The Holy Bible, Containing The Old And New Testaments According To The Authorised Version. Being The English Version Of Bagster's Polyglot Bible. With References, Maps, And A Number Of Valuable AIds To The Study Of The Bible.

London: Samuel Bagster & Sons, 15 Paternoster Row, [ no date c. 1850 ].. Pearl 16mo. 5.75" x 3.75" x 1" . A scarce bible with white metal clasp and corners. A very good original full leather binding. Black full calf (with the texture of "shark skin"), with white metal cross, outer corners and central embossed clasp in working order. The spine has 5 raised bands, and blind stamped title. All page edges bright gilt. Inner gilt dentilles, Original dark brown endpapers. Dedication dated 1940 to front fre-endpaper. Clean text throughout. 3 books bound together, all with separate title pages: "The English Version Of The Polyglott Bible..." ; "The New Testament..." ; "The Indexed Atlas To The Holy Scriptures" (+ 12 coloured maps). Clean English text throughout, with a central column of references. The books of the Apocrypha are ommitted. The pagination is: pp.585 - Old Testament; [2pp.]/pp.188 - New Testament; pp.281 - 290 - Indexed Atlas. ** Samuel Bagster, the elder (1772-1851), founder of the publishing firm of Bagster & Sons, born 26 December 1772, was the second son of George and Mary Bagster, of Beaufort Buildings and St. Pancreas. He was educated at Northampton under Rev. John Ryland and after serving an apprenticeship with William Otridge, commenced business as a general bookseller on 19 April 1794 in the Strand, where he remained until 1816. He then moved to new premises at 15 Paternoster Row where the company stayed until 1850. A further move was then made to 14 King's Road, Bedford Row. The company traded as 'Samuel Bagster' from 1792 until1842. The name was then changed to 'Samuel Bagster & Sons'. Bagster had noted the rarity and consequent costliness of all polyglot bibles at the time, which gave him the idea of supplying the want of a handy and inexpensive edition. The production of English Bibles was a monopoly in the United Kingdom, confined in England to the King's printer and the two great Universities. It had been decided however, that the patent did not apply to bibles with printed notes. So, Bagster brought out 'The English Version of the Polyglot Bible', 1816, containing over 60,000 parallel references. The book was extremely successful, and was rapidly followed by versions of the bible in other various languages: Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian and Spanish. They were re-issued together in one volume entitled 'Biblia Polyglotta' in 1831. The popularity of Bagster's bibles led to 'The English Hexepla' in 1841, giving the six most important versions of the New Testament in the English tongue: Wiclif (1380); Tyndale (1534); Cranmer (1539); the Genevan (1557); the Anglo-Rhemish (1582);, and the authorised (1611), together with the Greek text and a very good historical account of the English translations.