''A Curious Hieroglyphic Bible'' is an early American children's book. Published in by Isaiah Thomas in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

in 1788, it is a

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

partially in

rebus A rebus () is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+ ...

form (some words replaced by pictures). It is not to be confused with a similar work of the same name published in 1784 in London by Thomas Hodgson. The book, of which only four remaining copies are known to exist, contains almost 500 woodcuts. This was the first American rebus bible, a popular form in the late 18th century for introducing children to bible reading. The book was one of 88 books included in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

's 2012 exhibition "Books That Shaped America".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curious Hieroglyphic Bible 1788 non-fiction books 1780s children's books 18th-century Christian texts Bibles for children History of Worcester, Massachusetts Illustrated books
Digital copy @ World Digital Library