A Grievous Wolf - Time for Truth

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more feasible to import English language Bibles rather than produce them, but there was also the legal
issue of the fact that the “King James Version” of the Bible was still arguably the “copyright” of the
English Crown, since “public domain” laws were not yet commonplace. Still, demand for Bibles was
exceeding supply, particularly since England was keeping an import-export embargo against the rebellious
colonists due to the Revolutionary War. American pride and independence was also on the line.”
Although about 500 Catholic Bibles were printed in the US in 1790, very little demand for them existed.
The demand was overwhelmingly for the 1611 Holy Bible, as the site shows. It lists the early King
James Bible publishers in the US; Robert Aitken, William Young, Isaac Collins, Isaiah Thomas, Jacob
Berriman and John Thompson, who sought to meet the public demand for Bibles in the years of the
English embargo after the Revolutionary War.
“On January 21, 1781, Robert Aitken petitioned the Unites States Congress to authorize, and if possible
even fund, the printing of a complete Bible in the English language of the King James Version. On September
10, 1782, Aitken received authorization from the United States Congress to commence his American
printing of the Bible in English. This is the only instance in history of the U.S. Congress authorizing
the printing of a Bible. In subsequent years, that session was often mockingly referred to as “The
Bible Congress.” Thus, in 1782, Robert Aitken produced the first English language Bible printed in
America. In 1783, George Washington wrote a letter commending Robert Aitken for his Bible. The
Robert Aitken Bible is known as the “Bible of the American Revolution” and it remains the most rare
and valuable of early American English Bibles.
“...in 1790, Philadelphia printer William Young produced a press-run of likely not more than a few
hundred copies of a very small coat-pocket sized King James Version Bible. This was the first American
Bible to be printed together with a Psalter. It was marketed as a “school edition” for students.
William Young’s Bible is also unspeakably rare today.
“In 1789, Collins announced his proposal to publish the entire Bible (KJV) if he could obtain a 25%
deposit from at least 3,000 subscribers. By 1791, he had produced 5,000 copies of the first Bible printed
in New Jersey. Due to its fairly large size and clear type, unlike all the small coat-pocket American
Bibles and New Testaments that had come before it, the 1791 Isaac Collins Bible became known as the
first “Family Bible” printed in America...The 1791 Isaac Collins Bible served as the standard of excellence
and the prototype for many American Bibles for the next 110 years. Though 5,000 copies were
originally printed, fewer than 100 are known to exist today.
“Isaiah Thomas was one of the most successful printers in Colonial America. He published a newspaper
called “The Massachusetts Spy” in which he supported the cause of the colonists. During the Revolutionary
War, Thomas moved his presses to Worcester, Massachusetts. There, in 1791, Isaiah Thomas
published the first illustrated Bibles printed in America. (Many historians believe that his production
was completed just days after Isaac Collins completed his Bibles that same year). Thomas produced his
1791 Bibles (KJV) in two forms: a large folio of two volumes, and a smaller but still quite large, royal
quarto of one volume.
“In 1796, Jacob Berriman of Philadelphia published what may be called the first “single volume illustrated
tall folio” (KJV) Bible printed in America. Long prized by collectors of Colonial American Bibles,
this printing features excellent examples of the work done by several American engravers of the
1700’s. It is a work of exceptional beauty.
“In November of 1798, John Thompson, also of Philadelphia, produced the first Bible ever to be “hotpressed”
in America (KJV). This printing technique helped to sear the ink clearly into the paper with
heat. It was a huge pulpit folio, printed in two volumes…the largest Bible printed in America up until
that time. The Thompson Hot-Press Bible remains an extremely rare collectors’ item.”
Melvyn Bragg in The Book of Books pp 53-54, 142 says of the Pilgrim Fathers that “It is likely that
most of them took the Geneva Bible...[but] the King James Version took over...The Geneva Bible was
the Bible first taken to America, and...it soon became supplanted by the King James Version.”
Gordon Campbell in Bible p 152 states that when the import-export embargo was eventually lifted,
“Thereafter KJVs imported from England dominated the market” such that American Bible publishers