The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments: Together with the Apocrypha: Translated out of the Original Tongues ...
Worcester, Massachusetts: Isaiah Thomas, 1791. First Thomas edition. Hardcover. 4to. [2], 3-1310 pp. Contemporary paneled sheep with the spine in six compartments. Illustrated with two engraved frontispieces. Completing the title page: And with the former translations diligently compared and revised, by the special command of King James I, of England. With marginal notes and references. To which are added, an index and an alphabetical table of the names in the Old and New Testaments, with their significations. American Antiquarian Society, "Isaiah Thomas’s Printing Press: "Old Number One"". Darlow and Moule 1353. Isaiah Thomas' printing press first operated out of Boston: producing a newspaper and materials that encouraged American colonists to rebel against the British imperial government. Thomas moved his press to Worcester at the behest of his friends, who suspected that it would be impounded by the British authorities. Thomas' Bible was produced in several quarto, octavo, and duodecimo editions. Darlow and Moule note that Thomas enlisted the help of clergymen and others to compare nearly thirty different editions of the scripture. The Thomas Bible is one of the more attractive productions of early American printing. Good or better. Item #000015094
The clasps largely perished, quite a bit of rubbing to the leather's edges. Lacks leaves K3 and K4, the final verses of Maccabees, also lacks the endpapers. An armorial bookplate that states "Williams" on the front pastedown, an inscription reading Thomas Williams Jr. 1792 on the verso of the Apocrypha title page.
Price: $2,500.00