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The first complete English Bible published in America was by Robert Aitken in 1782. The first family Bible published in America (Trenton, New Jersey) was by Isaac Collins in 1791. The 1791 Collins Bible featured a preface to the reader that was written by John Witherspoon. This preface was reprinted in many other succeeding editions of the Holy Scriptures, including an 1801 edition of the King James Version which is available to read at Log College Press.
This preface is a memorable history and defense of translating the Word of God from Hebrew and Greek into the vernacular languages. Witherspoon highlights “the providence of God” made “manifest in” the “preservation and purity” of the Holy Scriptures as he describes the historical process by which the English Bible was translated for American readers. It is a brief but well-stated introduction to a translation beloved by many. Read it in full here.
Postscript on Witherspoon:
Last month we published a blog post on “John Witherspoon’s Letter From a Blacksmith.” An alert reader reached out to us to let us know that the attribution of Witherspoon as the author of this anonymously-published 1759 letter is disputed and far from clear. As a result of our friend’s helpful information, and following further research, we have removed that letter from Witherspoon’s page. It is unknown for certain who wrote it. But in the meantime, we have also added many more works by Witherspoon, including the preface to the Bible noted above. Thank you to our friend for reaching out to help us clarify this point.
