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Lot Essay
A complete first edition of the first full Bible in English printed in the newly-independent United States.
The Aitken Bible is also the only Bible to be officially endorsed by Congress. During the Revolution the supply of imported English Bibles was naturally curtailed. The possibility of advancing the substantial sum required to print a Bible in the United States was already discussed by Congress in 1777, who then estimated the print run necessary to satisfy demand at twenty to thirty thousand copies. On 10 September 1782, Congress passed a resolution endorsing the printing of a Bible by the Congressional printer Robert Aitken, and authorized him to publish their recommendation of his "pious and laudable undertaking ... in the manner he shall think proper." The Congressional resolution appears on the contents leaf following the general title. Although printed in a large edition, copies are nevertheless now very rare and seldom found complete and in such good condition. This copy with the misprints "not" for "now" in II Kings vii.12, Hosea vi misnumbered vii, and "thy" for "the" in I Timothy iv.6. ESTC W4490; Evans 17473; Herbert 1283; Rumball-Petre, America's First Bibles, 1940, pp. 81-96; Sabin 5165.
The Aitken Bible is also the only Bible to be officially endorsed by Congress. During the Revolution the supply of imported English Bibles was naturally curtailed. The possibility of advancing the substantial sum required to print a Bible in the United States was already discussed by Congress in 1777, who then estimated the print run necessary to satisfy demand at twenty to thirty thousand copies. On 10 September 1782, Congress passed a resolution endorsing the printing of a Bible by the Congressional printer Robert Aitken, and authorized him to publish their recommendation of his "pious and laudable undertaking ... in the manner he shall think proper." The Congressional resolution appears on the contents leaf following the general title. Although printed in a large edition, copies are nevertheless now very rare and seldom found complete and in such good condition. This copy with the misprints "not" for "now" in II Kings vii.12, Hosea vi misnumbered vii, and "thy" for "the" in I Timothy iv.6. ESTC W4490; Evans 17473; Herbert 1283; Rumball-Petre, America's First Bibles, 1940, pp. 81-96; Sabin 5165.