Dec 01, 2011 - Sale 2263

Sale 2263 - Lot 73

Price Realized: $ 5,040
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
THE FIRST FOLIO BIBLE IN AMERICA (BIBLE IN ENGLISH.) The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments. 50 plates. 2 volumes. Folio, contemporary calf, moderate wear; moderate foxing, minor dampstaining in Volume II, various tears and repairs; manuscript register of five generations of the Sandford family covering 1744 to 1956 on front free endpaper and inserted leaf of volume II. Worcester, MA: Isaiah Thomas, 1791
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the first folio bible in america. Issued in the same month as the ratification of the Bill of Rights, which seems to be acknowledged in the preface by publisher Isaiah Thomas: "The civil authority hath set an example of moderation and candor to all Christians, by securing equal privileges to all." He traces a strong connection between the new republic and Christianity--"a religion which furnishes motives for every patriotick, civil and social duty."
The plates are all by American engravers, the bulk of them by Joseph Seymour, but also including examples by Norman, Hill, and Amos Doolittle (his first biblical illustration, pictured). This well-used but handsome set includes the plate list, generally lacking in the one-volume issue. The family register suggests that this set was originally owned by a Maine family, and travelled with the family to Minnesota and California over the following two centuries.
"The two Thomas Bibles of 1791 were without doubt far in advance of any other publications of the same kind that had appeared in America in point of typography, excellence of paper, binding, and general execution"--Wright, Early American Bibles, pages 74-88. Evans 23186; Hills 29.