Background
Robert Aitken was born in 1734 in Dalkeith, Scotland. He was the son of James and Ann Aitken.
(The Holy Bible. As printed by Robert Aitken and approved ...)
The Holy Bible. As printed by Robert Aitken and approved & recommended by the Congress of the United States of America in 1782. Emeral green leather look with gold gilt on spine.
https://www.amazon.com/printed-approved-recommended-Congress-America/dp/B001NBQ16C?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B001NBQ16C
Robert Aitken was born in 1734 in Dalkeith, Scotland. He was the son of James and Ann Aitken.
Aitken appeared in Philadelphia as a bookseller in 1769. He returned to Scotland the same year, but in 1771 he again opened a bookstore in Philadelphia, adding bookbinding, a craft he had learned in Edinburgh, to his business. Two years later he made his first venture as a publisher, issuing Aitken's General American Register, and the Gentleman's and Tradesman's Complete Annual Account Book, and Calendar, for the Pocket or Desk, for the Year of Our Lord, 1773. It must have proved successful, for it was issued again in 1774.
From January 1775 to June 1776, Aitken published the Pennsylvania Magazine, or American Monthly Museum, having Hopkinson, Witherspoon, and Thomas Paine as contributors. For the Pennsylvania Magazine Aitken engraved the title-page vignette, after a design by Pierre E. du Simitiere, and a number of maps, plans, and other illustrations, among them some of the first views ever engraved of military operations of the Revolution.
Aitken's single enterprise of greatest interest was "the Aitken Bible, the first complete English Bible printed in America and bearing an American imprint, and the only one authorized and approved by Congress to this day (June 1902)". Numerous attempts to publish the Bible in America had been made previously, but none were successful. When the outbreak of war stopped the importation from England of the usual supply of Bibles the problem seemed grave enough to be brought before the Government. A memorial was presented to Congress by its chaplain and some others, asking that Congress import suitable types and paper for the production of an American edition of the Bible, or "import 20, 000 Bibles from Holland, Scotland, or elsewhere, into the different parts of the States of the Union", and Congress resolved to direct its committee to make such an importation.
The agitation of the subject encouraged Robert Aitken to issue an edition of the New Testament in 1777, followed by others in 1778, 1779, and 1781. The reception accorded them was such that in 1781 Aitken ventured to undertake the printing of an edition of the entire Bible, and presented a petition to Congress seeking support and sanction. A favorable report by the committee to whom the petition had been referred, and by the chaplains of Congress, whose advice had been sought, resulted in the passage on September 21, 1782, of the desired authorization.
The resolutions appear following the title-page of the Bible, which was issued in 1782, as a small duodecimo, usually bound in two volumes. The venture was not a success financially. In spite of organized encouragement--the Synod of Philadelphia in 1783 voted to buy none but Aitken Bibles for distribution among the poor--Aitken lost more than 3, 000 pounds. By this time, however, he was a printer of repute. Jeremy Belknap, seeking a publisher for his History of New Hampshire, was advised by Ebenezer Hazard that "Robert Aitken has the most taste of a printer of any man in this city; and were I to have a book printed here it should be done by him".
As a result of this and subsequent recommendations Aitken received Belknap's fourteen-year-old son as an apprentice in the autumn of 1783, and in 1784 published the first volume of Belknap's History. In 1783 he contemplated publishing a literary weekly which never materialized.
(The Holy Bible. As printed by Robert Aitken and approved ...)
Aitken was a man of truth, and of an irreproachable character.
Quotes from others about the person
"He was industrious and frugal. His printing was neat and correct. In his dealings he was punctual, and he acquired the respect of those who became acquainted with him. " - Isaiah Thomas
On August 20, 1763 Aitken married Janet Skeoch. After his death Jane Aitken, his daughter, continued his business. She obtained much reputation by the productions which issued from her press.