新約全集 / ... Scholar's edition of the New Testament in vernacular Japanese from the early Greek manuscripts

[Yokohama]: Yokohama Bible Press / Baptist Press, 1887. 8vo, pp. [2], 1068, [3], 7, [6]; text in Japanese printed by type; 4 hand-colored maps; recent black morocco, gilt title on spine, marbled edges; contemporary signature "Lucy M. Eaton, Yokohama, Dec. 18, 1888" on endpaper, with her pencil annotations on the first 10 pages, text otherwise clean and sound, about fine. The first full translation of the New Testament into Japanese, first published in 1879 and revised a number of times until Brown's death in 1886, at which point his assistant Kawakatsu continued to produce new editions under the supervision of A. A. Bennett. The English title page marks this as the Scholar's edition, and includes an English preface on the Greek sources of this translation, as well as a preliminary section with facsimile fragments of those sources accompanied by translations in Japanese Romaji. The text in the Bible itself is in full hiragana with interlinear text providing Romanized transcription for foreign terms, and Kanji to assist with meaning (added by William John White). The hiragana itself appears to have been modified for the purposes of the translation. A syllabary chart provided includes characters for sounds not native to modern Japanese and not present in most gojiu on charts, for example, unique characters for "Che" and "Di" and separate characters for "Ra..." vs "La..." and "Ha..." vs "Fa..." vs "Va..." The date of the publication is printed 1887 on the Japanese title page, 1885 on the English title page to the introduction, and on the final page of the Bible 1886. Dr. Nathan Brown's first translation of the Bible was into Assamese which he completed in 1848. After returning to the US to do abolitionist work, he was sent to Japan, and engaged in the translation of the New Testament directly from the Greek. His intention was to produce the most accurate and accessible translation possible. He was originally part of the translation committee which included Hepburn, S. R. Brown, and D. C. Greene, but he separated from them and he and Kawakatsu completed their separate translation of the New Testament just three years later. (Kobayashi, "American Missionaries in Yokohama") Although Brown's Bibles were produced in great numbers, it appears there are few recorded institutionally. Harvard and Cambridge hold the first edition, scattered copies of individual books are also listed, Nanzan University has a 1894 edition, but we have found no records for an edition of 1885, 6, or 7. Darlow and Moule 5755 for the first edition. (Inventory #: 68729)