Andrus Editions
Silas Andrus, a bookbinder and bookseller in Hartford, Connecticut, branched out into book publishing in 1820. Andrus specialized in uncopyrighted books, such as older histories. He first published a Bible in 1824, launching three decades of Andrus editions. Andrus produced the first folio (large size) stereotyped American Bible—that is, the first of that size printed with plates cast from plaster of paris forms—in 1829.
There are almost 90 distinct Andrus Bible editions from 1824 to 1853. This relatively late 1849 edition is credited to Silas Andrus and Son. Early Andrus editions use the names Silas Andrus or S. Andrus, then Andrus & Judd, and then Andrus, Judd & Franklin, reflecting successive partnerships. In 1839, the firm went bankrupt. Andrus editions appeared under the new names of Silas Andrus and Son, S. Andrus & Son, and William Andrus until the early 1850s.
By comparison with other nineteenth-century King James Bibles, this one has only a moderate number of additional features. It includes the widely accepted Canne’s notes on the Bible, tables of biblical weights, measures, and coins, an index, and the books of the Apocrypha—treated here as, in effect, another supplement to the Bible.
Bible. English. Authorized. Hartford: Silas Andrus and Son, 1849. Stereotyped by James Conner. Library of Congress.
