Bible in minuiture [sic] or a concise history of Old & new Testaments Bible in minuiture or a concise history of Old & new Testaments. 1780.

Bible in minuiture or a concise history of Old & new Testaments Newberry, E. [London]. 1780. 1st state.[ii]-250 pages 2 engraved title-pages, 14 engraved plates. Uniformly toned pages. Plates opposite pages 10, 25, 52, 58, 74, 93, 122, 127, 143, 148, 151, 173, 218, 221, 247. Set in Brevier (8-point) Caslon Old Style, ten lines to a page. 3 x 4.5 cm. Original brown calf (very lightly rubbed, hinges with very little wear). Probably the earliest imprint of the best known miniature thumb bible & a very close copy of the J.Harris edition. Elizabeth Newberry was the widow of Francis who was nephew of John Newberry (hugely successful publisher and promoter of children's books). A charming copy of this first appearance of Elizabeth Newbery’s enormously popular Bible in Miniature. Although this is the first edition to have the Newbery name in the imprint, it was effectively a new edition of Harris’ miniature bible first printed in 1778, which in turn was based on earlier printings by W. Harris as early as 1771. Following J. Harris’ original closely, the text was entirely reset but was almost word for word the same as Harris’, with the same number of pages, a similar title and fly-title for the New Testament and with engravings of the same subjects: creation,Adam and Eve, Moses, the birth of Christ, the Epiphany etc. The print run must have been considerable as it was still listed as for sale in 1800, at the original published price of 1s, and it is one of the easiest thumb bibles to find today. It was reprinted well into the nineteenth century by the Newbery family and in collaborative editions with Harris, Darton and Harvey.This issue has the page numbers enclosed within brackets and has no imprint at the end of the text, simply concluding with the ‘Finis’ on p. 256. Some rarer issues contain the imprint ‘Crowder & Hemsted, Printers,Warwick-Square’ or simply ‘Hemsted, Printer’.This issue does have the mistake ‘miniuture’ to the title, which was later corrected; but the reworked plate of the engraving of Adam and Eve, at p. 25, with a tree bearing no apples. Copies vary in size and binding.They were issued in plain calf, crimson morocco with gilt tooling and a central onlay in black or dark green, with the sacred monogram  and in green morocco with gilt tooling and crimson central onlay. Bibliography Roscoe, J28/6 (with ‘Miniature’ on the title-page and no apples on the tree with Adam and Eve, at p. 25); Bondy, Miniature Books, p. 34; ESTC t134732. Adomeit, B26. Bondy, 34. Myrvold Parmenter, 58. Neelands Joffe, 99. Spielmann, 17. Welsh, 1011. 30 firsts2024