Bible Societies

From BiblePortal Wikipedia

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [1]

By way of supplement, we give the present status of existing Bible societies according to the latest returns:

1. The number of Bible societies connected with the British and Foreign Bible Society was in 1890

In Great Britain and Ireland auxiliaries, 1113; branches, 446; associations, 5417 total, 6976.

In Europe and the Colonies auxiliaries, 110; branches, 1220 total, 1330.

The Societies' Foreign Agencies, with the amount of their issues, are chronologically arranged as follows:

Name of Agency

Date of Formation

Copies:

Depot in Paris

1820

7, 963, 629

St. Petersburg

1828

5, 033, 170

Frankfort

1830

Cologne

1847

13, 820, 801

Berlin

1853

Stockholm

1832

2, 943, 899

Norway

1832.

781, 926

Brussels

1835

800, 571

Amsterdam

1843

1, 363, 296

Copenhagen

1855

840, 751

Rome, Leghorn, etc

1860

1, 575, 694

Lisbon

1864

165, 486

Madrid

1868

1, 231, 393

Venice

1880

3, 491, 949

Total

40, 012, 265

The Societies in British India directly connected with the British and

Foreign Bible Society, with their issues, are as follows: Bible Society Date of Formation Copies

Calentta

1811

231390

Colombo

1812

145630

Bombay

1813

650316

Madras

1820

3869460

Jaffna

1835

181029

North India

1845

706366

Punjab at Lahore

 ?

339729

Bangalore

 ?

120613

Sermapore Mission

 ?

200000

Total

8534533

2. The Foreign Societies engaged in distributing the Holy Scriptures are the following:

A. Europe

Name of Bible Society

Date of Formation

Copies

Basle Bible Society

1804

777,512

Prussian Bible Society at Berlin

1805

5,239,258

Swedish Bible Society

1809

1,055,507

Finnish Bible Society at Abo

1812

239,273

Wurtemberg Bible Society

1812

1,779,116

Zurich Bible Society

1812

82,972

Russian Bible Soc. at St. Petersburg

1812

861,105

Berg Bible Society at Elberfeld

1813

847,359

St. Gall Bible Society

1813

77,660

Coire Bible Society

1813

12,267

Schaffhansen Bible Society

1813

30,077

Geneva Bible Society

1814

147,232

Lausanne Bible Society

1814

226,667

Saxon Bible Society

1814

745,066

Hanover Bible Society

1814

137,008

Hamburg-Altona Bible Society

1814

184,287

Lubeck Bible Society

1814

30,083

Danish Bible Society

1814

376,950

Strasburg Bible Society

1815

119,214

Icelandic Bible Society

1815

10,445

Netherlands Bible Society

1815

1,728,227

Schleswig-Holstein Bible Society

1815

183,911

Bremen Bible Society

1815

80,637

Brunswick Bible Society

1815

6,312

Aargovian Bible Society

1815

48,229

Waldensian Bible Society at La Tour

1816

4,238

Neufchatel Bible Society

1816

37,043

Frankfort Bible Society

1816

75,000

Lippe-Detmold Bible Society

1816

37,199

Lauenberg-Raizeburg Bible Society

1816

29,319

Rostock Bible Society

1816

19,408

Norwegian Bible Society

1816

457,188

Entin Bible Society

1817

15,000

Waldeck and Pyrmont Bible Society

1817

2,800

Hesse-Darmstadt Bible Society

1817

31,484

Eisenach B.C.

1818

15,081

Hanau

1818

3,316

Hesse-Cassel

1818

30,000

Protestant Bible Society at Paris

1818

575,074

Glarus Bible Society

1819

5,000

Ionian B.C.

1819

7,377

Baden B.C.

1820

83,759

Bavarian Prot. Bible Ins. At Nuremburg

1821

376,119

Anhalt-Bernburg Bible Society

1821

4,786

Weimar Bible Society

1821

7,236

Marburg Bible Society

1825

23,544

Russian Protestant Bible Society

1826

865,823

Stavanger Bible Society

1828

7,017

French and Foreign Bible Society at Paris

1833

750,000

Belgian and Foreign Bible Society

1834

7,623

Autwerp Bible Society

1834

439

Ghent Bible Society

1834

8,980

Anhalt-Dessau Bible Society

1836

27,899

Belgian Bible Society

1839

14,909

Leipsic Bible Society

1840

34,942

Bible Society of France

1864

217,459

Total

19,059,076

'''B. America'''

Name of Bible Society

Date

Copies

Pennsylvania

1808

3763371

American

1817

49829563

Bible Assoc. of Friends in America

1830

127470

American and Foriegn Bible Society

1837

786696

American Bible Union

1850

603184

Total

55110284

The British and Foreign Bible Society has promoted the translation, printing, or distribution of the whole or part of the bible, directly in 225 languages or dialects, indirectly in 65 ditto total, 290.

At present there exist about 364 versions of the Bible; more than four fifths of this number have been prepared since 1804. See, besides the annual reports of the different Bible societies, also the art. "Bible, Propagation de la," in Lichtenberger's.Encyclopedie des Sciences Religieuses; Reed, The Bible Work of the World (Lond. 1879); Bible of Every Land (ibid. 1860). (B.P.).

References