1889

Mrs. Harold Warren Knight of Charleston, W. Va., rather recently became the greatgrandmother of two more children. Kimberly Anne Willis was born on September 11, 1957, in Jacksonville, Fla. to James Sturgis Willis Jr. and Ruth (Lawton) Willis, and, on October 20, 1957, Ellen Morse Knight was born in Costa Mesa, Calif., to Harold Warren III and Nancy (Morse) Knight. For further data on Knight and Willis families see '89's Notes in December 1956 issue.

It was recently announced that a "Breeches Bible," once owned by John Alden of the Plymouth Colony, has been given to Baker Library by John Alden Thayer of the Class of '18. John Alden came to New England in the first vessel which landed at Plymouth in 1620, bringing this Bible with him. Later he gave the Bible to his granddaughter, Sarah Bass Thayer. It had been in the Thayer family ever since. Mr. Thayer felt it fitting that the Bible should remain in New England on account of its historical background, and he chose Baker Library because his father, the late Henry B. Thayer '79, Dartmouth Trustee and President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, was instrumental in influencing George F. Baker to provide endowment and construction funds for the Library. The "Breeches Bible" got its name from a translation of the part in Genesis that says Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together and "made them into breeches." The later King James Version calls their dress "Aprons."

Another "Breeches Bible" was brought to America by Richard Bartlett when he came from Sussex, England, and settled in Newbury, Mass., in 1635, spelling his name "Bartlett." He was a son of Edmund Barttelot, who owned a landed estate in Ernley, Sussex, England, and was a direct descendant of Adam Barttelot, a Norman, the esquire of Brian, a Norman Knight, both officers in the Army of William the Conqueror, who came over to England with William the Conqueror from Normandy, France, and fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Descendants of Richard Bartlett have been associated with Dartmouth College from its early existence to the present time. While President of Dartmouth College, Samuel Colcord Bartlett, eighth generation in direct decent from Richard Bartlett, was the owner of the "Breeches Bible" Richard Bartlett brought to America. Later it came into the possession of the widow of his son, Rev. William A. Bartlett '82, who lived in Brookline, Mass. She loaned the Bible to me for examination and photographing, as I then was contem- plating writing a sketch about the Bible for publication. My first step was to take the Bible to Zoltan Haraszti, distinguished Hungarian litterateur, in charge of the Department of Rare Books in the Boston Public Library, to get from him the information I should have regarding the Bible and its value. He informed me it was a Geneva Version, that only the title pages were missing, and that its chief value was of a sentimental nature which is difficult to estimate. The colophon of the New Testament read: "Imprinted at London by Robert Barker, Printer to the King's most Excellent Majestie, 1611." It had The Whole Booke of Psalmes collected into English meter by Thomas Sternehold, John Hopkins and others, and was printed in London for the Company of Stationers, 1610. On the margin of one of the pages is written: "Richard Bartlett bought this book Anno Domini 1612." On a blank page at the end of the Prayer Book there is written, in the same handwriting as above, "I, Richard Bartlett, writ this for the age of my children." Then follows, in the same handwriting, the names and birth dates of his children, giving hour of birth.

Secretary, Treasurer and BequestChairman, 108 Mt. Vernon St., Boston 8, Mass.