Thumb Bible. Verbum Sempiternum. Printed by F. Collins for T. Ilive at the Nag's Head, in Jewen-street Re-printed by W. Davy, [London]. 1818.

Unpaginated. [286] printed pages. Woodcut English title, "Holy Bible"; typographic English title; original and reprint imprimatur; typographic reproduction of original title, "Verbum Sempiternum. London : Printed by F. Collins for T. Ilive at the Nag's Head, in Jewen-street, 1693". New Testament has English section title, and typographic reproduction of the 1693 "Salvator Mundi" title. Signatures: A-I8; K8; (K8, blank); [a]8; b-g8; h8; (h7 & h8, blank). Lacks front free endpaper. Slight historic marginal staining C5-C8. 40 x 50 mm. Contemporary burgundy straight-grained morocco. Spine in gilt single fillet bordered compartments with acorn corner-pieces and horizontal foliate scrolling; boards with triple gilt fillet borders and stylised fleur-de-lis corner-pieces; inner gilt dentelles (slightly marked, wonderfully patinated, and a trifle rubbed, with a little wear to the hinges- but overall a beautiful character binding). An early reprint of the pre-eminent juvenile miniature bible in verse for easy memorising, by John Taylor, the 'Water-Poet'. The Taylor version is concise, impactful & expressive; this edition, apart from dedication to Queen Mary and King William, is the same as the original & has the charmingly unrevised spelling. This 1818 version, printed by W. Davy, is an exact reprint of the 1693 third edition originally printed by F. Collins for T. Ilive at the Nag’s Head. It preserves the rhyming couplets that summarize each book of the Bible.Adomeit's Three Centuries of Thumb Bibles said "unable to see a copy to verify details" but lists one copy in Julian Edison's collection in Missouri and the other in the British Museum. Adomeit, B53. Johnston, ix. Spielmann, 495. Welsh, 1217. Not in Houghton. Of this edition, WorldCat locates just the British Library copy, but another copy also held at Indiana University. While originally meant for adults, these tiny books became popular as educational "toy books" for children to teach basic biblical literacy and moral virtues in a compact, portable form.