Draper & Folsom, Boston, 1782. Hardcover. First American Edition. Small quarto in modern leather; First published posthumously in Edinburgh in 1774, this first publication in America is very scarce. Here Edwards attempts to establish a theology in the form of history to show how events were adapted to promote the work of redemption. Advertisement leaf and at the end.

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1808 Charles Thomson’s English-Language
Septuagint and New Testament

[Bible in English.] The/ Holy Bible,/ Containing/ The Old and New Covenant,/ Commonly Called/ The Old and New Testament:/ Translated From the Greek.

By Charles Thomson, Late Secretary to the Congress of the United States. Philadelphia: Printed by Jane Aitken, No. 71, North Third Street. 1808.

First edition. Four volumes, each with general title page and volume title page. Octavo format signed in fours. Complete. Published without The Apocrypha, though the Psalter contains Psalm 151 (unnumbered).

The first English translation of the Greek Septuagint anywhere.

Also the first English translation of the New Testament in the New World.

The first Bible printed by a woman: Jane Aitken, daughter of Robert Aitken who printed the very first English Bible in America (1782), which carried a printed endorsement by Charles Thomson (see note 1 below).

Thomson based this translation on the text of the second edition of the Greek Septuagint printed in England (see note 2 below).

Except for some general very light browning, this copy is in superb condition. Consistently clean and bright and pleasingly fresh. An approximately 3” by 5” area on the general title page of Vol. I is browned from offsetting from a piece of paper formerly laid in; similar offsetting in Exodus 32. Occasional minor flaws or stains (e.g. Vol. IV leaf zz in Colossians).

Old full diced black calf (light wear), lately rebacked to style with simple gilt.

Charles Thomson was born in County Derry. Ireland in 1729 and arrived in the American colonies in 1740 as an eleven-year-old orphan, his mother having died before embarkation and his father having died on the sea crossing with young Charles. He studied ancient languages and theology, and through the influence of Benjamin Franklin received the mastership of the Latin School of Philadelphia.

Thomson kept the records of the Treaty of Easton (1757) on behalf of the Indian tribes and was adopted into the Delaware Indian Nation; he was named by the Indians “Man of Truth.” He served as the Secretary of every Congress from 1774 until 1789. He designed the Great Seal of the United States. It was Thomson who officially informed George Washington of his election to the Presidency. On July 4th of 1776, only two signatures were affixed to the authentication copy of the unanimously adopted Declaration of Independence: those of John Hancock as President of the Congress and Charles Thomson as Secretary. However, when the calligraphic official version that is so well known today was ready shortly thereafter (ready by July 19th and signed by Congress on August 2nd), the Secretary’s signature was not required. After his retirement from public service, Charles Thomson devoted his time to Biblical studies and, specifically, nineteen years to this superb work of Biblical translation. Thomson died in 1824.

Herbert 1514. Darlow and Moule 1006. Hills, EBA, 153. DAB, XVIII, 481-2.

Note 1:
“Whereupon, RESOLVED, THAT the United States in Congress Assembled highly approve the pious and laudable undertaking of Mr. AITKEN, as subservient to the interest of religion, as well as an instance of the progress of arts in this country, and being satisfied … of his care and accuracy in the execution of the work, they recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States and hereby authorize him to publish this Recommendation in the manner he shall think proper.” – CHA. THOMSON, Sec’ry (from the preliminary matter of the 1782 Aitken Bible, “The Bible of the Revolution”).

Note 2:
The Thomson translation is based on John Field’s Cambridge 1665 second English edition of the Septuagint (Darlow and Moule 4701), which similarly supplied a Greek NT to make a complete Bible. The first edition of the Greek Septuagint in England was London: R. Daniel, 1653 (DM 4692).

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The first hot press edition of the Bible printed in America.

In the advertisement, April 30th, 1796, it was proposed to deliver the whole in 40 numbers, at 1/2 dollar each; one of which will be completed every two weeks. The finished work was completed in November 1798. A scarce American Bible.

The title page reads: The Holy Bible, Containing The Old and New Testaments; Together with the Apocrypha; Translated out of the Original Tongues: And with the Former Translations, Diligently Compared and Reviled.

Volume II. Philadelphia, Printed for John Thompson & Abraham Small, [From the Hot Press of John Thompson.] M.DCC.XCVIII.

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Looking back on it now, it turned out that the problem which solved itself most easily was that one that seemed at the time to be the most difficult. The selection of a designer took up the greater part of Mr. Zevin’s thought, arousing alternately high hopes and deep despair. The grandeur and scope of the work contemplated called for a conception and ability whose scale few men could fulfill. A few, very few names were discussed back and forth interminably, but every discussion returned to and ended invariably with the one name brought up at the beginning.
Bruce Rodgers, of course, was this name. the thought of publishing an American folio Bible fashioned by his hand was an exciting prospect. Yet who could hope that Mr. Rodgers would consent to undertake another folio Bible. He had already designed one such work, the Oxford Lectern Bible, and there was no reason to expect that he would wish to assume another task of such magnitude.

The months passed and the discussions continued. Then suddenly and quite unexpectedly the problem sold itself.
Through Philip C. Duschnes, the New York bookseller, World learned, in September of 1945, that Bruce Rogers would like to make another folio Bible.

Here was news, and news of a most provocative nature. It was quickly communicated to Mr. Zevin in Cleveland. Within a week the first meeting took place with Mr. Rogers. On October 19 the first cost estimates were submitted and the decision to publish was made. In November and early December of 1945, correspondence between Mr. Rodgers and Mr. Zevin formalized the agreement whereby Bruce Rogers would design a folio Bible for The World Publishing Company, to be printed in an edition of close to 1,000 copies, and to be sold for just under $200 per copy (in mid-1940’s dollars, which is about $3,500 in 2023 dollars).

One of the important factors making such action possible was the participation, from the beginning, of Mr. A. Colish, is one of our country’s great printers. This solved the problem of who was to set and print the work. It was Mr. Colish who worked with BR on the preparation of the numerous sample pages before the final selection of the typeface and decorative treatment. His subsequent supervision of the work, from typesetting through presswork, which consumed more than three years’ time and taxed his highest standards of craftsmanship, is among the great contributions made to the WORLD BIBLE.

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• Contact Us to order or inquire about this item.
• We accept credit cards and bank transfers as detailed here.