I. BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY (B.F.B.S.) — Before 1804, several Protestant societies had been founded in England and Scotland to distribute Bibles, pamphlets, and religious tracts. Among these were the S.P.C.K. (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1698), the S.P.G. (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 1701), the R.T.S. (Religious Tract Society, 1799), and others. However, the idea of publishing low-cost Bibles in all languages and establishing a dedicated society solely for this purpose emerged only in 1804 among some members of the R.T.S. and was supported by the aforementioned societies.
The guiding principle was as follows: for nations already possessing Protestant translations, these were reprinted (e.g., Diodati for Italy, Valera for Spain, etc.); for those lacking such translations, the Authorized Version of King James I was translated, either in full or in part. This resulted in translations into numerous dialects and languages (approximately 700). Not long after the society’s founding, the contentious issue of the deuterocanonical books—erroneously termed "apocrypha" by Protestants—arose, as the society had simply omitted them from its editions. Secretaries and auxiliary societies established on the continent, funded by the B.F.B.S., printed Bibles that included the deuterocanonical books, though in a distinct section separate from the protocanonical ones, claiming that their clients refused to purchase Bibles without them. The B.F.B.S. then resolved that secretaries and auxiliary societies could print the deuterocanonical books at their own expense, while the society would send unbound Bibles to which the missing books could be added as desired. The resulting uproar was such that the society ultimately decided to exclude the deuterocanonical books entirely from all its editions. Indeed, the auxiliary societies in Scotland demanded that those responsible for such publications be punished; when this request was refused, they separated and founded a Scottish Bible society, which in 1861 adopted the name Scottish National Bible Society.
II. AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY (A.B.S.) — Upon learning of the founding of the English Bible society, similar organizations quickly formed in the United States, which united in 1816 to establish the American Bible Society.
Like its English counterpart, the A.B.S. also faced the issue of the deuterocanonical books, which led to a schism. In 1822, when the A.B.S. learned that only the Catholic translation by Fr. Sico would be accepted in Latin America, it decided to print this translation, which it did until 1827. That year, due to objections from some members, the general board ordered that the printing of Fr. Sico’s translation continue but with the deuterocanonical books omitted. This caused some division among Latin American Catholics, as some accepted these incomplete Bibles—albeit with a Catholic translation—while others rejected them for their incompleteness. In 1841, the A.B.S. definitively replaced Fr. Sico’s Catholic translation with the Protestant translation by Cipriano Valera and, in 1885, began publishing the *Modern Version* by the Protestant H.B. Pratt. Another issue, which led to a split with the Baptists, arose as follows: a Baptist missionary in India requested funding from the A.B.S. to print a translation of the Bible he had made into Bengali, noting that the English Bible Society had refused to assist him because the word "baptize" had been translated using the Bengali equivalent of "immerse." The directors of the A.B.S. also refused to support the project. The Baptists then founded their own organization, the American and Foreign Bible Society.
III. OTHER BIBLE SOCIETIES — In addition to the four mentioned above, among the principal ones we may cite the Scripture Gift Mission (English, 1880), or Mission to Gift Scripture, and its American counterpart, the American Scripture Gift Mission, which distribute parts of Holy Scripture free of charge to colleges, schools, and rural populations, etc. The passages they consider most important either against the Catholic Church or favorable to Protestant doctrines are underlined. Another American Bible society, which flooded Latin America with New Testament translations, was "The Campaign to Distribute a Million Testaments in Latin America." Also notable is the "Bible House" in Los Angeles (California), established to send Bibles to Protestant missionaries and distributors upon request. In addition to those already mentioned, which are native to England and the United States, there are six German Bible societies, two French ones, and one each in Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland. In 1917, a Universal Bible Alliance was established.
The characteristics of the Bibles printed by Protestant Bible societies are as follows: they are not preceded by any preface or papal authorization; they do not include the deuterocanonical books; and they contain no explanatory notes.