1761 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Press Publishes the First Children's Bible in America. Riviere Binding!

An exceptionally rare work, the present is the first Children's Bible published in America, and issued by Benjamin Mecom, nephew to Benjamin Franklin. Mecom himself was apprenticed under Franklin, but struggled with business and with mental illness. It is recorded that he worked the press in full powdered wig and ruffles and was the "queerest" of the printers in Boston. 

The present work was conceived in 1757 and apparently ready for press in 1758, but we find no trace of institutionally or at auction. We can only assume it was delayed. By 1762, he was out of business in Boston. He ended up being institutionalized for mental illness. It is a shame, because he was a very capable printer, very much in the crisp, open style of Franklin himself. But a businessman he was not. 

No other copies on the market, and this a beautiful example, bound perhaps late 19th century by Riviere in blotted calf, and from the collection of renowned book collector, Harry L. Dalton. 

The New-England Psalter: Or, Psalms of David: with the Proverbs of Solomon, and Christ's Sermon on the Mount. Being an Introduction for the Training Up of Children in the Reading of the Holy Scriptures. Boston: Printed (by B. Mecom) for Thomas and John Fleet, at the Heart & Crown in Cornhill. 1761. 

Bound in a very fine blotted calf binding by Riviere & Son with only the slightest wear. The exterior does a fair job at retaining something minimal like an 18th century American binding. Riviere cannot resist their elaborate tooled dentils though. Stamped from Dalton. The title a bit handled. One section of leaves near the end bound short, probably cut short at the gutter by Riviere and thus recessed a bit in the binding with minor losses at foredge. 

This copy retains the Nicene Creed, paginated separately at the end. Textually complete.