Sep 28, 2017 - Sale 2455

Sale 2455 - Lot 47

Price Realized: $ 7,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
FIRST BIBLE PRINTED BY A WOMAN IN AMERICA (BIBLE IN ENGLISH.) Thomson, Charles; translator. The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Covenant. [252; 245; 222; 240] leaves. 4 volumes. 8vo, modern calf by the Book Doctor; minor foxing; uncut. Philadelphia: Jane Aitken, 1808

Additional Details

'Thomson's Bible' was the first American translation of the Septuagint into English, as well as the first Bible printed by a woman in America. Thomson, who served as secretary to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1789, purchased a copy of the Septuagint at auction and spent 20 years constructing this translation. The printer Jane Aitken (1764-1832) inherited her father's important Philadelphia shop in 1802, and remained an active binder and publisher through 1813. Hills 153; Wright, pages 113-121 ("still valued for its vigor and perspicuity").