John Eliot, Mamusse wunnutupanatamwe up-Biblum God naneeswe nukkone testament kah wonk wusku testament = The Holy Bible: containing the Old Testament and the New, translated into the Indian language ... at the charge, and with the consent of the Corporation in England for the Propagation of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New-England. Cambridge [Mass.]: Printed by Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson, [1661]-1663.
![John Eliot, Mamusse wunnutupanatamwe up-Biblum God naneeswe nukkone testament kah wonk wusku testament = The Holy Bible: containing the Old Testament and the New, translated into the Indian language ... at the charge, and with the consent of the Corporation in England for the Propagation of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New-England. Cambridge [Mass.]: Printed by Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson, [1661]-1663.](https://sca.bowdoin.edu/50-books/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/nggallery/50-books/eliotbible.jpg "John Eliot, Mamusse wunnutupanatamwe up-Biblum God naneeswe nukkone testament kah wonk wusku testament = The Holy Bible: containing the Old Testament and the New, translated into the Indian language ... at the charge, and with the consent of the Corporation in England for the Propagation of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New-England. Cambridge [Mass.]: Printed by Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson, [1661]-1663.")
1st edition of 'Eliot's Indian Bible,' the first complete Bible printed in the 'New World.'
Aside from its importance in American printing history, this book also marks the first instance of translating the entire Bible in a new language for the expressed purpose of evangelism. Eliot, a missionary to the Massachuset Indians, learned their language, codified it and published both a primer and a grammar for the use of Massachuset children. Subsequently, he prepared this monumental translation of the Bible into Massachuset (one of the many Algonquin languages), a ten-year labor. 1,000 copies of the complete Bible were produced, and a second edition numbering 2,000 copies was published in 1685. The thirteen colonies were prohibited from publishing the Bible in English, and the first English language Bible printed in America did not appear until the 'Aitken Bible' of 1782.
Gift: Thomas Wallcut.