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BIBLE SOCIETIES.

ciety, directly or indirectly:-Reprints, 42; retranslations, 5; languages and dialects in which the Scriptures had never been printed before the institution of the society, 58; new translations commenced or completed, 38; total, 143. The society provides many translations of single books of the Bible, or of the New Testament, in numerous languages and dialects of the nations of Middle and Eastern Asia, at Calcutta and Madras; as well as in the languages of the Levant, North Africa, &c. (e. g., the Arabic, Tartar, Syriac, and two dialects of the Ethiopic), at Smyrna, Malta, and other depôts of the Mediterranean; and aids all the Bible societies of the continent of Europe. It has agents in almost all parts of the inhabited globe, who travel at its expense, to discover the best means of diffusing the Bible, and to procure able translators and manuscripts of ancient translations for the use of the society. Pinkerton found, in Paris, translations of the Bible in the dialects of Northern Asia and Thibet, with the characters belonging to them, which had been brought to France, under Napoleon, from the archives of the propaganda at Rome. The most difficult translation was that into the Esquimaux language. According to the 24th report above-mentioned, published in 1828, there were issued in England, during the 24th year from the establishment of the society, Bibles, 137,162; Testaments, 199,108; purchased and issued for the society, in foreign parts, during the same period, Bibles, 212,024; Testaments, 818,834: total issued on account of the society, from its establishment, Bibles, 2,248,182; Testaments, 3,422,341; grand total, 5,670,523. In addition to this, the society has granted about £53,800 for distributing, in various parts of the European continent, French, German, Swedish and Danish Bibles and Testaments. The number of Bible societies throughout the world, given in the same report, is as follows:-In Great Britain and Ireland, connected with the British and foreign Bible society, 262 uxiliaries, 350 branches, and 1493 assoiations; in Ireland, connected with the Hibernian Bible society, 70 auxiliaries, 38 branches, and 18 associations; on the European continent and in the Ionian islands, 854 societies; in Asia, 13; in Africa, 4; in America, 549 (there are, in fact, 631 societies in America, in the present year, 1829); total, 3733.-In Germany, the following were the chief Bible societies in 1817:-1 at Hanover, where an edition of the Bible, of 10,000 copies,

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has been completed; 1 at Berlin; 1 at Dresden, which, besides a stereotype edition of the German Bible, has also published an edition, in the Wendish tongue, for Lusatia; 1 at Frankfort on the Maine. In Bavaria, the distribution of the Bible has been confined to the efforts of individuals. (180,000 copies of the Catholic translations of the New Testament, by Gossner and van Ess, had been distributed in Germany and Switzerland, up to 1821. Many of these reached the Austrian provinces, which at present are closed against German Bibles.) The society at Stuttgart has printed an edition of 10,000 Bibles and 2000 Testaments, whicn have already been taken up. Societies exist at Hamburg, Baden, Weimar, Bremen, Lűbeck; at Schleswig-Holstein, Schwerin, Ratzeburg, Eutin, Brunswick, &c. (each of them having auxiliary societies). Protestant Switzerland has a Bible society of its own; so has the kingdom of the Netherlands, which provides its colonies with Bibles. In Paris, such a society was instituted, Dec. 6, 1818, for the Protestants in France. The means of this society were small (in 1820, not more than 58,212 francs had been received), and it had principally in view the supplying of schools, hospitals and prisons; but, as Catholics also have received the Bible, it has met with a strong opposition from the papal-jesuitical party in France. In Strasburg, an edition of 20,000 Bibles was printed for Alsace. In Sweden, the chief society in Stockholm have distributed a large number of Bibles and Testaments. In Norway and Denmark, editions have been published with the same view, and the Danish society has branches in Iceland and the West Indies. The Russian society in Petersburg has vied with the English, and some years since had printed the Bible in 31 languages and dialects spoken in the Russian dominions, among which is one in the modern Russian, since the translation of the church is in the Sclavonic, and unintelligible to laymen. This new translation has been joyfully received by the country people, and shows them the errors and many superstitions which disfigure the ritual of the Greek church. On this account, it will probably give rise to contests, which can hardly be terminated without a gradual reformation of the Greek church, Part of the clergy are opposed to the distribution of the Bible, and persecutions against zealous readers of the sacred book have already taken place in the more distant governments. The Gospels in the

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Calmuc language and the Persian New Testaments are much sought for. A translation of the Bible for the Booriaits, Mongol worshippers of the Lama, near lake Baikal, is preparing, with the assistance of two young Booriaits of high birth, who embraced Christianity at Petersburg. Auxiliary societies have been formed at Irkutsk, Tobolsk, among the Kirghises, Georgians, and Cossacks of the Don. The word of God is carried from Odessa to the Levant. The bull of Pius VII, June 28, 1816, obtained by the archbishop of Gnesen, did not prevent the Poles from forming a society in Warsaw, under the protection of Alexander. In 1817, the distribution of the Bible by such societies was forbidden in Austria, and those already existing in Hungary were suppressed. Italy, Spain and Portugal have had, as yet, no Bible societies; France only one; but the English have provided them with Bibles in their own tongues. In the U. States of America, the great American Bible society, formed in 1816, acts in concert with the auxiliary societies, of which, in 1829, there were 630. The management of the society is intrusted to a board of managers; stereotype plates have been procured, and Bibles are issued at a low price for the auxiliaries, and for gratuitous distribution among the poor. During the first year, 6,410 copies of Bibles and Testaments were distributed. In 1827, the number amounted to 134,000, and, during the first 8 months of 1828, to 146,000. The whole number issued since the organization of the society is about 700,000. These have been mostly in English, Spanish and French, from the society's plates. The managers have occasionally purchased Bibles in Europe, and issued them to applicants, in German, Dutch, Welsh, Gaelic, Portuguese, modern Greek, and some other European languages. They have also furnished money to print translations into pagan languages, by American_missionaries. They have in operation 8 power-presses and 20 handpresses, and copies are prepared at the rate of 300,000 a year. Many of the auxiliary societies have undertaken to discover the number of families in their vicinity destitute of the Bible, and to supply them. It is the object of the society to supply every family in the U. States, before devoting much attention to distribution abroad. Yet Spanish America and Ceylon, Greece and the Sandwich islands, have been furnished with Bibles by the society. The colonies also exert themselves in this cause. Hayti has offered her assistance,

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and even the Esquimaux already read the Acts of the Apostles in their own language. A similar zeal for the distribution of the Bible has been awakened in Southern Africa and in India, where Bibles are published in the languages of the country even the islands on the eastern coast of Asia are not neglected. In the Netherlands, there is a fraternal union of different sects for this purpose, as is also the case in other countries containing various sects. Such associations excite among different sects a feeling of mutual sympathy, by a consideration of their mutual participation in the most important truths of Christianity.-Such a general diffusion of the Bible is an event of great historical importance. Its translation into languages which have been hitherto destitute of all literature, and even of writing, must contribute greatly to the progress of intellectual cultivation throughout the earth, and must have an especial influence on the advancement of general philology. The Bible societies may be considered as assisting to pave the way for the introduction of European civilization into all the less enlightened regions of the earth. The societies adhere to the principle of publishing the Bible without notes, starting from the Protestant principle, that the Bible, and the Bible alone, is the foundation of Christian faith. Undoubtedly, the various sects of Christians, differing so greatly as they do, and always must, respecting certain points of faith and the interpretation of particular passages of the Scriptures, could not be made to co-operate with zeal in the distribution of the Bible, if the text were accompanied with commentaries. But now missionaries and ministers must supply, by verbal explanation, the place of notes, because it is clear to every body that the Bible cannot be understood without the explanation afforded by study. Thus the opinions of individuals, orally delivered, are substituted for the more precise and profound criticism of united commentators. It seems to us, that the friends of Bible societies and their opponents (a part of the Catholic clergy) have both run into extremes; the former by injudiciously distributing the Scriptures, in some cases, before people were fit to understand them; and the latter by an unqualified prohibition of the reading of the Bible by the laity. The order of the pope, that only certain editions and versions should be read by the Catholics, originated from views founded on the experience of all ages of Chris

BIBLE SOCIETIES-BIBLIOGRAPHY.

tianity, that men of pure intentions often fall into dreadful errors and absurdities from want of just direction in the study of the Bible. And it remains a fact not to be disputed by the most ardent defender of immediate and supernatural assistance to the reader of the Bible, that, being composed of parts extremely various in their character, written in times and countries very remote from us, often in metaphorical language, and intimately connected with the customs, views, history and language of particular nations, and even individuals, its real meaning is not to be found without an extensive study of many different branches of science, the results of which may be used to assist the less informed reader. History shows us, that the blackest crimes and the most egregious follies have been defended by the misapplication of the text of the Sacred Scriptures. It must be left to time to show what will be the ultimate effect of Bible societies. Undoubtedly it will be found, that some portion of their efforts have been made in vain, as was, indeed, to be expected; and, in many instances, they appear to us to have been made injudiciously. The extension of the habit of reading through so many parts of the world, we imagine, will be one of the greatest and most lasting consequences of the exertions of these societies.

BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY is the science which describes the political state, manners and customs of the Jewish nation, as well as the usages of the early Christian church; consequently, the antiquities of the Bible. Civil relations, religious ceremonies, holy places, domestic customs and utensils, modes of dress, and other external circumstances, form the subject of this science. The antiquities of the Bible are partly Jewish, partly Christian. The sources of the former are the Old Testament, the works of Josephus and Philo, the Talmud, and the writings of the rabbins. The sources of Christian antiquities are the New Testament and the writings of the fathers, who lived and wrote soon after the age of the apostles. Without the knowledge of the manners and customs of a nation, many passages of their authors, which contain allusions to them, remain unintelligible, and, on this account, the knowledge of the antiquities of the Bible is necessary to the interpreter of the Holy Scriptures. Among the modern authors, who have written on Jewish antiquities, Voland, John Simonis Ernst Aug. Schulz, George

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Lawrence Bauer, Warnekros de Wette and John Jahn particularly deserve to be mentioned. We may find information concerning Christian antiquities in the commentaries on the New Testament, and in the historians of the church. The Germans have particularly distinguished themselves in this department.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (from Bißiov, a book, and ypapw, I describe) was originally a branch of archæography, or the art of describing or explaining antiquities, and denoted skill in the perusing and judging of ancient manuscripts; but in its modern and more extended sense, it signifies the knowledge of books, in reference to the subjects discussed in them, their different degrees of rarity, curiosity, reputed and real value, the materials of which they are composed, and the rank which they ought to hold in the classification of a library. It is, therefore, divided into two branches, the first of which has reference to the contents of books, and may be called, for want of a better phrase, intellectual bibliography; the second treats of their external character, the history of particular copies, &c., and may be termed material bibliography. The object of the first kind is to acquaint literary men with the most valuable books in every department of study, either by means of catalogues raisonnées simply, or by similar catalogues accompanied with critical remarks. Bibliography belongs to those sciences, the progress of which is dependent, in a great degree, on external circumstances. It has been and still is cultivated most successfully in France. This is owing not only to the riches of the great and daily increasing public libraries, liberally thrown open to the use of the public, the large number of fine private collections, and the familiarity of its numerous literary men with books of all ages and countries, but, in a great degree, to the practical spirit of the nation which induces their bibliographers to keep constantly in view the supply of existing wants. Brunet's Manuel du Labraire was the first important work which contained, in an alphabetical form, a list of the most valuable and costly books of all literatures; Barbier's Dictionnaire des Ouvrages Anonymes, the first systematic and satisfactory treatise on this subjectRenouard's Catalogue d'un Amateur, the first, and, for a long time, the best guide of the French collectors; the Bibliogra· phie de la France, the first work which showed how the yearly accumulation of literary works can be recorded in the

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most authentic manner. No less valuable are the works of Peignot, Petit Radel, Renouard on the Aldines (see Aldine Editions), and many others. English bibliography can boast of but one of the advantages of the French; that is, of rich public and private collections; but the use of them is allowed only to a limited degree, and the English bibliographers are far behind the French. The works of doctor Adam Clarke (Bibliographical Dictionary, 1820) and of Robert Watt (Bibliotheca Britannica, 1819) are compilations of little value; the undigested collections of Beloe (Anecdotes of Literature, 1807), of Brydges (British Bibliographer, 1818; Censura Literaria, 1805), of Savage (the Librarian, 1808), and others, are destitute of judicious selection, and often of correctness. Ottley's Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of Engraving (1816), and Singer's Researches into the History of Playing Cards (1816), works which belong to very important points of bibliography, are deficient in correct criticism; and if we are not dazzled by the type, the paper and the engravings of Dibdin's productions (Typographical Antiquities, 1810; Bibliotheca Spenceriana, 1814; Bibliographical Decameron, 1817; Tour in France and Germany, 1821), we cannot Le blind to the superficial acquirements of the author. There is now publishing, in England, the Bibliographer's Manual, an imitation of Brunet's Manuel abovementioned. It is to be completed in 12 parts. The learned Germans, little assisted by public, almost entirely destitute of private collections, consulting only the real wants of the science, have actively endeavored to promote it. Ersch is the founder of German bibliography. He gave it a truly scientific character by his extensive work, Allgemeines Repertorium der Literatur (Universal Repertory of Literature, 1793-1807), and by his Handbuch der Deutschen Literatur (Manual of German Literature). German bibliography is particularly rich in the literature of separate sciences; and the bibliography of the Greek and Latin literature, as well as the branch which treats of ancient editions, was founded by the Germans. The first attempt, in Germany, to prepare a universal bibliographical work, was made by Ebert (q. v.), who wrote, also, in the 10th number of Hermes, a review of the whole modern German bibliography. The booksellers' dictionary is a very valuable German bibliographical work. A supplement is published annually. The following are valuable German bib

liographical works in particular departments of science and literature :—T. A. Nösselt's Anweisung zur Kenntniss der Besten Allgemeinen Bücher in der Theologie, 4th ed. Leipsic, 1800, and the continuation of it by Simon, Leipsic, 1813; C. F. Burdach's Literatur der Heilwissenschaft, Gotha, 1810, 2 vols.; W. Gf. Ploucquet's Literatura Medica, Tübingen, 1808, 4 vols. 4to.; T. G. Meusel's Bibliotheca Historica, Leipsic, 1782-1802, 11 vols. in 22 volumes, not finished; his Literatur der Statistik, Leipsic, 1816, 2 vols.; G. R. Bőhmer's Bibliotheca Scriptorum Historic Naturalis, Leipsic, 1785-99, 7 vols. : Alb. Haller's Bibliotheca Botanica, Zurich, 1771, 2 vols., 4to.; Anatomica, Zurich, 1774, 2 vols., 4to.; Chirurgica, Bern, 1774, 2 vols., 4to., and Medicine Practica, Bern, 1776 et seq., 4 vols., 4to., &c.—Fred. Blume has lately published the first volume of Iter Italicum, containing an account of the archives, inscriptions and libraries in the Sardinian and Austrian provinces. Italian bibliography is no longer what it was in the times of Mazzuchelli, Audiffredi and Tiraboschi. A great indifference is almost universal in regard to the public libraries; the private collections are becoming more and more scarce, and the precious ones of count Cassano Serra and Melzi, in Naples and Milan, have been lately sold to England. The bibliographical works of Italy treat principally of the provincial libraries (one of the latest is Moreri's Bibliografia della Toscana, 1805): Gamba's Serie de' Testi (1812) is a very valuable work. Dutch, Spaniards and Portuguese have, of late years, done little for this science; but the learned Bentkowsky's Polish Literature (1814) deserves the highest praise. The count Zechenyi, a Hunga rian, published a catalogue of all Hungarian works, Pest, 1799-1807, 9 vols., 8vo., and 1 vol., 4to. Russia has produced, in the department of bibliography, little more than catalogues. In regard to particular sciences, many useful catalogues exist, commonly called Bibliothecæ. Well arranged and accurate catalogues of libraries, which are rich in particular departments, may be used with advantage by the bibliographer, as may, also, the annual catalogue of the book-fair at Leipsic. (See Books, Catalogues of.)— Directions for the study of bibliography are contained in Achard's Cours de Bibliographie (Marseilles, 1807, 3 vols.), Th. Hartwell Horne's Introduction to the Study of Bibliography (London, 1814, 2 vols.), and Gabr. Peignot's Dictionnaire

The

BIBLIOGRAPHY-BIBLIOMANIA.

·aisonné de Bibliologie (Paris, 1802-4, 3 vols.)

Material Bibliography, often called, by way of eminence, bibliography, considers books in regard to their exterior, their history, &c., and has been principally cultivated in France and England. The different branches of material bibliography (see, also, Bibliomania) may here be mentioned :—the knowledge of the ancient editions (incunabula, or, if classical authors, editiones principes), some of the best works on which are, G. Wfg. Panzer's Annales Typographici (Nuremberg, 1793—1803, 11 vols., 4to.), coming down to 1536; the Annales Typographici, by Maittaire (Hague, 1719 et seq., 11 vols., 4to.), which not only contains the titles, but investigates the subjects of works. More exact descriptions of particular ancient editions are found in Serna Santander's Dictionn. Bibliogr. der 15ième Siècle (Brussels, 1805, 3 vols.); Fossius' Catalogus Codicum, sec. 15, Impressor. Bibliothecæ Magliabecchiana (Florence, 1793, 3 vols. fol.), and others. The study of rare books, on account of the vague principles on which it rests, is more difficult than is generally believed, and easily degenerates into superficial and capricious trifling. This has been more injured than promoted by I. Vogt's Catalogus Librorum Rariorum (Frankfort and Leipsic, 1793), and J. Jac. Bauer's Bibliotheca Libror. Rarior. Universalis (Nuremberg, 1770-91, 12 vols.) We may also mention here the catalogues of the books prohibited by the Roman church (Indices Librorum Prohibitorum et Expurgatorum). For the discovery of the authors of anonymous and pseudonymous works, we may use Barbier's Dictionnaire des Ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes (Paris 1806-9, 4 vols.), which is valuable for its accuracy (but it contains only French and Latin works). We need not observe, what an important source of information, in the department of bibliography, are literary journals. (See Bibliomania.)

BIBLIOMANCY ; divination performed by means of the Bible; also called sortes biblicæ, or sortes sanctorum. It consisted in taking passages at hazard, and drawing indications thence concerning things future. It was much used at the consecra tion of bishops. It was a practice adopted from the heathens, who drew the same kind of prognostication from the works of Homer and Virgil. In 465, the council of Vannes condemned all who practised this art to be cast out of the communion of the church; as did the councils 9

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of Agde and Auxerre. But, in the 12th century, we find it employed as a mode of detecting heretics. In the Gallican church, it was long practised in the election of bishops; children being employed, on behalf of each candidate, to draw slips of paper with texts on them, and that which was thought most favorable decided the choice. A similar mode was pursued at the installation of abbots, and the reception of canons; and this custom is said to have continued in the cathedrals of Ypres, St. Omer and Boulogne, as late as the year 1744. In the Greek church, we read of the prevalence of this custom as early as the consecration of Athanasius, on whose behalf the presiding prélate, Caracalla, archbishop of Nicomedia, opened the Gospels at the words, "For the devil and his angels." Matt. xxv. 41. The bishop of Nice first saw them, and adroitly turned over the leaf to another verse, which was instantly read aloud: "The birds of the air came and lodged in the branches thereof." Matt. xiii. 32. But, this passage appearing irrelevant to the ceremony, the first became gradually known, and the church of Constantinople was violently agitated by the most fatal divisions during the patriarchate.

BIBLIOMANIA is a word lately formed from the Greek, and signifies a passion for possessing curious books. The true bibliomanist is determined in the purchase of books, less by the value of their contents, than by certain accidental circumstances attending them. To be valuable in his eyes, they must belong to particular classes, be made of singular materials, or have something remarkable in their history. Some books acquire the character of belonging to particular classes, from treating of a particular subject of interest to the bibliomanist; others from something peculiar in their mechanical execution, or from the circumstance of having issued from a press of uncommon eminence, or because they once belonged to the library of an eminent man. Some of these collections are of much intrinsic value. Among them are, various editions of the Bible (the most complete is at Stuttgart); collections of editions of single classics (e. g., those of Horace and Cicero, in the city library at Leipsic); the editions in usum Delphini and cum notis variorum; the editions of Italian classics printed by the academy della Crusca; works printed by the Elzevirs, by Aldus, Comino in Padua, and Bodoni (the most complete collection of Bodoni's editions is in the library of the duchess

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