Devotional Literature:
Bibles, Catechisms, and Prayer Books
Given the religious underpinnings of most of the American colonies, the
quantity and variety of religious publishing is hardly surprising. This
section is limited to works which might be used for personal religious
observances: Bibles, catechisms and prayer books. The Hymnals and Tracts
collections are discussed elsewhere in this guidebook. Other types of
devotional works are mainly found in the X100 classification of the
Religion Collection. For all three groupings discussed below, American
imprints published before 1821 are incorporated into the Dated Books and
Dated Pamphlets Collection, and may be accessed as described in that
section.
The Bibles Collection includes 180 linear feet of Bibles published in the
United States between 1821 and 1876. The Foreign Bibles Collection houses
9 linear feet of Bibles published outside the United States, with a strong
emphasis on the productions of American foreign mission presses. Both
these collections are arranged by date of publication. In addition, some
Bibles specifically designed for children are cataloged in the Children's
Literature Collection. The Bibles Collection has been cataloged through
1830 and records are available in the online catalog. Only scattered items
from the Foreign Bibles Collection have been cataloged. There is no
bibliographic access to the remainder of these collections.
There is limited annotation of the Society's Bible holdings in Margaret
T. Hills's The English Bible in America (New York, 1961).
Catechisms, works presenting brief summaries of the basic principles of
Christianity in question-and-answer format, form another collection. The
Catechism Collection at AAS includes approximately 200 catechisms
published in America between 1821 and 1876, including both juvenile and
adult versions. This collection is completely cataloged and accessible
through the online catalog.
Prayer books, collections of prayers intended for individual or family
use, form the final collection discussed here. This collection includes
prayer books published in the United States from 1821 through 1876. Like
the Bibles, the Prayer Books Collection is arranged by date of
publication, and is cataloged online through 1830, with no bibliographic
access to the remainder of the collection.
- Kathleen M. Haley, Cataloger, North American Imprints Program
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"We perish, if we cease from prayer;
O grant us power to pray;
And when to meet thee we prepare,
Lord, meet us by the way."
"On Prayer." From Bickersteth, Edward. The domestic altar (New
York: American Tract Society, 1829?)
For current information on the cataloging status of this and
other AAS collections, choose "Collection Access" below.
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