Sale 2455 - Printed & Manuscript Americana, September 28, 2017

52 c   (BIBLE IN FRENCH—NEWTESTAMENT.) Le Nouveau Testament de notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ. 403; 326, [1] pages. 2 volumes in one. 8vo, contemporary calf, moderate wear, front joint split; lacking front free endpaper, foxing, a few tears including some loss of text to leaf 24:3. Boston: J.T. Buckingham, 1810 [500/750] the first french new testament published in the united states . Shaw & Shoemaker 19531. Not in Darlow & Moule orWright, which lists an 1814 Philadelphia edition as the first (page 391). 54 53 53 c   (BIBLE IN GERMAN.) Biblia, das ist: Die heilige Schrift Altes und Neues Testaments. [4], 992, 277, [3] pages. 4to, contemporary calf, minor wear, lacking clasps; dampstaining, minor wear to contents. Germantown, PA: Christoph Saur, 1763 [1,200/1,800] The third Bible printed in America, after Eliot’s 1661 Indian Bible and the elder Saur’s 1743 first edition. Saur boasts in the introduction that “no other nation can claim to have printed the Bible, in this part of the world, in its own language.” Only 2000 copies were printed. Evans 9343;Wright, pages 44-46. THE GUNWAD BIBLE 54 c   (BIBLE IN GERMAN.) Biblia, das ist: Die ganze Göttliche Heilige Schrift Alten und Neuen Testaments. [4], 992, 277, [3] pages. Thick 4to, contemporary calf, minor wear, clasps renewed; intermittent dampstaining and minor wear, small hole in final leaf, lacking rear free endpaper; 2 pages of early family registers in German on front free endpaper and detached flyleaf. Germantown, PA: Christoph Saur, 1776 [2,000/3,000] The third Bible produced by Saur (preceded by editions of 1743 and 1763) but perhaps the most famous. Of the 3000 copies printed, many are said to have been destroyed by the British during the Revolution. “At the invasion of Germantown Mr. Saur fled from the place, and the British troops destroyed nearly all the copies of the Bible, by converting the leaves into litter for their horses, and by using the paper for their cartridges”—Wright, page 47. Darlow & Moule 4240; Evans 14663; Sabin 5194.