''The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden'' (1926) is a collection of 17th-century and 18th-century English translations of some

Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Pseudepigrapha are falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past.Bauckham, Richard; "Pseudo-Apostolic Letters", ''Journal of Biblical Literature'', V ...

and

New Testament apocrypha The New Testament apocrypha (singular apocryphon) are a number of writings by early Christians that give accounts of Jesus and his teachings, the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives. Some of these writings were cite ...

, some of which were assembled in the 1820s, and then republished with the current title in 1926.

History of the translations

Rutherford Hayes Platt, in the preface to his 1964 reprint of ''The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden'' states: :"First issued in 1926, this is the most popular collection of apocryphal and pseudepigraphal literature ever published." The translations were first published, under this title, by an unknown editor in ''The Lost Books of the Bible'' Cleveland 1926, but the translations had previously been published many times. The book is, essentially, a combined reprint of earlier works. The first half, ''Lost Books of the Bible'', is an unimproved reprint of a book published by

William Hone William Hone (3 June 1780 – 8 November 1842) was an English writer, satirist and bookseller. His victorious court battle against government censorship in 1817 marked a turning point in the fight for British press freedom. Biography Ho ...

in 1820, titled ''The Apocryphal New Testament'', itself a reprint of a translation of the

Apostolic Fathers The Apostolic Fathers, also known as the Ante-Nicene Fathers, were core Christian theologians among the Church Fathers who lived in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD who are believed to have personally known some of the Twelve Apostles or to have ...

done in 1693 by

William Wake William Wake (26 January 165724 January 1737) was a priest in the Church of England and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1716 until his death in 1737. Life Wake was born in Blandford Forum, Dorset, and educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He took ...

, who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury, and a smattering of medieval embellishments on the New Testament, from a book by Jeremiah Jones (1693–1724), posthumously published in 1736. In the three centuries since these were originally published, a great deal more is known about the

(including a good deal of the original text that was not available in 1693) and New Testament apocrypha. The second half of the book, ''The Forgotten Books of Eden'', includes a translation originally published in 1882 of the "First and Second Books of Adam and Eve", translated first from ancient Ethiopic to German by Ernest Trumpp and then into English by

Solomon Caesar Malan Solomon Caesar Malan (22 April 1812 – 25 November 1894) D.D., Vicar of Broadwindsor, Prebendary of Sarum, was a British divine, polyglot and well known orientalist whose fluency in language was legendary: English, French, Sanskrit, Arabic, ...

, and a number of items of Old Testament pseudepigrapha, such as reprinted in the second volume of R.H. Charles's ''Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament'' (Oxford, 1913). More modern translations of these works include J. H. Charlesworth, ed. ''Old Testament Pseudepigrapha''; W. Schneemelcher, ed. ''New Testament Apocrypha''; and

M. R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambrid ...

, ''The Apocryphal New Testament''.

Past of ''The Lost Books of the Bible''

♦ = attributed to the

* The Protevangelion * The Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ * The

Infancy Gospel of Thomas The ''Infancy Gospel of Thomas'' is a biographical gospel about the childhood of Jesus, believed to date at the latest to the second century. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas is generally considered to be Gnostic in origin because of references ...

* The Epistles of Jesus Christ and Abgarus King of Edessa * The

Gospel of Nicodemus Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

(Acts of Pilate) * The

Apostles' Creed The Apostles' Creed (Latin: ''Symbolum Apostolorum'' or ''Symbolum Apostolicum''), sometimes titled the Apostolic Creed or the Symbol of the Apostles, is a Christian creed or "symbol of faith". The creed most likely originated in 5th-century ...

(throughout history) * The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Laodiceans * The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to Seneca, with Seneca's to Paul * The

Acts of Paul and Thecla The ''Acts of Paul and Thecla'' (''Acta Pauli et Theclae'') is an apocryphal story– Edgar J. Goodspeed called it a " religious romance"–of Paul the Apostle's influence on a young virgin named Thecla. It is one of the writings of the New Test ...

*♦ The

Epistles of Clement The Epistles of Clement are two letters ascribed to Clement of Rome ( fl. 96): * First Epistle of Clement; * Second Epistle of Clement The Second Epistle of Clement ( grc, Κλήμεντος πρὸς Κορινθίους, Klēmentos pros Korinth ...

(The First and Second Epistles of Clement to the Corinthians) *♦ The

Epistle of Barnabas The ''Epistle of Barnabas'' ( el, Βαρνάβα Ἐπιστολή) is a Greek epistle written between AD 70 and 132. The complete text is preserved in the 4th-century ''Codex Sinaiticus'', where it appears immediately after the New Testament a ...

*♦ The

Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians (often abbreviated Ign. Eph.) is an epistle attributed to Ignatius of Antioch, a second-century bishop of Antioch, and addressed to the church in Ephesus of Asia Minor. It was written during Ignatius' transp ...

*♦ The

Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians (often abbreviated ''Magnesians'' or Ign. Mag.) is an epistle attributed to Ignatius of Antioch, a second-century bishop of Antioch, and addressed to the church in Magnesia on the Maeander. It was written ...

*♦ The

Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians The Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians (often abbreviated ''Trallians'') is an epistle attributed to Ignatius, a second-century Bishop of Antioch and martyr, and addressed to the church in Tralles. It was written during the bishop's transport ...

*♦ The

Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans The Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans (often abbreviated Ign. Rom.) is an epistle attributed to Ignatius of Antioch, a second-century bishop of Antioch. It was written during his transport from Antioch to his execution in Rome. ''To the Romans'' ...

*♦ The

Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians The Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians (often abbreviated Ign. Phil.) is an epistle attributed to Ignatius of Antioch, a second-century bishop of Antioch, and addressed to the church in Philadelphia of Asia Minor. It was written during Igna ...

*♦ The Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrneans *♦ The

Epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp The Epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp (often abbreviated Ign. Poly.) is an epistle attributed to Ignatius of Antioch, a second-century bishop of Antioch, and addressed to Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna. It was written during Ignatius' transport from ...

*♦

The Shepherd of Hermas ''The Shepherd of Hermas'' ( el, Ποιμὴν τοῦ Ἑρμᾶ, ''Poimēn tou Herma''; la, Pastor Hermae), sometimes just called ''The Shepherd'', is a Christian literary work of the late first half of the second century, considered a valuab ...

(Visions, Commands, and Similitudes) * Letter of Herod To Pilate the Governor * Letter of Pilate to Herod * The Lost

Gospel of Peter The Gospel of Peter ( grc, κατά Πέτρον ευαγγέλιον, kata Petron euangelion), or the Gospel according to Peter, is an ancient text concerning Jesus Christ, only partially known today. It is considered a non-canonical gospel and ...

*♦

The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians (commonly abbreviated Pol. Phil.) is an epistle attributed to Polycarp, an early bishop of Smyrna, and addressed to the early Christian church in Philippi. It is widely believed to be a composite of ma ...

Contents of ''The Forgotten Books of Eden''

* The

Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan The ''Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan'' (also known as ''The Book of Adam and Eve'') is a 6th-century Christian extracanonical work found in Ge'ez, translated from an Arabic original. It does not form part of the canon of any church. Editio ...

(The First and Second Book of Adam and Eve) * The Secrets of Enoch (also known as the Slavonic Enoch or Second Enoch) * The

Psalms of Solomon One of the apocryphal books, the Psalms of Solomon is a group of eighteen psalms (religious songs or poems) written in the first or second centuries BC that are not part of any current scriptural canon (they are, however, found in copies of the P ...

* The

Odes of Solomon The Odes of Solomon are a collection of 42 odes attributed to Solomon. The Odes are generally dated to either the first century or to the second century, while a few have suggested a later date. The original language of the Odes is thought to ha ...

* The Letter of Aristeas * The Fourth Book of Maccabees * The Story of Ahikar *

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is a constituent of the apocryphal scriptures connected with the Bible. It is believed to be a pseudepigraphical work of the dying commands of the twelve sons of Jacob. It is part of the Oskan Armenian Ort ...

1. Books of the Apocrypha: First and Second Esdras (150-100 BC) Tobit (200 BC) Judith (150 BC) Additions to Esther (140-130 BC) Wisdom of Solomon (30 BC) Ecclesiasticus, otherwise known as The Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach (132 BC) Baruch (150-50 BC) Letter of Jeremiah (300-100 BC) Song of the Three Holy Children, an addition in the Greek version of Daniel 3 (170-160 BC) Susanna (200-0 BC) Bel and the Dragon (100 BC) Additions to Daniel, or the Prayer of Azariah (200-0 BC) Prayer of Manasseh (100-0 BC) First Maccabees (110 BC) Second Maccabees (110-170 BC) 2. Books of the Pseudepigrapha: Epistle of Barnabas First (and Second) Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians The letter of the Smyrnaeans (also known as The Martyrdom of Polycarp) The Shepherd of Hermas The Book of Enoch The Gospel of Judas (130-170 AD) The Gospel of Thomas (140-170 AD) The Psalms of Solomon The Odes of Solomon The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs Second Baruch The Books of Adam and Eve The Acts of Phillip The Apocalypse of Peter The Gospel of the Nativity of Mary The Gospel of Nicodemus The Gospel of the Saviour's Infancy The History of Joseph the Carpenter The Acts of Paul (Including Paul and Thecla) The Seven Epistles of Ignatius The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians

References

* Edgar J. Goodspeed, ''Modern Apocrypha'' (Boston, Beacon Press, 1956), chapt. 15.

External links

} {{DEFAULTSORT:Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden 1926 non-fiction books 17th-century Christian texts 18th-century Christian texts Ancient Christianity Ancient Christian controversies Apocrypha Books about the Bible Books about Christianity Christian Greek pseudepigrapha Christianity in late antiquity Early Christianity Old Testament apocrypha Old Testament pseudepigrapha Works of uncertain authorship 1st-century Christianity