the Third Week of Advent
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Encyclopedias
Bible Societies
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or 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 | 1830 | 127470 |
| American and Foriegn Bible Society | 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.).
These files are public domain.
McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Bible Societies'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/b/bible-societies.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
