Mar 22, 2007 - Sale 2108

Sale 2108 - Lot 26

Price Realized: $ 5,760
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(BIBLE IN ENGLISH.) Webster, Noah. The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments, in the Common Version. With Amendments of the Language. xvi, 907 pages. 8vo, contemporary calf, covers detached, spine cracked, quite worn; scattered foxing, heaviest to the title and preface. Errata slip in the rear. New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1833
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first edition of webster's translation, one of the earliest American revisions to the King James version. Webster first conceived of updating the language of the Bible in 1822, but met with little encouragement. However, after the success of his 1828 Dictionary he revived the project with the mindset of producing a non-sectarian Bible to modernize archaic language, correct improper grammar and rectify mistranslations from the original Hebrew and Greek. In the end, Webster's revisions would prove minor (e.g. changing which for who in reference to persons, changing subjunctive forms of verbs, etc.) and the reception to the work poor. The low numbers sold, however, undoubtedly led in part to its rarity in today's market. Hills 826; Wright, Early Bibles of America, pages 141-48; Zinman 120 ("lacking a number of leaves").