18th Century bibles & other literature
Our goal is to preserve historical accuracy and to present the great Christian literature of the 1700s to as many living history enthusiasts as possible.
Modern reproductions have been made of rare English Bibles. Among the most well- known are the 1560 Geneva Bible, the 1599 Geneva Bible, and the 1611 King James Bible. However, our particular hand-bound edition of the King James Version that was printed in 1733 is not a first-edition, nor a last edition, nor an unusually rare edition. And yet that is exactly why we attempted to make this replica. It represents the common Bible of the common family in the American colonies. It reminds us of a generation who were born during the First Great Awakening, who came into adulthood during the French and Indian War, and who became the brave leaders of the American Revolution and as well as the founders of a new American nation.
We are also hand-binding the 1734 edition of the Book of Common Prayer with a similar philosophy to that of our 1733 New Testament. This 1734 edition is not a premier version, a revised version, nor is it an unusually rare edition. It is simply our attempt to replicate the commonly-used common prayer book of the Church of England during the middle 1700s. This book would be very similar to the one used by Charles Wesley and John Wesley when they left England in 1735 to serve as Anglican missionaries to the colony of Georgia . This book would also be very similar to the one carried by George Whitefield during his tours in the American colonies at the height of the Great Awakening in the 1740s. It would have also been used by many of the early "Methodists" prior to their severance from the Church of England. Compared with our 1733 New Testament, this 1734 Book of Common Prayer is rather eye-catching from a typographic perspective. There are quite a number of ornaments, headers, footers, fancy capital letters, and a greater number of different font sizes in comparison with our Bible. Nevertheless, as was typical with the Age of Reason, there is order, balance, and simplicity. The result is a beautifully done publication that places the modern reader in the center of the British world of the 18th century.
We also make a replica of our original 1767 Isaac Watts Hymnal. This hymnal was originally printed in Boston. We have purchased three original 18th century Watts Hymnals thus far. The one that we are reproducing that was printed in Boston did not have musical notation. So we purchased another that was printed in the same year, but in London. This 1767 version does have a small amount of musical notation. We have taken those pages from the London printing and added them to our replica from Boston. We hope that this addition will help you reproduce the actual songs and their tunes as they were heard in the 18th century. We believe that the first Isaac Watts Hymnal that was printed in America was printed in New York in 1767, but that one was made and used by the Dutch Reformed Church in America. This printer in New York was the first to import the type necessary to print music.
We have recently completed the book Psalms & Hymnals by John Playford . It is completely full of musical notation. It took quite a while to get it ready to reproduce. We have spent the last year and a half transforming our original 1697 John Playford book of Psalms and hymns into the replica that we have available for you today. This is the first replica of this particular Playford book ever made. Most people have not had a chance to see this book for the last two hundred years. We now have our replica ready for you. Its title is, The Whole Book of Psalms: With The Usual Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Together With all the Ancient and Proper Tunes sung in Churches, with some of Later Use. Composed in Three Parts, Cantus, Medius, & Bassus: In a more Plain and Useful Method that hath been formerly. Published, by John Playford. The Third Edition, Corrected and Amended. To purchase one of you own visit our web page at the following link:
www.18thcenturybibles.org/John_Playford_Psalter.html
We also reproduce a number of 18th century pamphlets and maps made from originals we have purchased. They include the works of George Whitefield, Charles Wesley, Gilbert Tennent, Joseph Parsons, and more. We have the Scottish Catechism, the Gospel of John, and the Book of Proverbs. Topics include sermons on swearing, stealing, pride, politics and more. We have medical, military pamphlets, journals. Who knows what else we will have in the future.
SOLI DEO GLORIA
We hope that the information on the following pages of this website will assist you in your questions of how we are making our reproduction.
The History of the Old & New Testament in Cutts
The book, The History of ye Old & New Testament in Cutts, to the left consists of Biblical copperplate engravings. We scanned then from our original 1715 King James Bible. Since these engravings that are contained within our Bible have no title page, we took the liberty of using the title page to the left from a similar book of Frederick Hendrik van Hove engravings.
