The following post is by Monica Varner, Collections Manager in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division.
In September of 1782, a committee of the United States Congress (at that time the Congress of the Confederation) met in the capital city of Philadelphia to discuss the recent production of local printer Robert Aitken. The work, a 1452-page protestant Bible, was advertised on the title page as being a new translation into English from the “original tongues,” as well as having been “diligently” compared to preceding translations. James Duane, committee chairman, noted its political significance in the minutes printed at the end of the work:
“[Aitken] undertook this expensive work at a time when, from the circumstances of the war, an English edition of the Bible could not be imported, nor any opinion formed how long the obstruction might continue.”
The publication of the “Aitken Bible” was a landmark moment in the book history of the United States. As the first complete Bible published in an independent America, the tome represents not only its publisher’s piety, but the country’s burgeoning cultural identity detached from that of Britain’s, as well as an intrepid side-stepping of the embargo affecting the importation of books. By decreeing it not just an American copy of a British publisher’s work, but as a brand new, comprehensive incarnation of the Bible for an American audience, the Aitken Bible became not just a devotional text, but a patriotic one as well. It remains the only edition of the Bible authorized by Congress.
The copy of the Aitken Bible in the Rare Book & Special Collections Division was acquired in 1891 at the sale of John R. Baker Sr.’s book collection, held at the auction house of Thomas Birch’s Sons in Philadelphia. The sale, held from February 11th to 12th, was significant for its selection of Washingtoniana, such as George Washington’s hair, a silver plate from his coffin, and books from his personal library like Don Quixote and an essay on rabies. The most expensive items, a first edition of The Federalist owned by Washington and a manuscript journal of Elias Boudinot, sold for $950 and $1,050, respectively.
The Aitken Bible, lot 209, sold for an impressive $650 (roughly $21,000 in today’s dollars). This was reportedly the first time a copy of the Aitken Bible had been sold at auction. When introducing the lot for bid, the auctioneer described it as “the Bible of Bibles;” a copy recently sold by Christie’s describes it as “the Bible of the Revolution.”