Rev. James W. Tate (a Methodist Episcopal minister and educator) and Rev. William S. Shields (a Presbyterian minister). Their collaboration reflects a rare interdenominational editorial effort during a period of evangelical consolidation in America.
For collectors, it is a beautiful artifact. For historians, a rich archive. For theologians, a cautionary tale of how cultural aesthetics can quietly shape exegesis. And for any reader today, opening a Tate Bible is to step into a 19th-century evangelical imagination—vivid, confident, and deeply, beautifully limited. Would you like a specific comparison between the Tate Bible and another 19th-century illustrated Bible (e.g., the Doré Bible or the Hieroglyphic Bible)? Or a digital facsimile source for viewing its plates? The Tate Bible
Circa 1880s–1890s, primarily by the National Publishing Company (Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, etc.). Later reprints appeared under other subscription-based publishers. William S