Making a Bible Enterprise: James Thomson and the British and Foreign Bible Society in British North America, 1838–1842

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
Making a Bible Enterprise: James Thomson and the British and Foreign Bible Society in British North America, 1838–1842
Abstract
The author examines the historical developments of bible distribution in British North America, focusing on the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS), which became the largest distributor of bibles in the world. Strengthening the BFBS's Canadian influence was its agent James Thomson, whose work in British North America between 1838 and 1842 expanded the organization’s reach and ensured an ample supply of bibles in the colonies. Thomson was based out of Montreal and worked closely with the leaders of the Montreal Auxiliary Bible Society there to extend its work throughout Lower Canada. Thomson travelled to Upper Canada in the spring and summer of 1839, working his way to Toronto and a number of townships in that region. He spent the summer and fall of both 1840 and 1841 in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia before returning to Montreal where he spent each winter. The author points out that through the expansion of local Bible Society auxiliaries and the establishment of distribution networks, Thomson laid the foundations for the BFBS’s success in establishing a successful bible enterprise that would dominate the trade in British North America for the rest of the century.
Publication
Mémoires du livre / Studies in Book Culture
Volume
Vol. 6
Issue
no. 2
Date
Spring 2015
Language
en
URL
Citation
Barnard, Stuart. “Making a Bible Enterprise: James Thomson and the British and Foreign Bible Society in British North America, 1838–1842.” Mémoires du livre / Studies in Book Culture Vol. 6, no. 2 (Spring 2015). https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/memoires/2015-v6-n2-memoires02039/1032708ar/.
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