in Massachuset, c. 1680-85

BIBLE FRAGMENT, in Massachuset. [Manusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God naneeswa Nukkone Testament kah wonk Wusku Testament.] Translated by John Eliot (1604-1690). Cambridge [Massachussetts]: Samuel Green, 1680-85.

A fragment of the second edition of the first Bible printed in America. The Bible is here translated into Masschuset, an Algonquin language spoken by the Indigenous peoples of eastern coastal and south-eastern Massachusetts. Missionary John Eliot, supported by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, created this translation in the belief that the Native Massachusetts would be more receptive to Christianity if presented in their own language. This edition was printed with the help of a Native printer, apprenticed to Samuel Green in 1659 and called "James Printer." Eliot, in a letter to Robert Boyle, mentions him in a discussion of the second edition: "I desire to see it done before I die, and I am so deep in years, that I cannot expect to live long; besides, we have but one man, viz., the Indian Printer, that is able to compose the Sheets, correct the Press with understanding." Not long after this second edition was printed, the mood for any sort of cultural accomodation to aid conversion waned, with Puritan leaders like Cotton Mather arguing that Native people should instead be "Anglicized." This fragment contains leaves from both old and new testament and including NT title page. Evans 385; Field 495 (first edition, see note); Sabin 22156, 22157

Quarto (181 x 140mm). Fragment of 32 leaves only (tattered and stained, with many areas of chips and loss). Disbound, in stiff chemise. Provenance: some intriguing early marginalia.