Author: ELIOT, John
Title: Bible: A Leaf from a Copy of the First Bible Printed in America
Description: 1680. ELIOT, John. THE FIRST AMERICAN BIBLE: A leaf from a copy of the Bible translated into the Indian language by John Eliot. Presented with explanatory text by Wilma Corcoran, Zion Research Library Boston University. Cambridge, MA: S.Green and M.Johnson, 1680. Second editon. (17 years after the first.) Single leaf. New Testament, Book of John, part of Chapters 19 and 20 dealing with the death and resurrection of Christ. This leaf is presented with an explanatory text in a white folder. Eliot (1631-1690) known as "Missionary to the Indians" learned the Algonquin language and translated the entire Bible into this unwritten and now extinct tongue. "The exigencies of metre and rhyme, combined with the extraordinary length of words in the agglutinative language, must have rendered his task one of supreme difficulty: the result must be considered a veritable tour de force." [Darlow & Moule 6737] The bible was printed by Samuel Green with the help of James Printer, an Indian compositor and corrector of the press. A bit of browning and spotting with a few faint contemporary ink marks. .

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