A New Hieroglyphical Bible for the Amusement & Instruction of Children Being a Selection of the most useful Lessons, and most interesting Narratives, (Scripturally Arranged) from Genesis to the Revelations. Embellished with Familiar Figures & Striking Emblems Elegantly ngraved

New York: Printed for and Published by the BOOKSELLERS. Fair. 1796. First Edition Thus. Disbound. (4), ii, (1), 4-144 pages; To the whole is added a Sketch of the life of Our Blessed Saviour, The Holy Apostles &c. Recommended by the Revd. Rowland Hill, M.A. Poem. Quite Scarce; informative and historical despite its flaws. Front leather covered board present (detached and chipped/rubbed at all edges), partial leather backstrip, rear board missing, lacks ffep. Detached frontispiece illustration (copper engraving?) of a tree of human qualities, rooted in Faith and Repentence, a trunk of Hope and Love, branched with Fidelity, Compassion, Prudence, Charity, etc. and with Grace shining down from above. Sadly, the frontispiece is missing lower left corner, title at bottom and a strip of the lower right margin. Original owner's name on verso "Jane Barclay her book / Ano Domnia 1798", still a compelling image. Titlepage is also detached and chipped on all edges (all printed text present), original owner's name at top of title "Barclay" Prefatory note "To Mr. Thompson" [publisher of 1794 London ed.] signed: R. Hill ; May 12, 1794. "On the incomparable treasure of the Holy Scriptures" by Theodosius Beza: p. 4. Woodcut illustrations throughout by Alexander Anderson, considered America's first woodcut artist, [Hamilton, Early American Book Illustrators, 1:xxxi-cccii]. Several hundred hieroglyphic woodcuts interspersed in the text; full page woodcut of the manger scene with Mary Jesus, Joseph and the Wise Men, sixteen (16) woodcut portraits of the Saints, allegorical woodcut of Judgement Day, and a woodcut of a Bible class with children. OCLC 14470311 Rosenbach, A.S.W., 181; 570. Gumuchian, 2986-2987. Following excerpt of From Sacred to Secular: Visual Images in Early American Publications by Barbara E. Lacey. ---- "After a generation or two, as religious fervor subsided, books for children increasingly were made to please and entertain, as well as to instruct in fundamental religious ideas. Such works, mostly reprints from London editions, include moral tales, abridgements of Bible stories, miniature Bibles ('Tom Thumb' Bibles), and hieroglyphic Bibles. By the late 1790s, the considerable increase in use of woodcuts for book illustration made possible some new careers. Peter Maverick at age nine cut the frontispiece for The Holy Bible Abridged (NY, 1790), while the cuts for the 1796 New Hieroglyphic Bible have been attributed to Alexander Anderson, soon famous for his white line woof engraving. A work that combines the new principle of amusement for children with the old Puritan concern for spiritual preparations is the New Heiroglyphical Bible (NY, 1796). Each page contains a biblical quotation in which key words are replaced by pictures of the objects that the words signify. For example, in a sentence that summarizes the creation of Adam and Eve (Gen. 2:22), suitable pictures replace words for 'rib,' 'man,' and 'woman' ; however, the presence of 'God' is symbolized by the tetragrammaton (the Hebrew letters for Yahweh) set against a closed heaven, following the emblematic style popular with Protestants in England (fig. 2.11). [49 - ] The words replaced by pictographs are always nouns, and are always depicted either literally (the picture of an object stands for the object itself), or symbolically (as when a picture of a blindfolded woman holding scales stands for justice). The task of deciphering the puzzle was made easy for the reader, if necessary, by referring to the key below in sentences that explain the figures. The hieroglyphic tradition and been utilized in Renaissance emblematic and mystical writing, and while it fell into disfavor with Enlightenment authors, it received new meaning and vitality in England during the eighteenth century in satire and popular print, and was exported to America in the form of the hieroglyphic Bible." .