Saur German Bibles
1743, 1763, 1776
Facsimiles
When the colonies in North America were still under the authority of the British Crown, they were forbidden to print English Bibles. The British Crown restricted English Bibles to King James Bibles printed only by the Oxford and Cambridge University Presses, although they were ambivalent to the publishing of Bibles in other languages.
Christopher Saur (1738-1784) owned a foundry in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Previous editions of the German Bible had been printed by his father in 1743 and 1763. These editions, of about 1200 copies each, were printed with type purchased from Germany and transported to America. The first edition was the first foreign language bible printed in America. The second edition of 1763 was the first bible printed in America on American made paper. The third edition of the Biblia Das ist Die Ganze Gottliche Heilige Schrift, nach der Deutschen Uberseizung Dr. Martin Luthers was published in 1776 using a Fraktur (German style of Gothic or Black letter) type cast in Saur’s foundry. The leaves for 3000 copies of this edition were printed, but only a few copies were bound.
During the Revolutionary War, at the Battle of Germantown (October, 1777), British troops overtook Germantown and Christopher Saur fled, leaving piles of printed Bible pages. Legend has it that the British troops stabled their horses in Saur’s foundry, and proceeded to use the pages of his German Bible as “gun-wad” to stuff the powder into their muskets. An alternative story indicates that American John Dunlap, printer of the Declaration of Independence, purchased the bible leaves for use as gun-wad in the muskets of the colonists. Whether either, or both, of these traditions is accurate is debatable, but this printing of the German Bible became known as the “Gun-wad Bible.”
Christopher Saur (1738-1784) owned a foundry in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Previous editions of the German Bible had been printed by his father in 1743 and 1763. These editions, of about 1200 copies each, were printed with type purchased from Germany and transported to America. The first edition was the first foreign language bible printed in America. The second edition of 1763 was the first bible printed in America on American made paper. The third edition of the Biblia Das ist Die Ganze Gottliche Heilige Schrift, nach der Deutschen Uberseizung Dr. Martin Luthers was published in 1776 using a Fraktur (German style of Gothic or Black letter) type cast in Saur’s foundry. The leaves for 3000 copies of this edition were printed, but only a few copies were bound.
During the Revolutionary War, at the Battle of Germantown (October, 1777), British troops overtook Germantown and Christopher Saur fled, leaving piles of printed Bible pages. Legend has it that the British troops stabled their horses in Saur’s foundry, and proceeded to use the pages of his German Bible as “gun-wad” to stuff the powder into their muskets. An alternative story indicates that American John Dunlap, printer of the Declaration of Independence, purchased the bible leaves for use as gun-wad in the muskets of the colonists. Whether either, or both, of these traditions is accurate is debatable, but this printing of the German Bible became known as the “Gun-wad Bible.”
