America 250 Semiquincentennial Bible Celebration

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I would like to start this episode by saying that obtaining my bible leaf from the first Catholic bible printed in America was incredibly challenging. Even back in the year 1954, there were only 35 known copies of this bible still in existence.

It took several requests to multiple brokers to obtain the page that I have. A well-known Bible dealer told me about its rarity. He said it was one of the rarest bibles in American history. This early American Catholic Bible is rarer than either the Eliot Bible or the Aitken Bible. Both of these being classic Bibles in American history. And, leaves from both of these bibles are also represented in my collection.

The first Catholic Bible printed in the United States is also known as the Carey Catholic Bible. This was an American edition of the Douay-Rhemes translation of the Vulgate Bible. The Vulgate was the Latin translation made by St. Jerome in the 4th century. It is known as the Carey Bible because it was printed by Matthew Carey. He was an Irish journalist and immigrant to the United States. He was born in Dublin, and worked as a printer before immigrating to Philadelphia in 1784.

One reason why it was so rare is that there were far fewer Catholics than Protestants in early America. At the time, in 1790, Catholics made up only 1% of the population here in the United States.

Here are a few fast facts about the Carey Catholic Bible:

1. Matthew Carey was born on Jan 28, 1760 in Dublin Ireland. He died on Sept. 16, 1839 at 79 years of age. He is buried in Old St. Mary’s Catholic Churchyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Link: https://oldstmary.com/st-mary-cemetary/)
2. His early career was as a printer, journalist, and newspaper publisher. He then became a book publisher … one of the most successful book publishers in the United States.
3. He published Bibles, school books, maps, atlases, almanacs and novels.
4. In 1801, he organized what may have been the first annual book fair. These fairs would alternate between Philadelphia and New York. Later, they would become world wide, such as those held in Frankfurt, Germany.
5. He was a member of the American Philosophical Society, and the Franklin Institute.
6. His catholic bible was offered in 48 weekly installments, at the price of 12-cents each.
7. Three years after the first Catholic Bible was published in 1790, Matthew Carey saw the yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia. This occurred in the summer of 1793. This epidemic killed 10% of the city’s population. At the time he wrote: “The consternation of the people of Philadelphia, at this period, was carried beyond all bounds. Dismay and affright were visible in almost every person’s countenance.”

Along with the Bible itself being very rare, information about and surrounding the Bible is also difficult to come by. There’s a lot of information about Matthew Carey the Philadelphia printer, but not so much about the Carey Catholic Bible.

The actual Catholic population could be part of the reason. At the time, the estimated Catholic population was 25,000 out of 3.5 million total inhabitants in the United States in 1785.

I do happen to have a first edition leaf from the 1582 Rhemes New Testament. This leaf was included in a limited print book about the Rhemes, published by the Book Club of California. Here is a description given about the book: “This is a full and particular account of the origins, printing, and subsequent influences of the first Roman Catholic New Testament in English. It includes the various controversies occasioned by its publication. These are diligently expounded for the edification of the reader by Decherd Turner.”

Instead of leaving it on my bookshelf, here is the included Rhemes New Testament leaf. I will photograph both sides, and include those photo below:

If you are listening to this as a podcast, and would like to view the photos, please go to celebratethebible250.com. Just type “Catholic Bible’ into the search box. The page that has the photos will be returned to you as a link.

So, until we meet again, and for “Celebrate the Bible 250” this is Francis Douglas. If you’re interested in learning more about the History of the Christian Holy Bible in America, please like, share, and subscribe.