[Under this title certain works are mentioned which give the text of the Bible with annotations aiming to promote its proper use and understanding. They are of the nature of commentaries, and a distinction is not to be sharply drawn. The annotated Bible, however, will always include the text, to which the helps are strictly subordinate; the commentary is published for the sake of the comments and frequently does not include the text.]
When the Reformation made the Bible the common property of the people, it was not only the source of their faith and piety, but the only literature, the whole intellectual world, of the uneducated classes. The more Luther's Bible was cherished as the compendium
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It would be a mistake to imagine that the Reformation early brought the Bible into every house. There were no small cheap editions, and the Thirty Years' War made the earlier ones still scarcer. Duke Ernest the Pious of Saxe-Weimar (d. 1675; see ERNEST I, THE PIOUS) brought about the publication of the famous Ernestine Bible, on which, after plans laid out by him, nearly thirty prominent theologians worked. Every community was to possess a copy; if they were poor, the duke provided it wholly or in part. The actual work of preparation began in 1630 and was completed in 1640. It contained, besides pictures and maps, and a running commentary, tables of weights, coins, etc., the topography of Jerusalem, and the creeds and Augsburg Confession. It was originally sold at six thalers, but the price gradually rose with later improvements and additional illustrations, until its general circulation was impeded. The Tübingen Bible (1730) is an adaptation of this, less firm in its dogmatic stand, by Christoph Matthäus Pfaff, professor at Tübingen, and his brother-in-law, Johann Christian Klemm.
The same spirit that actuated Duke Ernest induced Eberhard III of Württemberg to publish the "Württemberg Summaries" in 1669, the first attempt to give a clear, precise, and connected paraphrase of the whole Scriptures. A revised and enlarged edition appeared at Leipsic in 1709, followed by others. The complete revision published in 1787 by Magnus Friedrich Roos, Karl Heinrich Rieger, and others of the school of Bengel was less clear, objective, and orthodox. Another Württemberg edition which deserves mention is the New Testament published in 1701 by the court preacher Johann Reinhard Hedinger; it was marked by Pietistic deviations from traditional theology, and attracted attention by its sharp rebukes of the sins of the people at large and especially of the clergy.
The new spirit of mystical Pietism which influenced the last-named work was fully revealed in the Marburg Bible (1712), as might be inferred from the main title, "Mystical and Prophetic Bible." The interpretation of type and prophecy in this follows the federal theology of Cocceius, that of Canticles and Revelation Madame Guyon. It was the forerunner of a larger work in the same spirit, the Berleburg Bible of 1726-42 (8 vols. folio), projected and prepared chiefly by Johann Heinrich Haug. The text is a revision of Luther's, with comparison of the English and French versions; the commentary reflects the views of the Philadelphian communities, and quotes the mystical books current among them, especially Madame Guyon's, but its teaching goes back beyond Dippel and Petersen to Jakob Böhme, or even to Origen in some points. It lacks unity of belief and of treatment; it is the work not of a single mystic, giving voice to his inner convictions, but of a propagandist sect with practical tendencies. It is not without value, however, from different points of view; it edifies by its continual application of Scriptural words to the spiritual life, and it prepares the way for historical criticism by an appendix containing apocrypha (Old and New Testament), pseudepigrapha, and postapostolic writings. In the same year (1726) appeared the Ebersdorf Bible, in the preparation of which Zinzendorf shared. Its commentaries are altogether in his spirit, and it was received with favor only by the friends of the Herrnhut community.
When the emotional mysticism of the Pietists gave way to the prosaic, commonplace conceptions of the age of Enlightenment, attempts were made to replace the older commentaries by works conceived in the new spirit. The Wertheim Bible (1735) aroused great excitement in its day, both in Church and State, though its interest now is purely historical. This was only the first part of a projected whole, and contained merely the Pentateuch. The gist of the long, involved preface is that the traditional ideas about the Scriptures rested on prejudice and unscientific conceptions, and that the attempt was now made to found an exposition of their real meaning on adequate grounds of reason and historical evidence. It proposes to give a free translation, adapted to modern comprehension, though faithful in substance, and supplemented by the necessary explanations. The translation is hopelessly bald and common place to our taste; the editor showed some originality, however, as for example in venturing to discard the traditional division of chapters and verses. The general philosophical principles, as well as the critical and historical, are those of Wolf; in spite of many blunders, a fair knowledge of Hebrew is displayed. The editor's name is not given, but it was soon known. He was Johann Lorenz Schmidt, a graduate of Jena, personally much respected, who was then tutor to the young Count von Löwenstein at Wertheim in Franconia. He was arrested at the beginning of 1737 and the book was confiscated by the imperial authorities. After a year's close imprisonment, he was allowed more liberty, and escaped to Holland. The literary war which raged around the Wertheim Bible was fierce and not uninteresting. In 1738 Schmidt published a collection of reviews and polemical pamphlets, with his own replies. His work found imitators; another of a similar nature, with modern deistic explanations, appeared in 1756, but had little success; and the excitement over the frankly rationalistic commentary of Nicolaus Funk (Altona,
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The eighteenth century was not destitute of attempts to carry on the old tradition in a spirit of orthodox edification. The first was that of Christoph Starke (New Testament, 3 vols., 1733 sqq.; Old Testament, 6 vols., 1741 sqq.), which gave Luther's text with extended comments from older expositors and ascetic writers, introductions to each book, and a summary of each chapter. Next came the Hirschberg Bible (1756-63), an excellent work which fell flat at the time and was rescued from oblivion only by a reprint in 1844 under the patronage of Frederick William IV. The age was not favorable to the spread of Biblical study, and but a few readers were found for the commentary translated from English expositors by R. Teller, J. A. Dietelmayer, and Brucker (19 vols., 1749-70), or for the edition of Michaelis (1769-92).
But the revival of religious devotion ultimately made itself felt in this field. Friedrich von Meyer's revised translation with short, pointed comments and uncritical introductions appeared in 1819. More widely read were Richter's (1834-40) and Lisco's (1833-43). A more learned and thorough work was that of Otto von Gerlach in 6 vols., which is still popular in North Germany, as is the Calwer Handbuch der Bibelerklärung (1849) in the South. Other more recent editions which may be mentioned here are those of Bunsen (9 vols., 1858-70), Christian Müller (Collegium Biblicum, 6 vols., 1879-84), Johann Peter Lange (36 vols., 1856-77), K. A. Dächsel (illustrated, 7 vols., 1865-80), and R. J. Grau (2 vols., 1877-80). [J. F. Allioli's annotated Bible (6 vols., Nuremberg, 1830-34) has been very popular among Roman Catholics.]
As a rule, Bible societies publish the Scriptures "without note or comment "–a wise plan, for it secures the widest circulation of the Word of God. In early times, however, when a person bought a Bible, he found between the covers not only the Old and the New Testaments, but a commentary in the notes attached, a concordance at the end, and a small dictionary in the introduction and tables. These special editions had their day, and fell into disuse, for very evident reasons. The numerous comments made the volume too bulky for convenience and general use; the notes were likely to be one-sided and subjective, so that a man's theology might be judged by his Bible, from its being supplied with comments by Doddridge, or those of D'Oyly and Mant; however acceptable the annotations might be for a time, eventually they were superseded by later scholarship. Moreover, in the last half-century commentaries, Bible dictionaries, and concordance have grown into great volumes, and constitute a distinct class of literature. They have found their true places apart from the inspired words of the Bible.
Annotated Bibles date back to the time of the Reformation. Matthew's Bible (1537) had annotations, and John Rogers, who was the real translator of this Bible, showed by his notes, especially on the subjects of faith, holy life, and repentance, that he was in full touch with the most advanced Protestantism. The Geneva Bible (1560) attained its great popularity and fame by its prologues and marginal notes. These annotations are so numerous and miscellaneous that it is not easy to give in a brief statement a fair representation of their general tenor. Many are strongly antipapal, and for that reason they were especially acceptable to overzealous Reformers. As might be expected, the Geneva notes are also Calvinistic. When the Geneva Bible was first published, Calvin was the ruling spirit in Geneva. All the features of his theological, ecclesiastical, political, and social system are accordingly reflected in the marginal annotations of the English Bible that issued from the city of his residence. The political doctrine of the book was as much disliked by kings of the absolute order, as were the ecclesiastical notes by infallible popes, and one of the reasons that led King James, in 1604, to agree readily to a new translation of the Scriptures, was his dislike of the politics preached on the margins of the Geneva Bible.
The marginal notes in the Bishops' Bible (1568) are not very numerous, and they are generally not interesting. They were designed mostly for readers of weak capacity. A few, which are valuable and entertaining, are taken verbatim, without acknowledgment, from the Geneva Bible. Some of them, too, remind of Geneva caps and predestination in a way that would scarcely be expected in a Bible issued by a body of prelates. The distribution of notes in the Bishops' Bible is very irregular and unequal. In some books hard to understand, such as the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, the notes are very sparse, so that five or six consecutive pages may be found here and there without a single annotation; while in other books, such as Genesis, Exodus, Job, and the Epistles of St. Paul, the notes are very frequent.
In the original edition of the Authorized Version (1611), the number of marginal references to corresponding passages, including those in the Apocrypha, was about 9,000. Large as this number seems, it is but a small fraction of what the references now amount to in some well-edited Bibles. These references, doubtless, have their value, but it can not be denied that many of them obscure the meaning of the statements to which they are attached. It is different, however, with what are called the marginal notes. In the original edition (1611) these notes were nearly as numerous as the marginal references. In the Old Testament there were 6,588 references and 6,637 notes; in the New Testament 1,517 references and 765 notes; in the Apocrypha 885 references and 1,017 notes. These notes are brief and non-polemical, differing in these respects very markedly from the annotations in both Matthew's and the Geneva Bible. They indicate, for the most part, alternative or more literal renderings. In some
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Other Bibles with notes from the pen of annotators appeared and in course of time became very popular. These annotators did not write so much for the learned as for the common people, and their Bibles became household and family books, laying stress more or less on the devotional side. John Canne a Baptist minister (d. 1667?), was the author of three sets of notes which accompanied three editions of the Bible. His great ambition was "to make the Bible its own interpreter." His first authenticated version appeared in 1647 at Amsterdam, under the title, The Bible, with Marginal Notes, Shewing Scripture to be the Best Interpreter of Scripture. The work was often reprinted (9 editions, between 1662 and 1754). Orme, in his Bibliotheca Biblica (Edinburgh, 1824), says of it, "The marginal references of Canne are generally very judicious and apposite. They still retain a considerable reputation, though most of the latter editions which pass under the name of Canne's Bible are full of errors, and crowded with references which do not belong to the original author."
In 1657 there was published Annotations upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament. . . . Wherein the text is explained, doubts resolved, Scriptures paralleled, and various readings observed by the labor of certain learned divines thereunto appointed and therein employed, as is expressed in the preface, 2 vols., London, 1657. This work is usually called the "Assembly's Annotations," from the circumstance of its having been composed by members of the Westminster Assembly.–Another popular work of the same character was Annotations upon the Holy Bible wherein the sacred text is inserted, and various readings annexed; together with the parallel Scriptures. The more difficult terms explained; seeming contradictions reconciled; doubts resolved, and the whole text opened. By the Rev. Matthew Poole, London, 1863, 2 vols., fo. The work was published in many editions. Poole, an eminent non-conformist divine (1624-79), did not finish it; but it was completed after his death.–Not less popular was a work entitled, The Old and New Testament, with Annotations and parallel Scriptures. By Samuel Clarke, A.M., London, 1690. Bishop Lloyd's Bible (London, 1701) was the first to incorporate Archbishop Ussher's chronology.
In 1708 appeared the first volume of Matthew
Henry's well-known Exposition of the Old and New
Testament; four other volumes (to the end of the
Gospels) were published in 1710, and a sixth volume
(the Book of Acts) from Henry's manuscript after
his death (1714); the work was completed by various non-conformist clergymen (see
HENRY, MATTHEW). It long enjoyed a high and
deserved reputation, and is distinguished, not for depth of learning or
originality of views, but for sound
practical piety, and the large measure
of good sense which it discovers.–Dr.
Edward Wells edited between the years 1709
and 1728, An Help for the more Easy and Clear
Understanding of the Holy Scriptures, after the following method: 1. The common English translation
rendered more agreeable to the original. 2. A paraphrase wherein the text is explained, and divided
into proper sections, and lesser divisions. 3. Annotations. 4.
Preface, 8 vols.–Patrick, Lowth,
Whitby, and Arnold's Commentary on the Bible, a
work of a similar character, appeared in London,
1727-60, 7 vols., and was reprinted as late as 1821.
According to Orme, Patrick was "the most sensible and useful commentator on the Old
Testament. He had a competent measure of learning
for the undertaking, of which he never makes any
ostentatious display. The elder Lowth completed
the work on the Old Testament, and Whitby commentated on the New Testament. Neither Patrick
nor Lowth has so much Arminianism as Whitby,
though they all belong to the same theological school.
Whitby was superior to both in acuteness and
research, but if the reader do not find in them the
same talent, he will be exposed to less injury from
specious and sophistical reasonings against some
important doctrines of Christianity."–John Gill
published An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, in which the sense of
the sacred text is given; doctrinal and practical truths are set in a plain and
easy light; difficult passages explained; seeming
contradictions reconciled; and whatever is material
in the various readings, and the several Oriental
versions, is observed. The whole illustrated by
notes from the most ancient Jewish writings. By
John Gill, D.D., 9 vols. fo., London, 1748-63;
9 vols. 4to, London, 1809. Gill gives a summary
of each chapter. Orme says of him, "Had Dr.
Gill fulfilled the promise of his title page, no other
commentary on the Bible could have been required.
But he moves through his exposition like a man in
lead, and overwhelms the inspired writers with
dull lucubrations and rabbinical lumber. He is
an ultra-Calvinist in his doctrinal sentiments;
and often spiritualizes the text to absurdity. If
the reader be inclined for a trial of his strength
and patience, he may procure the burden of Dr.
Gill. He was, after all, a man of undoubted
learning, and of prodigious labour."–A very popular
work was an English translation of Jean Frédéric
Osterwald's Argumens et réflexions sur l'écriture
sainte (Neuchâtel, 1709-15 and often; see OSTERWALD,
JEAN FRÉDÉRIC), which appeared under
the title, The Arguments of the Books and Chapters of
the Old and New Testaments, with practical
observations. Translated by John Chamberlayne,
160
Esq., London, 1749, 3 vols.; fifth edition, enlarged,
2 vols., London, 1779.
Chamberlayne's work was followed by A New and Literal Translation of all the Books of the Old and New Testaments, with Notes critical and explanatory. By Anthony Purver (2 vols., London, 1764). Purver was a Quaker and originally a shoemaker. He taught himself Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, in order that he might understand the Bible. His work is often ungrammatical, and unintelligible; the notes are very similar to the text and, what is worse, full of pride and ill-nature. Notwithstanding these defects, Purver sometimes gives a better rendering than occurs in the Authorized Version.–One year later appeared The Evangelical Expositor; or a Commentary on the Holy Bible, wherein the Sacred Text is inserted at large, the sense explained, and different passages elucidated, with practical observations, etc. By T. Haweis, LL.B., M.D., London, 1765, 2 vols.; Glasgow, 3 vols. 4to, and various editions. Haweis (d. 1820) was rector of Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire; his work had little value.–Next to be mentioned is The Complete Family Bible: or a Spiritual Exposition of the Old and New Testament; wherein each chapter is summed up in its context, and the sacred text inserted at large, with Notes, spiritual, practical, and explanatory. By the Rev. Mr. Cruden, London, 1770, 2 vols.–In the same year appeared a similar work under the title, A Commentary on the Books of Old and New Testaments, in which, are inserted the Notes and Collections of John Locke, Esq., Daniel Waterland, D.D., and the Right Hon. Edward, Earl of Clarendon, and other learned persons, with practical improvements. By W. Dodd, LL.D., London, 1770, 3 vols. This is mostly a compilation, the chief value of which consists in notes furnished from the original papers of John Locke, Dr. Waterland, Lord Clarendon, Gilbert West, and some others. Great use is also made of some of the printed and long-established commentaries on Scripture, such as Calmet, Houbigant, and Doddridge. Adam Clarke said, rather hyperbolically, that it was on the whole by far the best comment that had yet appeared in the English language.–The next work to be mentioned is The Self-Interpreting Bible, containing the Old and the New Testaments, to which are annexed an . . . introduction, marginal references and illustrations . . . explanatory notes . . . etc., etc. By the late Rev. John Brown, Minister of the Gospel at Haddington, London, 1778, 2 vols. It was repeatedly reprinted, and proved almost as popular south as north of the Tweed.–Henry Southwell published a Bible, Authorized Version; with notes etc.; wherein the mis-translations are corrected, London, 1782.–Another work of a similar character is The Holy Bible, containing the Books of the Old and New Testaments, carefully printed from the fatal edition (compared with others) of the present translation; with notes by Thomas Wilson, D.D., Bishop of Sodor and Man, and various renderings, collected from other translations, by the Rev. Clement Crutwell, editor, London, 1785, 8 vols. Bishop Wilson's notes are merely brief hints either for the explanation or the practical improvement of particular passages. Dr. Thomas Paris, in the Cambridge bible of 1762, and Dr. B. Blayney, in the Oxford Bible of 1769, added considerably to the number of marginal notes and references.
But far more popular than any of the works already mentioned was the Bible with commentary edited by Rev. Thomas Scott. It had the largest circulation and sustained it through many years. It appeared under the title, The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments; with original notes, practical observations, and copious marginal references. By Thomas Scott, Rector of Aston Sandford (London, 1788, and often). As a commentary Dr. Scott's work was superior to any that had appeared before its time. Horne, usually a discriminating judge, speaks of it in high praise (cf. his Manual of Biblical Bibliography, London, 1839, p. 259).– In 1799 appeared A Revised Translation and Interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures, after the Eastern manner, from concurrent authorities of critics, interpreters, and commentators' copies and versions; shewing that the inspired writings contain the seeds of the valuable sciences, being the source whence the antient philosophers derived them, also the most antient histories and greatest antiquities, and are the most entertaining as well as instructing to both the curious and serious (by David Macrae, or J. M. Ray, J. McRay, or D. McRae; Glasgow, 1799; 2d ed., 1815; 4to, also in 3 vols. 8vo.). The author introduced many approved renderings, but marred the simplicity and dignity of the Authorized Version.–Another noteworthy annotated Bible is that of John Reeves, which appeared in ten volumes in London, 1802. The explanatory notes are based on Wells's Paraphrase, and the commentaries of Patrick, Lowth, Whitby, and others. A similar work was the so-called "Reformers' Bible," The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, according to the Authorized Version, with short Notes by several learned and pious Reformers, as printed by Royal Authority at the time of the Reformation, with additional Notes and Dissertations, London, 1810. The notes in the Old Testament in this edition are taken from the Geneva Bible, the annotations of the New Testament from the Latin of Theodore Beza.
Also in 1810 there began to be published The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments: the Text carefully printed from the most correct copies of the present authorized translation, including the marginal readings and parallel texts; with a Commentary, and Critical Notes, designed as a help to a better understanding of the Sacred Writings. By Adam Clarke, LL.D., F.A.S., London, 1810-26. The author, a Wesleyan minister (see CLARKE, ADAM), attained a high reputation as a student of Oriental languages. The scope of the commentary is expressed in its own words: "In this work the whole of the text has been collated with the Hebrew and Greek originals, and all the ancient versions; the most difficult words
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Rev. B. Boothroyd edited A New Family Bible, and Improved Version, from corrected Texts of the Originals, with Notes critical and explanatory; and short Practical Reflections on each Chapter, Pontefract and London, 1818-23, 3 vols. The author has very happily blended critical disquisition with practical instruction, and an invariable regard to the spirit and design of revelation.–In 1821 there appeared The Plain Reader's Help in the Study of the Holy Scriptures; consisting of Notes, explanatory and illustrative, chiefly selected or abridged from the Family Bible, published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. By the Rev. William Thomas Bree, M.A., Coventry, 1821-22. The aim was to supply brief and untechnical notes at a moderate price for readers who could not procure or consult larger works.–In 1824 appeared The Holy Bible, arranged and adapted for family reading, with notes, etc. by a Layman of the Church of England (2 vols., London).–Another popular Bible was the so-called Cottage Bible and Family Expositor; containing the Authorized Translation of the Old and New Testaments, with Practical Reflections and short Explanatory Notes, calculated to elucidate difficult and obscure Passages. By Thomas Williams, London, 1825-27, 3 vols., and various subsequent editions. This unassuming but cheap and useful commentary on the Holy Scriptures was professedly designed for persons and families in the humbler walks of life.–There is also to be mentioned The Comprehensive Bible; containing the Old and New Testaments, according to the Authorized Version, with the various readings and marginal notes usually printed therewith; a general introduction, containing disquisitions on the genuineness, authenticity, and inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, various divisions and marks of distinction in the sacred Writings,–ancient versions,–coins, weights, and measures,–various sects among the Jews: introductions and concluding remarks to each book; the parallel passages contained in the Rev. J. Scott's Commentary, Canne's Bible, Rev. J. Brown's Self-Interpreting Bible, Dr. A. Clarke's Commentary, and the English Version of the Polyglott Bible systematically arranged ; philological arid explanatory notes. With chronological and other indexes (by William Greenfield, London, 1827).–In 1828 there was published The Holy Bible . . . principally designed to facilitate the audible or social reading of the Sacred Scriptures; illustrated with notes, historical, geographical, and otherwise explanatory, and also pointing out the fulfilment of various prophecies. By William Alexander–vol. i–the Pentateuch–York, 1828; two other volumes were planned but did not appear). This Bible owed its origin to efforts of members of the Society of Friends. Passages "unsuitable for a mixed audience" were printed in italics below the text.–C. Girdlestone edited The Old and New Testament, with a commentary, consisting of short lectures for the daily use of families, London, 1835-42.–Another Bible of the same style was the Treasury Bible. First division: containing the authorized English Version of the Holy Scriptures, as printed in Bagster's Polyglott Bible, with the same copious and original selection of references to parallel and illustrative passages, and similarly printed in a centre column. Second division: containing the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, consisting of a rich and copious assemblage of upwards of five hundred thousand parallel texts, from Canne, Brown, Blayney, Scott, and others, with numerous illustrative notes, London, 1835.–In 1837 there was published The Condensed Commentary and Family Exposition of the Holy Bible: containing the best criticisms of the most valuable Biblical Writers, with practical reflections and marginal references; chronology, indexes, etc., etc. By the Rev. Ingram Cobbin, M.A., London, 1837. This work is literally a condensed commentary, derived from the best accessible sources. The notes are brief, but well chosen, and are partly
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The standard English version of the Roman Catholics (the "Douai" Bible; see BIBLE VERSIONS, B, IV, § 5), was provided with notes setting forth and defending the Roman standpoint. The later annotated English Bibles of the Catholics are based chiefly upon these notes. Richard Challoner and George Leo Haydock (The Holy Bible, 2 vols., Manchester, 1811-14; revised Reims and Douai text with extensive notes) are well-known Roman Catholic annotators. Most of the "minor versions" enumerated in § 8 of the article on English versions (BIBLE VERSIONS, B, IV) are annotated.
The popular works of England were reissued in America. The first American edition of Scott's commentary was printed and published by W. Woodward of Philadelphia in 1804 in 4 vols. Other issues followed by different publishers, most of them from the press of Woodward of Philadelphia, and that of Samuel T. Armstrong of Boston. The most popular form of the book was an octavo of six volumes. Scott's Bible had a continuous sale for more than forty years, and as late as 1841 W. E. Dean, 2 Ann Street, New York, published an edition in three volumes.–Adam Clarke's commentary was published by Ezra Sargeant, 86 Broadway, New York, in 1811.–Osterwald's Observations appeared in 1813 with this imprint: "New York: Published by Evert Duyckinck, John Tiebout, G. & R. Waite, and Websters & Skinners of Albany, George Long, Printer."–The first American edition of Matthew Henry's Exposition appeared in Philadelphia in 1816, published by Towar and Hogan in six volumes. They also issued a stereotyped edition in three volumes in 1829. Burder and Hughes of the same city issued a six volume edition in 1828, with preface by Archibald Alexander.–D'Oyly and Mant's Bible with commentary was reprinted in New York in 1818-20 by T. and J. Swords, 160 Pearl Street. This edition has additional notes from the pen of the Rt. Rev. John H. Hobart, D.D., bishop of New York, who quotes from a large number of Biblical scholars, mainly in the Anglican, Scottish, and American Episcopal Churches, who had not been noticed by the English editors.–Thomas Williams's Cottage Bible, reedited by the Rev. William Patton, was printed in two octavo volumes by Conner & Cooke, New York, in 1833. It contains numerous engravings and several maps, and was intended chiefly for the use of Sunday-schools and Bible-classes. The plates were sold by the New York printers, and in after-years the editions were issued at Hartford, Conn.–Greenfield's Comprehensive Bible was issued in 1839 with the imprint of "Robinson & Franklin, successors to Leavitt, Lord & Co., 180 Broadway." The book is a thick quarto of 1,460 pages. The American issue was also published by Lippincott, Gambo & Co., Philadelphia, in 1854, and by J. B. Lippincott & Co. in 1857. Canne's marginal notes and references appeared in many editions of American household and family Bibles, and John Brown's Self-Interpreting Bible was frequently reproduced. The American Tract Society early published a family Bible with brief notes and instructions and many editions were printed. Eugene Cummiskey, of Philadelphia, published various editions for Roman Catholics, such as The Holy Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate, with annotations, references, etc. Isaiah Thomas, the famous author of the History of Printing in America, published and sold the Authorized Version with notes at his press in Worcester Mass.; various editions appeared after 1791.
One of the earliest productions of the Philadelphia press was The Christian's New and Complete Family Bible, published by William Woodhouse in 1790. It was issued in numbers, and the Rev. Paul Wright, D.D., vicar of Oakley, is supposed to have been the editor.–The Columbian Family and Pulpit Bible bears the imprint, "Boston: Published by Joseph Teal, printed by J. H. A. Frost, opposite U. S. Bank, Congress Street, 1822." It claims to be a "corrected and improved American edition of the Popular English Family Bible," supplied "with concise notes and annotations, theological, historical, chronological, critical, practical, moral, and explanatory"; also containing "sundry important received various readings from the most ancient Hebrew and Greek manuscripts and the most celebrated versions of Scripture. Also, sundry corrections and improvements of our excellent English version (generally admitted by learned Christians of every name) with references to authors, versions, and manuscripts; also, an illustrative argument prefixed to each sacred book or epistle, from the best authorities." The volume is a folio, embellished with thirty-six engravings. The book was issued in numbers and had more than three thousand subscribers. The Rev. Jonathan Homer, D.D., of Newton, Mass., revised the observations, and condensed some of the notes and enlarged others.–In 1826 The Collateral Bible made its appearance with the following imprint: "Philadelphia: Printed by Samuel F. Bradford, and by E. Bliss and E. White, New York. J. Harding, Printer, 1826." This book was edited by William McCorkle, assisted by the Rev. Ezra Stiles Ely, D.D., a Presbyterian minister, and the Rev. Gregory T. Bedell, A.M., rector of St. Andrew's Church, Philadelphia. "In this work the best marginal references are printed at large, and in connection with every passage, by which means every parallel or related phrase in the sacred volume is brought at once under the eye, so as to present the whole scope and subject of every text at a single view" (Horne, Biblical Bibliography, p. 86). The three volumes comprised only the Old Testament, and the New Testament part was never attempted.–The Devotional Family Bible was edited by the Rev. Alexander Fletcher, D.D.,
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Of more modern works of a similar character the following may be mentioned: the Lange commentary, translated and edited, with additions, by Philip Schaff and others (25 vols., New York, 1866-88); the work commonly known as the "Speaker's Commentary" (because suggested by the Right Hon. J. Evelyn Denison, speaker of the House of Commons), ed. F. C. Cook (10 vols., London, 1871-81); the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, ed. J. J. S. Perowne (48 vols., Cambridge, 1877 sqq.); Bishop Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers (8 vols., London, 1877-84); J. H. Blunts Annotated Bible . . . a Household Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (3 vols., London, 1878); Clark's Handbooks far Bible Classes, ed. M. Dods and A. Whyte (47 vols., Edinburgh, 1879 sqq.); the American Commentary (Baptist; N. T. complete, ed. Alvah Hovey, 7 vols., O. T., 4 vols.–Lev. and Num., Job, Eccles., Prov. and Song of Songs–published at present, 1881 sqq.); the International Illustrated Commentary on the New Testament, ed. Philip Schaff (4 vols., New York, 1889); J. G. Butler, Bible Work (11 vols., 1892); the New Century Bible, ed. W. F. Adeney (N. T. complete, 13 vols.; O. T., 10 vols. issued, London, 1901 sqq.); and the Temple Bible (31 vols., London, 1901-03; especially useful for reading because the text is paragraphed according to the sense, and chapter and verse divisions are relegated to the margin). The so-called "Teachers' Bibles," of which many were published during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, may also be mentioned.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. W. Panzer, Geschichte der deutschen Bibelülbersetzung Dr. M. Luthers von 1517-81, Nuremberg, 1791; J. A. Göz, Ueberblick über Luthers . . . Dolmetschung der heiligen Schrift und die . . . seiner Zeitgenossen, Nuremberg, 1824; W. Orme, Bibliotheca Biblica, Edinburgh, 1824; F. H. Horne, Manual of Biblical Bibliography, London, 1839; M. Göbel, Geschichte des christlichen Lebens in der rhein-westfälischen evangelischen Kirche, vols. ii, iii, Coblenz, 1852-60; A. Beck, Ernst der Fromme, 2 vols., Weimer, 1865; A. Ritschl, Geschichte des Pietismus, vols. i, ii, Bonn, 1880-84; W. Böhne, Die pädagogischen Bestrebungen Herzog Ernst . . . von Gotha, Gotha, 1888; G. Frank, Die Wertheimer Bibelübersetzung vor dem Reichshofrat in Wien, in ZKG, xii (1891), 2.
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