Apr 12, 2018 - Sale 2473

Sale 2473 - Lot 45

Price Realized: $ 47,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 12,000 - $ 18,000
THE AITKEN BIBLE (BIBLE IN ENGLISH.) [The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments: Newly Translated out of the Original Tongues.] [1104 of 1114; 334 of 336 pages] (leaves A-Zz12, Aaa-Aaa5; A-Cc6, Dd1-5). 2 volumes in one. 12mo, contemporary calf, worn, rebacked at an early date; foxing, moderate edge wear and finger-soiling, lacks the general title, leaves Cc-5-8, the blank between the Old and New Testaments (Aaa6, usually lacking), and the final leaf Dd6, New Testament title with slight loss in lower corner; early owner's inscriptions on pastedowns with short later provenance note laid in. Philadelphia: R. Aitken, [1782], 1781
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the first printing of the complete bible in english in america. Often referred to as "The Bible of the Revolution." No English-language Bible had been published in America during the colonial period, as the copyright to the King James version had been held by the Crown. This is the only Bible ever to be authorized by Congress, with their endorsement on leaf A1, and was printed on Pennsylvanian paper. Wright called this "the rarest of all early Bibles printed in America," and his census turned up only 32 copies. Many of the surviving copies also lack the general title, a common defect as it was bound in as a cancel. Evans 17473; Hills 11; Sabin 5165; Wright, pages 51-67, 383-4; Zinman 4.