"Gun Wad" Bible
No reserve
Auction Closed
January 23, 10:36 PM GMT
Estimate
2,000 - 3,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
"Gun Wad" Bible
(Bible in German) — Die ganze Gottliche Heilige Schrift Bible in German Biblia, Das ist: . Alten und Neuen Testaments nach der Deutschen Uebersetzung D. Martin Luthers ... Germantown: Christoph Saur, 1776
4to (9 3/4 x 7 7/8 in.; 248 x 200 mm). General title-page and separate title-page for New Testament, printer's ornaments, double-column text, varying ornamental capitals; browning, foxing and staining throughout, title backed with loss to corners, following leaf with restoration to edges. Contemporary calf over wooden boards, rebacked with new clasps.
Third edition of the first bible printed in a European language in America, and the first to be printed from type produced in America.
The edition became known as the "Gun-Wad" bible, as British troops invading Germantown destroyed most of the 3,000 copies printed by using the sheets to make gun cartridges and litter for their horses (Wright).
