The cheap Bibles of nineteenth-century Britain were not only read in millions of homes, embodying the Protestant principle of access to the Scriptures, but were also potent symbols of national virtue. In an age of social ferment cheap Bibles–most published by the British and Foreign Bible Society–represented both the promise of mass literacy and the benefits of industrialization. This book, based on correspondence and other archival records, tells the story of the BFBS from two perspectives: its place in the history of publishing and printing and in contemporary society.