616 BIBLE SOCIETIES were $689,923 47, and its volumes issued (Bibles or parts of Bibles) were 1,100,871. For the whole 56 years, its total receipts were $14,980,331 15, and its whole number of vol- umes issued was 28,780,969. The receipts for the second year were the least of all, $36,- 564 30 ; and those for the 54th year, $747,- 058 69, the largest. The number of volumes issued the first year, 6,410, was the smallest, and that of the 49th year, 1,830,756, the largest. For 25 years the society was unincorporated ; but the legislature of New York granted an act of incorporation March 25, 1841, and by act of April 13, 1852, granted special authority to purchase, hold, and convey its real estate on Astor place, with all buildings and improve- ments that might be put upon it. The society, having previously occupied various rooms for its business, erected in 1822 a building, 50 ft. front by 100 deep, long known as 115 Nassau street, and occupied it, with an addition made subsequently, till 1853. The society needing more room, the cornerstone of the " Bible House" in Astor place was laid June 29, 1852, and the new building was occupied in the early part of 1853. The edifice and ground cost about $300,000. The building covers a square of about three fourths of an acre, fronting on four streets, with an open court in the centre, is six stories high, built of brick with freestone copings, and commands attention by its magnitude and proportions. In 1847 the managers of the American Bible society found that their Bibles and those of England had many small discrepancies which embarrassed the proof-readers. A thorough collation was therefore made by the Rev. James W. McLane, D. D., under the direction of the committee on versions, of the society's royal octavo Bible, with four leading British editions (London, Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh), and the edition of 1611. This collation, which was finished May 1, 1851, ex- tended to all the details of typography, in- cluding orthography, capital letters, words in italics, punctuation, brackets, hyphens, &c. ; and though the number of variations or dis- crepancies noted in the text and punctuation of the six copies compared fell but little short of 24,000, not one of the entire number marred the integrity of the text, or affected any doc- trine or precept of the Bible. In reducing these variations to one uniform standard, the committee made a few changes, which they considered typographical corrections of the text, and also modernized somewhat the chap- ter headings and other accessories of the text ; but, as this part of their work gave dissatisfac- tion in some quarters, the managers concluded, in January, 1858, so far to modify the new standard as to omit every alteration which had not the sanction of previous editions. This was accordingly done in 1858-'60, and the vol- umes now published by the society are consid- ered remarkably free from errors of the press, and are conformed as nearly as possible to the best editions which have been in circulation for generations. The society does not publish the Apocrypha. Its managers are 36 laymen, belonging in 1871 to seven different denomina- tions ; and any minister of the gospel who is a member of the society may meet and vote with its board of managers. It sells and dis- tributes its books in this country, as far as possible, through its auxiliary societies, which (1873) number about 2,000, with probably 5,000 or more branch organizations connected with them. At the 50th annual meeting in May, 18C6, the society resolved to undertake without delay a third general supply of the whole country (the two previous being in 1829 and 1856), and this undertaking has been vigor- ously prosecuted with the intention of supply- ing the Bible to every family willing to receive it. The society also aids other benevolent in- stitutions by making grants of money or books for use at home or abroad, or furnishing stere- otype plates or other assistance. It has three agencies of its own and about 55 colporteurs in foreign lands ; it has for many years offered the aid requisite to publish new translations made by American missionaries of the Old Testament or the New, or any entire Gospel or other book of the Bible ; it has printed the Bible, or portions of it, in about 27 new trans- lations, besides publishing, at home or abroad, about 28 others ; it has prepared and published the entire Bible in raised letters for the blind (8 folio volumes costing $20, or 16 folio vol- umes costing $28) ; and it publishes accounts of its doings in its annual reports and monthly in the " Bible Society Record." The " American and Foreign Bible Society " was organized in New York May 13, 1836, and was incorporated by the legislature of New York April 12, 1848. It originated in a secession of the Baptists from the American Bible society, after the latter society refused aid to the Bengalee and Bur- mese versions made by Baptist missionaries, because in these versions the Greek word ftatrTi^a and its cognates were translated "immerse," " immersion, "&c. The Rev. Spencer H. Cone, D. D., who had been a secretary of the Ameri- can Bible society, was the first president of the American and Foreign Bible society, and the Rev. Charles G. Sommers, D. D., its first corresponding secretary. The constitutions of the two societies are nearly alike, except that the managers of the latter are required to be Baptists. The society has primarily aided the missionaries of the American Baptist missionary union and kindred societies in translating, re- vising, printing, and distributing the Scriptures in foreign lands, its surplus funds being applied, at the discretion of the managers, to Bible operations in all lands. It has employed Bible readers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, China, Greece, &c. It publishes and circulates in this coun- j try the commonly received or King James's version. In 36 years it has collected and ex- | pended more than $1,100,000 in Bible circula-
