BIBLE SOCIETY.

The AMERICAN B. S. is, in the magnitude and importance of its operations, next to the British and Foreign Bible Society. It was founded at New York, 1817, and has its headquarters in that city in the 'Bible House,' a large and commodious building, erected by special subscription. It reckons fully 7,000 auxiliary societies, in all parts of the United States. Its income now amounts to about $700,000 a year, rather more than one-half being derived from sales of Bibles and Testaments, and the rest from donations, collections, etc. The American B. S. has for some time issued annually more than 1,750,000 Bibles, New Testaments, and other portions of Scripture, and had to 1896 distributed about 62,000,000 copies. The funds of the soc. have been expended chiefly in supplying the wants of the inhabitants of the United States, among whom the Indian tribes have not been neglected. "The Bible Association of Friends in America,' founded at Philadelphia, 1829, has also distributed the Bible extensively.

THE AMERICAN AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY was founded in Philadelphia (1837), by a convention of Baptists, whose purpose was to prepare and circulate translations of the Scriptures in which the Greek words baptismos and baptizo should be not transliterated into 'baptism' and 'baptize,' as in the 'authorized English version' of the AmerBible Soc., but translated into immersion' and 'immerse.' This action had reference to translations into foreign languages for missionary work-the new soc. continuing to circulate the authorized English version.'

THE AMERICAN BIBLE UNION was formed 1850 by Baptists dissatisfied with the policy above noted, and aiming to extend the same principle to the Eng. version also. The Union energetically promoted an excellent revision of the Eng. Bible on their principles, by Thomas J. Conant, D.D.

The two socs. were merged into the AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY 1883. Their revised New Test. has been published: the revision of the Old Test. is proceeding under superintendence of William R. Harper, D.D., pres. of Chicago University.

Of the numerous Bible socs, of Germany, the most important and extensively ramified is the Prussian Central B. S. (Hauptbibelgesellschaft), Berlin. It was founded 1814, has branches in all parts of the Prussian dominions, and distributes annually abont 35,000 Bibles and 14,000 New Testaments. There are numerous independent Bible socs. in other parts of the German empire. Bible socs, were prohibited by the Austrian govt. 1817, and some which had already been established in Hungary were dissolved.—The Russian B. S., founded at St. Petersburg, 1813, through the exertions of Dr. Paterson, and under the patronage of the emperor Alexander I., entered upon a career of great activity and usefulness, co-operating with the British and Foreign B. S. for the printing of the Scriptures in the numerous languages spoken within the Russian dominions; but its operations were suspended, 1826, on the accession of the emperor Nicholas, its stock of Bibles and the whole con

BIBLIANDER-BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES.

cern, being transferred to the Holy Synod, under the pretense that the sacred work of supplying the people with the Holy Scriptures belonged to the Church, and not to a secular society. The Bibles and Testaments in stock were indeed sold, and very large editions were thus disposed of, but the activity of a society which had no equal in continental Europe was at an end. A Protestant B. 8. was then formed for the purpose of providing editions of the Scriptures, and circulating them among the Protestants of all parts of the empire, which now reckons about 300 auxiliary societies. But the action of this society 'does not touch the members of the Greek Church, or, if at all, only slightly and incidentally, and it makes no provision of the Scriptures in the language spoken by the great mass of the people. It is merely designed to meet the wants of colonists and others, who do not use the Russian language.' Of the translations of the Scriptures published by the original Russian B. S., the greater number have never been reprinted since its suppression.

BIBLIANDER, bib'li-an-der, or BUCHMAN, THEODORE: 1504-64; b. Bischofzell: Swiss clergyman and orientalist. He was Zwingli's successor in the professorship of Protestant theology at Zurich (1532), but having held a belief concerning the doctrine of predestination and the freedom of the will at variance with that held by the Protestants generally, he was suspended from his functions, 1560. He wrote numerous works on oriental subjects.

BIBLIA PAUPERUM, paw' per-um, or Bible of the Poor: a sort of picture-book of the middle ages, giving, on from forty to fifty leaves, the leading events of human salvation through Christ, each picture being accompanied by an illustrative text or sentence in Latin. A similar and contemporaneous work on a more extended scale, and with the legend or text in rhyme, was called Speculum Humano Salvationis, i.e., the 'Mirror of Human Salvation.' Before the Reformation, these two books were the chief text-books used, especially by monks, in preaching, and took the place of the Bible with the laity, and even with the clergy; and as the lower orders of the regular clergy, such as the Franciscans, Carthusians, etc., took the title of 'Pauperes Christi,' Christ's Poor, hence the name. Many manuscripts of the B. P., and of the Mirror of Salvation, several as old as the 13th c., are preserved in different languages. The pictures of this series were copied in sculptures, in wall and glass painting, altar-pieces, etc., and thus become of importance in the art of the middle ages. In the 15th c., the B. P. was perhaps the first book that was printed in the Netherlands and Germany, first with blocks, and then with types. The chief proof for the discovery of printing in Haarlem rests on the first impressions of the Speculum Humana Salvationis. See CoSTER.

BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES, or BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY: a study which has for its objects the social and political constitution, the manners, customs, geography, etc. of the Jews and other peoples mentioned in the Scriptures. A knowledge of these is essential to a right understanding

BIBLICAL CRITICISM.

of many passages of Scripture. The antiquities of the ancient Jews themselves undoubtedly form the most important part of such a study; but an examination of the laws, customs, etc., of the neighboring Semitic nations is likewise indispensable. The principal sources of such knowledge are the Old and New Test.; the books of Josephus on Jewish Antiquities and the Wars of the Jews; the writings of Philo, the Talmud and Rabbinical works; and, lastly, Greek, Roman, and Arabian writers, with medals, monuments, and other works of art, the accounts of travellers, etc. The first work on Hebrew archeology was Thomas Goodwin's Moses et Aaron, seu Civiles et Ecclesiastici Ritus Antiquorum Hebr. (Oxford, 1616). German works on the subject are those of the handbooks by Jahn, Bauer, Rosenmüller, De Wette, Ewald, Saalschütz, Roscoff, and Keil; and the biblical dictionaries of Winer (1848), Schenkel (1875). Convenient works of reference for English readers are Dr. Kitto's Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature, and his Pictorial Bible; Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, and Dictionary of christian Antiquities; Thom son's Land and the Book. See also the large map of Western Palestine, in 26 sheets, published by the committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, with a memoir containing geographical, topographical, archeological, ethnographical, and geological particulars.

BIBLICAL CRITICISM, THE HIGHER: see HIGH CRITICISM, THE. BIBLE,

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

BIBLIOGRAPHY, n. bib'li-ög'ră-fi [Gr. bibliòn, a book; grapho, I write]: the knowledge and history of books, especially of rare and curious ones. BIBLIOGRAPHER, n. bibli-og rå-fer, one who is skilled in the knowledge and history of books. BIBLIOGRAPH'IC, a. -grafik, or BIBLIOGRAPHICAL, a. -i-kal, pertaining to the history of 000ks. BIBLIOLATRY, n. bib'li-ól'à-tri [Gr. latrei'a, worship: book worship, especially applied to an extreme reverence for the Bible. BIBLIOLATRIST, one who idolizes books; one who idolizes the Bible. BIBLIOMANCY, n. bìb'li-ă măn ́sì [Gr. mantei'à, prophecy]: divination by the Bible. BIBLIOLOGY, n. bibli-ol'ò-ji [Gr. logos, discourse]: a treatise on books; biblical literature or theology. BIB'LIOLOGICAL, a kál, pertaining to. BIBLIOMANIA, n. bib ́li-ō-mā nì-ŭ [Gr. maniă, madness]: a rage for the pos session of rare and curious books. BIBLIOMA'NIAC, n. -ni-uk, one who has a rage for books. BIBLIOPEGY, n. bib'li-op'ě-ji [Gr. pegnumi, to make fast]: the art of binding books. BIBLIOPHILE, n. bib'li-o-fil [Gr. philos, friend]: a lover of books. BIBLIOPOLIST, n. bibli-op'o-list, and BIBLIOPOLE, n. pol [Gr. poles, I sell]: a bookseller. BIBLIOTHECA, n. bib'li-o-the'ka (Gr. thekë, a case or box]: a repository for books; a library. BIBLIOTHECAL, a. -kal, pertaining to.

BIBLIOGRAPHY, bib-li-ögʻra-fi: the knowledge, history, and proper classification and cataloguing of books. It is derived from bibliographia, which was employed by the Greeks to signify the transcription of books, while bibliographos was merely a copyist. The introduction of the term in the meaning now attached to it may be dated from the appearance of the first vol. of De Bure's Bibliographie Instructive in 1763. The bare enumeration of the works on this branch of literature would more than fill an ordinary volume.

A favorite dream of bibliographers has been the production of a general catalogue, embracing the whole range of printed literature; and one attempt at least has been made to realize it. In 1545, Conrad Gesner published at Zurich, in one folio vol., his Bibliotheca Universalis, in which are described, under the names of the authors, arranged alphabetically, all the books in the Hebrew, Greek and Latin languages about which the compiler could obtain information. This restriction as to language, of course, does away to some extent with the idea of univer sality indicated by the title-page; still, as the three which are included were in Gesner's time almost the only ones employed by men of learning, his work may be regarded as a nearly complete account of the state of printed literature as it then existed. One other effort in this direction is the Bibliotheca Britannica of Dr. Robert Watt, four vols. 4to (Edinburgh, 1824). The following is an extract from the preface:The account given of British writers and their works is universal, embracing every description of authors, and every branch of knowledge and literature. What has been admitted of foreign publications, though selective, forms a very considerable and valuable portion

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

of the work, and as none of note have been purposely omitted, the Bibliotheca Britannica may be considered as a universal catalogue of all the authors with which this country is acquainted, whether of its own or of the continent.' This great work was compiled under very adverse circumstances, and its author did not live to see it through the press. It thus labors under all the disadvantages of a posthumous publication; but with all its faults both of omission and commission, which are neither few nor small, it maintains a high character as a work of reference, and is indispensable to the library of every bibliographer.

The other laborers in this field of literature have confined themselves within narrower limits. Some, proceeding upon a principle of selection, endeavor to furnish the inquirer with the information which he seeks in regard to books which are rare, curious, or valuable; others aiming at greater completeness within certain bounds, restrict themselves to the description of a special class of worksthe literature, for example, of a particular country or language; the productions of a celebrated press; the books published within a given period; those of which the authors have withheld their names, or have veiled them under a pseudonym; the treatises on a specific subject; and so on, together with a few which hardly admit of classification, but may be shown by examples.

Bibliographical works on the selective principle form a numerous class; the following are among the more important: Vogt, Catalogus Historico-criticus Librorum Rariorum, 8vo (Francofurti, 1793). This is the fifth edition; the four preceding appeared successively at Hamburg in 1732, '38, '47, '53. David Clement, Bibliothèque Curieuse, ou Catalogue raisonné de Livres difficiles à trouver, 9 vols. 4to (Göttingen, 1750-60). The expression catalogue raisonné is usually, but erroneously, applied in this country to classified catalogues; yet the work of Clement, who was the son of a Frenchman, and certainly understood the language in which he wrote, is arranged alphabetically. It is simply wha: it professes to be, a descriptive and methodized account of the books which it includes; but unfortunately it was never completed. It terminates with the article 'Hesiodus,' and the seven or eight vols. required to finish it have not been published. The Bibliographie Instructive of De Bure, already mentioned, extends to seven vols. 8vo, the last of which appeared 1768. To these should be added the Catalogue des Livres de Gaignat, 2 vols. 8vo (Paris, 1769), and the Table destinée à faciliter la Recherche des Livres Anonymes, 8vo (Paris, 1782). Ebert's Bibliographisches Lexicon, 2 Bde. 4to (Leip. 1821-30), is an accurate and useful work. It has been translated into English, 4 vols. 8vo (Oxford, 1837). Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual contains an account of rare, curious, and useful books, published in or relating to Great Britain, from the invention of printing, and may always be consulted with advantage. It appeared originally in 4 vols. 8vo (Lond. 1834): but a new edition, with many improvements, has since been published (1857-64) in 11 parts or 6 vols..