Biblia Damulica. Veteris Testamenti Pars Prima. Tranquebar: The Danish Missionary Printing Office 1723.
1,-41 4º

Front cover	Title page in Latin	Title page in Tamil	Fol. A1r: Genesis

Danish missionary work in the East Indies (Department of Maps, Prints, and Photographs, Müllers Pinakotek 21, 53 2º)

In the 18th century the Danish colony of Tranquebar on the south-eastern coast of India carried out missionary work. The missionaries needed books. A printing office and a paper mill were established – and types cut in the Tamil alphabet were provided. The Old Testament was translated by the German missionaries Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg and Benjamin Schultze and printed in the years 1720-1728. The first part is shown here. Although it has 1723 on the title page, the printing was completed already in 1720.
This copy is bound in brown leather.

23.5 x 19 cm.

Below the Bible illustrations is seen a print by J.J. Kleinschmidt: Vorstellung der Evangelisch-Ost-Indischen Kirche (c. 1740). The Danish missionary work in the East Indies is illustrated in this symbolic picture. In the background a missionary is preaching the word of God to the natives. In the foreground some books are seen, probably bibles printed at the missionary printing office, and an inscription in the Tamil alphabet. The idea behind the picture is that India, rich in gifts of nature, receives the true gift, the word of God, from Denmark.

Reference (in Danish with English summary): Volmer Rosenkilde, “Det danske Trykkeri i Trankebar 1712-1845”, Bogvennen, New Series, Vol. 4, 1949, pp. 91-113.

© Det Kongelige Bibliotek 2003