Printing Type & The "Eliot Bible"
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| Pieces of metal printing type from Colonial Harvard Yard. Photo by Mark Craig. Left to right: PM 2007.20.385, PM 980-3-10/99588, PM 2007.20.705, PM 2007.20.385, PM 2007.20.705, PM 980-3-10/99586, PM 980-3-10/99589, PM 980-3-10/99587. |
The most intriguing objects found in the Harvard Yard excavations were pieces of lead printing type dating back to the 17th century. At first glance, these lead alloy bars may not impress, but they are small pieces of an important story. Each bears the mold of single letter. When arranged in rows, coated with thick ink, and pressed onto paper, they created the first books printed in North America. The fonts, or particular shapes, of some of these letters have been matched to surviving 17th-century products of Harvard's early press.
The "Eliot Bible"
The 1663 "Eliot Bible," is an original volume translated by the missionary John Eliot and his assistants. Its publication date reveals that it was prepared in the Indian College building. The book is a legacy and symbol of religious conversion, literacy education, and complex cultural relationships.
The spread of literacy should not be equated with progress. For Native communities, new skills of reading and writing (their own languages and English) displaced some aspects of oral tradition. The "Eliot Bible" was a destructive force in its time, but today it has been transformed into a positive legacy. It is now used in Algonquian language revitalization programs, such as that for the Wampanoag.
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| Italic l type,17th century, magnified image |
The Letter "L"
During a 1979 excavation in Harvard yard, a piece of printing type bearing a double pica italic "l" was unearthed. This type piece was used to print the preface to The Indian Grammar, a book written by missionary John Eliot in 1666.
The Letter "O"
This printing type, excavated in 1980, is of the letter O. It was used to print the English chapter summaries in the 2nd edition of the Eliot Bible (1685).
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