American Bibles
“The Gun-Wad Bible”
“The Gun-Wad Bible”
BIB.001544
Bible - Printed Book
1776
United States
German
Printed on Paper
10.5 × 8.7 × 4.1 in. (26.7 × 22.1 × 10.3 cm)
Not on View
“The Gun-Wad Bible” was printed in 1776 by Christoph Saur Jr., a printer in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Saur’s father, Christoph Saur Sr., had established the press in 1738 and published what would become known as the Saur Bible in 1743, the first Bible printed in a European language in North America. Saur Jr. would print a second edition in 1763 and a third edition in 1776. Published at the start of the American Revolution, this third edition gained the nickname “Gun-Wad Bible” because of a legend, now mostly discredited, that unbound pages were used to make cartridge paper during the Battle of Germantown on October 4, 1777.
Printed in 1776 by Christoph Saur Jr., Germantown, Pennsylvania. Acquired by 1831 by Abraham Overholzen, unknown location.[1] Acquired by 2010 by Gene Albert (Christian Heritage Museum), Hagerstown, Maryland; Privately purchased in 2010 by Green Collection, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Donated in 2016 to National Christian Foundation (later The Signatry), under the curatorial care of Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC.
Notes: [1] Abraham Overholzen’s name and some of his family history are inscribed on the front pastedown.
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