THE STUYVESANT FAMILY BIBLE By Major Edward Van Winkle Formerly Recording Secretary of the Holland Society of New York Family Bibles containing records and dates and signatures are always of interest to particular families; when the people recorded in them are of importance, they interest others as well, for their contributions to genealogy and history; and when the Bibles are rare editions, they become a study for bibliographers. The Stuyvesant Family Bible here pictured and described exemplifies to an unusual degree this three-fold interest. The writer, used to the frequent sights of our most ancient treasures, and trained by service to seek them, views this book as the most fascinating in history of ownership of any book yet found, connected with New Amsterdam. He acquired it in Summit, New Jersey, where, on Saturday, June 27, 1933, it was sold with the personal effects of William Oakley Raymond at public auction. During his researches, since the Stuyvesant Bible came into his possession, the writer has corresponded about it with more than one hundred and fifty librarians and Bible collectors. This Stuyvesant Bible is known officially as the Leiden 1636—37 Bible. It is folio size, measuring ten by sixteen by five inches, and weighs approximately thirteen pounds. It shows unmistakable signs of long and severe use. Several pages in the front of the book are altogether or partly missing, including the title page; and several pages in the back of the volume are missing or torn. It is the first edition of the version authorized by the States General, which became the standard Bible of the Dutch Reformed Church, corresponding to Luther's version in Germany, and the King James Bible in England. Even the Remonstrants, the bitter theological opponents of the translators, after a careful official examination of the version, adopted it for their own use. The Synod of Dort (Dordrecht), in 1618-19, resolved to prepare a new Dutch version of the Scriptures from the original languages, and laid down the rules for the work.1 Six translators 1 N. Henlopins, Historie van de Nederlandsche Overzettenge des Bybels, 1777. 3