume.[7][6][21] The costs for this production was paid by the Corporation authorized by the Parliament of England by donations collected in England and Wales.[19] John Ratcliff did the binding for the 1663 edition.”
Ebay item description: “The second edition of the Eliot Indian Bible, 1685. Original leaf from original edition preserved in an attractive heavy board display. From The American Bible portfolio collection. From Wikipedia: “The Eliot Indian Bible (Algonquin: Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God;[1] also known as the Algonquian Bible) was the first translation of the Christian Bible into an indigenous American language, as well as the first Bible published in British North America. It was prepared by English Puritan missionary John Eliot by translating the Geneva Bible[2][3][4] into the Massachusett language.[5][6] Printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the work first appeared in 1661 with only the New Testament. An edition including all 66 books of both the Old and New Testaments was printed in 1663.”
Note: this page arrived mounted inside a single heavy mat board that opens and is hinged on one side, most likely part of a set of about 31 various significant early American bible pages from different bibles, that has now been broken apart. The page its self is also mounted to the board hinged on one side, we may remove it at some point and remount it inside a small frame of anti UV glass. We did see one complete set for sale online for about $5,000.00 giving each page a value of about $161.29 but the only way to get that price is to purchase the whole set. With an original asking price of $795.00 and a purchase price of $400.00 we feel it was a good deal, as these pages can be seen listed for as high as $2,000.00 on Ebay.
Ebay data, “Time placed Apr 26, 2023 at 12:12 PM Order number 22-09984-40859 Total$434.60 (1 item) Sold by rarebiblesandmore. Original asking price $795.00. Sold for $400.00, shipping $10.00, tax $24.60.”
