1810 JOSHUA MARSHMAN. ALS Fragment - William Carey's Book is Now at the Press. Serampore Missionaries.

A signifianct manuscript fragment capturing the daily, working operations of the famous Serampore Mission Press in Bengal, India.

Joshua Marshman and William Carey, along with printer William Ward, formed the legendary "Serampore Trio," a close-knit partnership that pioneered modern Protestant missions, oriental scholarship, and linguistics in South Asia. Within this collaborative triad, Carey served as the primary translator of the Bible and Indian linguistic texts, while Marshman managed the mission's educational work, mastered Chinese translation, and oversaw the physical production, proofing, and distribution alongside Ward at their press.

Marshman's note reporting that a work of Carey's has gone to press and that he is expecting probably proofs by Saturday directly demonstrates their intense, synchronized workflow. The three operated as an integrated editorial team where Carey’s draft translations and grammatical works were immediately funneled to Marshman and Ward for printing, proofing, and immediate distribution. A manuscript witnessing Marshman actively handling the production timeline of Carey's scholarship captures the exact engine of the Serampore Press, which printed tens of thousands of Scripture portions, dictionaries, and grammars across dozens of Asian languages during the early nineteenth century.

Though only a fragment, we're delighted to see it and happy that it contains the little William Carey name drop as well. A very nice single-sided example for framing or display.