Julia Evelina Smith (1792-1886) lived in Glastonbury, Connecticut. She was a member of the Sandemanians (a restorationist sect in the Church of Scotland) and a worker for women's suffrage. Smith was a follower of William Miller who predicted the end of the world in 1842. When the end did not happen, Smith attributed the failure of Miller’s prophecies to inadequate translation of the Bible. She resolved to correct the problem by preparing an extremely literal version of the Bible. In 1876, in celebration of the American Centennial, Smith and her sister published her translation of the Bible. It is the only complete translation of the Bible translated completely by a woman.
For more information on Julia Smith, see the article in Bible Review Vol. 14, No. 2., More Than Any Man Has Ever Done by Emily Walter Sampson.
For sample verses of the translation by Julia E. Smith, click here
Title: The | Holy Bible: | Containing the | Old and New Testaments; | Translated Literally From The Original Tongues. | Hartford, Conn.: | American Publishing Company. | 1876.
Date: 1876
Publisher: American Publishing Company: Hartford, CT
Contents: Bible
References: Herbert 2002, Hills 1918, Chamberlin 28-2, Taliaferro-BVE CN00245, Taliaferro-EELBV 7545.
Images: Cover, Title page
Location: A copy of Julia Smith's Bible may be found at the Houston Baptist University
Comments: Julia Smith was the first woman to translate the entire Bible alone into English. Images of several pages from Julia Smith's Bible may be found at the Harvard Library exhibit. According the Hills, only 1,000 copies were produced so these are very rare today.
In late 2010, two copies were available for sale on abebooks. One was offered at $6,600 and the other at $8,500.
On October 12, 2009 there are 2 available on Ebay, one is listed at $8500.00. The second had a starting bid of $1200.00 and sold for $1,550.00.
A copy inscribed by Julia Smith sold at the Swann Auction Galleries auction devoted to Printed & Manuscript Americana for $3,360 on September 17, 2009.
Facsimile: A PDF facsimile is available at books.google.com
Facsimile: A PDF facsimile is also available at archive.org
