This month’s featured rare books are two Inuit language translations of the Bible, recently given to the John W. Graham Library by The Right Reverend Stephen Andrews, former Bishop of Algoma and Principal of Wycliffe College.
The first of these two volumes is Biibili: Allakkat illernartut, which is a translation of both the Old and New Testaments in Kalaallisut, more commonly known as West Greenlandic. This is the primary dialect spoken by the Greenlandic Inuit, who make up approximately 90% of the population of Greenland. This translation was published in 2000 by the Danish Bible Society.
The second volume is Iñupiatun Mumiksat Uqalugiksuat, which is a New Testament translation into the North Slope dialect of Iñupiaq, the language spoken by the Iñupiat people of Alaska. This 2017 edition from the Canadian Bible Society appears to have been given out at the Inuit Bible Translation Conference held in Toronto earlier this year.
Like all our rare books and special collections items, these Inuit language Bibles are available for consultation any time in the John W. Graham Library. For further information, please inquire at the circulation desk or contact us at ask.grahamlibrary@utoronto.ca.
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