Bible Societies

Bible Societies 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 American and Foriegn Bible Society 1830 127470

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.).