NATIVE
AMERICANA
NATIVE
AMERICANA
A Composite New Testament in
CHEROKEE 
Bible. N.T. Cherokee. Worcester & Boudinot. [Composite New Testament, as below]. Park Hill: Mission Press, 1842–59. 12mo (13 cm; 5"). Various paginations.
Click the images for enlargements. 
Creating composite New Testaments composed of mixed editions of the separately published Gospels and other books of the New Testament in Cherokee was a common practice at the Park Hill Mission Press in the middle of the 19th century. The main translators were Samuel A. Worcester, a medical missionary, and Elias Boudinot, a Cherokee who had been educated at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut. His name at birth was Galagina, but at the school he adopted the name of its chief benefactor. Evan Jones was a Welsh-born missionary who spent 50 years among the Cherokee; John B. Jones was his son and was educated at the University of Rochester and then worked with his father as a missionary among the Cherokee until his death in 1876. The Rev. Stephen Foreman was a Cherokee Presbyterian minister and politician, born in Georgia in 1807, the son of John Anthony Foreman, of Scotch descent, and his Cherokee wife Wattie. He attended Union Theological Seminary in Virginia and Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey.
The first complete New Testament came from the press of the American Bible Society with a publication date of 1860, but it seems not to have really been published until 1862.
Present are 13 separately published works containing 23 books of the N.T. in Cherokee using Sequoyah's syllabary (generally called the “Cherokee alphabet”) and printed at the famous Park Hill mission press. Absent from the present offering are Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, and Jude only. The first three of these were printed as a unit, while Jude was a stand-alone.
There is one illustration, a crucifixion, in John.
This is the most complete composite N.T. in Cherokee that we have ever had in our more than a quarter century dealing in American Indian language materials and Bibles.
• Matthew: Pilling, Proof-sheets, 4224; Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Cherokee-7; not in Darlow & Moule. Mark: Not in Pilling, Proof-sheets (no edition listed); not in Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, (1850 edition listed); not in Darlow & Moule (1858 edition listed). Luke: Not in Pilling, Proof-sheets (no edition listed); not in Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Cherokee-9; not in Darlow & Moule 2439. John: Pilling, Proof-sheets, 4228; Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Cherokee-10; not in Darlow & Moule (1838 edition listed). Acts: Pilling, Proof-sheets, 4230; Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Cherokee-7; not in Darlow & Moule. Romans: Not in Pilling, Proof-sheets; not in Newberry Library, Ayer Indians; not in Darlow & Moule 2446(?). Corinthians: Not in Pilling, Proof-sheets; not in Newberry Library, Ayer Indians; Darlow & Moule 2445. Philippians: Not in Pilling, Proof-sheets; not in Newberry Library, Ayer Indians; Darlow & Moule 2447 (?). Epistles of Paul: Pilling, Proof-sheets, 1214; Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Cherokee-15; not in Darlow & Moule. Also see North & Nida, Book of a Thousand Tongues (1972), 215 for the publication of the various books of the Bible. Modern black morocco, covers diced and blind-tooled, spine with gilt ruling/beading and a neat gilt spine-label. Most of the Bible parts are browned and more than a few have waterstains. Despite these not uncommon faults we are proud to offer this volume, for we know just how scarce an item it is. (25891)
A New Testament in
CHIPPEWA Bible. N.T. Ojibway. O'Meara. 1854. Ewh oowahweendahmahgawin owh tabanemenung Jesus Christ, keahnekuhnootuhbeegahdag anwamand egewh ahneshenahbag Ojibway anindjig. Toronto: Henry Rowsell, 1854. 8vo (20.5 cm; 8"). 766 pp.
Click the images for enlargements. • Pilling, Proof-sheets, 2830 (who lists it as by James rather than Frederick O'Meara); Newberry Library, Ayer Collection, Chippewa-32; Darlow & Moule 3034; Evans, Masinahikan, 570. Recent black moiré cloth, spine with burgundy gilt-stamped leather title and publication labels. Soiling variously and mostly lightly, throughout, mostly to edges and corners; upper outer corner of initial blank repaired some time ago and some leaves at center with tip of lower outer corner chipped (nibbled) away; a few central leaves creased. A copy not “fresh,” but still worthy. (21121)
Micmac
MatthewBible.
N.T. Matthew. Micmac. 1871. Rand. Pela kesagunoodumumkawa tan tula
uksakumamenoo westowooklw' sasoogoole clistawti cotenink, Did Megumoweesimk.
Chebootook: Megumagea' Ledakun-Weekugukemkawa Moweome, 1871. 12mo. 126 pp.
The 1870s saw major efforts at revision: Matthew and John were the first
to be revised. Printed at Halifax, Nova Scotia, they have a pronunciation
guide printed on the verso of their title-pages. We are proud to offer "Matthew"
in this new version, which Darlow and Moule state is a revised edition of No.
6781, published in 1853.
• Pilling, Algonquian, p. 420; Banks, p. 95; Evans 521; Darlow & Moule 6788. Not in Newberry Library, Indian Linguistics in the Edward E. Ayer Collection. Contemporary black cloth in imitation of pebbled morocco. Binding lightly spotted. Overall an impressively good copy.
First CHEYENNE N.T. 
The Cheyenne Translators Have BEAUTIFUL NAMES Bible. N.T. Cheyenne. 1934. Zemona hoemao maheon-hoestomohestova: zeenano ninitaehaman na nivostanevstomanehaman Jesus Maheonxostaanas. [New York: American Bible Society], 1934. 12mo (18.5 cm; 7.375"). [1] f., ii pp., [1] f., 666 pp.
Click the images for enlargements. This is the first New Testament in the language. The translator was Rodolphe Charles Petter(1865–1947), a Mennonite missionary, assisted by Anna Wolfname, Susie Woundedyeyes, Chief Standingelk, and other Indian informants. The verso of the title-page reads: “The New Testament in Cheyenne, translated by Rev. Rodolphe Petter, D.D. from the Greek, with careful comparison with the Latin Vulgate, and other versions.”
• North & Nida, Book of a Thousand Tongues (1972), 216. Publisher's black fabrikoid in very good condition, with title gilt on cover. Endpapers, title-page, and some other leaves with smoke-smudges to top and/or fore-portions; preface leaf separated but present. All edges red with top ones darkened. (25292)
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