4 volumes, 8vo (215 x 131 mm). General title and volume titles to each volume. (Some minor browning or spotting.)  Contemporary sprinkled calf (some light wear). Provenance: Samuel Harvey (signature); J. W. Harvey (signature); Henry C. McCook (signature and bookplate). 

 

First edition of the first translation of the ancient Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint) into English. The 1808 Jane Aitken Bible has the dual distinction of being the first English translation of the Septuagint and the first printing by a woman of any part of the Holy Scriptures in America. 

 

Upon his retirement from serving as secretary of the Continental Congress (1774-89), Charles Thomson (1729-1824) devoted himself to the Greek Bible or Septuagint, an ancient translation from the original Hebrew, and his translation took 19 years to complete. The fourth volume contains Thomson’s translation of the New Testament. Jane Aitken was the daughter of Philadelphia printer Robert Aitken who had printed the first English Bible in America. Hills 153; Darlow & Moule 1005; Herbert 1514; Rumball-Petre 184; O'Callaghan 1808.2; Wright, p. 113.