Religion: 38 Million Bibles

This week, in its own handsome six-story office building on Manhattan's Park Avenue, a publishing house with only one book on its list holds its annual meeting. The meeting celebrates an important milestone for the organization — it is the 135th anniversary of the American Bible Society.

On May 8, 1816, a number of Christian leaders met in Manhattan's Garden Street Dutch Reformed Church to discuss the country's need for Bibles. Novelist James Fenimore Cooper was among them; so was Preacher Lyman Beecher. Then & there, the American Bible Society was founded. Elias Boudinot of New Jersey, a onetime president of the Continental Congress, was its first president; its vice president was John Jay, first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In its 135 years, announced the American Bible Society, it has distributed 38,552,554 complete Bibles and 367,869,450 New Testaments and portions of the Bible. Supported by private contributions and grants from the major Protestant denominations, it has published the Scriptures in more than 200 languages and dialects and distributed them over five continents and more than 40 nations. Total for 1950: 711,221 complete Bibles, 10,345,357 Testaments and portions.

At its 147th annual meeting in London last week, the British and Foreign Bible Society reported that 1950 had been a record year for the Scriptures. Complete Bibles published: 1,357,749. Testaments and portions: 1,881,651.