Single-click the binding image for a detail.

Binding: Publisher’s dark olive green morocco, covers with gilt-stamped altar vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title and blind-stamped compartment frames; corners, spine extremities, and gilt rubbed. All edges gilt. 

Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of Lady Seymour; front fly-leaf with inked inscription reading “Miss Aakes. March 11 1829.”

•  This ed. not in Herbert. Front pastedown and fly-leaf with bookplate and inscription as above; front free endpaper with obscure inked monogram; back pastedown with four lines of numerical notations. Pages clean save for one lightly foxed signature in the N.T.

•  Hills 618; O’Callaghan 189. Contemporary plain calf, spine with raised bands, gilt-ruled above and below and with gilt-lettered title in second compartment; gilt a little rubbed. Hinges (inside) repaired with paper. Shallow chipping and tattering, and many dog ears; tears mostly in the margins of pages and plates, but a few closed tears into text, on pp. 283–84 with loss of individual letters but not of sense; tattering on last leaf just touching text, leaf repaired with cellophane on verso; tissue repairs on pp. 273–74 and on the reverse of the frontispiece. Moderately foxed throughout; lacking pp. 765–68 of supplementary material (only). Pp. 618–19 are here misprinted in place of pp. 622–23—all text being present, if out of order! This significant Bible is here in a trim, neat contemporary binding.

Click either image for an enlargement.

According to a writer in “Notes and Queries” (Third Series, vol. VI, 251), this work was suppressed: “The publication of the new Testament, says Dr. Southey, in such a language as the negro or Talkee-talkee, brought upon the Bible Society a greater outcry than any that had been raised against it since the schism with the Apocrypha occasioned.” Overlooked or thought unimportant by the opponents of this translation was the fact that it was the first attempt to present the Bible in the language that had evolved among blacks of Surinam; that is, to proselytize them in their own language, rather than in the approved “imperial” tongue.

•  Darlow & Moule 6984. Contemporary sheep with diced covers, round spine, blind tooled spine decorations, marbled edges. Leather of covers abraded and top of spine pulled with loss of leather. Old institutional bookplate over another, inside front cover; properly deaccessioned from another institution. Paper good, and clean.

Click the images for enlargements.

Binding:  Contemporary embossed rich cordovan-colored morocco cathedral binding featuring inter alii the Holy Ghost (in Pentacostal dove–form), the Agnus Dei, and stained/leaded glass “windows” both pointed and rosette. Spine additionally with gilt-stamped title; turn-ins with blind-roll design. All edges brightly gilt.

•  Not in Herbert.   Binding as above, in beautiful condition. First front fly-leaf with early inked familial gift inscription (including an explanation of one brother's having opted out of the group present!); second front fly-leaf with inked dedicatory poem.  (22266)

Binding:  Contemporary black morocco with bevelled edges, each cover deeply incised with a diamond center medallion, covers richly tooled in gilt; board edges with a gilt roll; turn-ins with wide gilt dentelles; yellow and gold endpapers. All edges gilt and gauffered in a pattern incorporating diamonds, to echo the cover pattern.

•  Not in Herbert.   Binding as above; slight wear to edges, extremities, and raised spine bands. Front pastedown with trace remains of adhered paper slip. Faint spotting to first and last few pages. Very nice. Indeed, luxurious.  (22048)

•  O’Callaghan 213; Hills 765; not in Herbert. Straight-grained roan, covers gilt-ruled and spine gilt extra; rubbed, especially on spine, and corners bumped. Pp. 5–6 and 229–30 chipped on lower outer corner, with loss of part of page number from the former. Free endpapers chipped with loss; title-page partially detached in the gutter. Some old dog-ears, light foxing and occasional brown spots, and occasional light waterstaining.An attractive, solid little American Testament.

Binding: Contemporary red straight-grain morocco, covers framed in gilt roll, spine with gilt-stamped title and compartment decorations.

Provenance: Ownership initials of William R. Whittingham (G.R.W., the "William" being rendered as "Guillelmus" for his love of Latin), fourth Episcopal Bishop of Baltimore; stamp of an Episcopal Diocesan lending library.

•  Front joint almost entirely broken, back joint starting from top, head of spine chipped, with binding showing minor darkening and scuffing overall. Free endpapers excised. Front pastedown with rubber-stamp as above (no other institutional markings); first text page with inked ownership inscription as above dated [18]64. Title-page of first work lacking. Pages slightly age-toned, some creased; one leaf with lower outer corner torn away. Small emphasis marks to index of Hymns, with an additional manuscript entry in the table of first lines.

The present example, illustrated with 24 wood engravings, is nicely bound and free of obvious childish damage.

Adomeit notes that the “long run of Phinney Bibles . . . are distinctive as the majority of the cuts are portraits, which Stone suggests are portraits of neighboring farmers.”

Binding:  This publisher's classic embossed “diamond binding”: reddish brown sheep embossed in arabesque patterns over a diapered background with central diamond-shaped medallion, spine with gilt-stamped title and compartments blind stamped in an overall pointillé pattern.

This is only the second appearance of this binding pattern on a miniature Phinney Bible, the style having been introduced the previous year.

•  Adomeit, Three Centuries of Thumb Bibles, A109; this ed. not in Rosenbach. Binding. see: Wolf, From Gothic Windows to Peacocks, 126 for same pattern on a full quarto format Phinney Bible.   Binding showing virtually no wear; front cover expertly reattached. Library name rubber-stamped on lower edges of closed volume. A solid and attractive example of the charming genre.  (22339)

This is the second copy of this Bible that we have had and we are convinced that this is a publisher's deluxe leather binding. A choice of colors was apparently available, for the other copy we had was of an olive-green color.

•  Not in O'Callaghan; not in Darlow & Moule. Bound as above, corners a little bumped with a bit of long ago refurbishing thereto, dulling outermost elements of gilt border (only) on front cover, just at those corners. Faint waterstaining in lower inside area for the first few pages (only). The whole very attractive and well preserved.

Binding:  Contemporary black morocco, heavily blind-stamped and covers further graced by central gilt-stamped cartouches touched with red and green enameled highlights. Spine with similar blind- and gilt-stamping, highlighted in red and green. All edges gilt.

•  Not in Herbert.   Binding as above, minimal rubbing to edges and extremities, gilt lightly rubbed in a few areas, corners bumped. Front free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription dated 1846. Back free endpaper with spot of dampstaining partially adhered to back pastedown and offset onto last leaf of text. Pages gently age-toned, otherwise clean. A little knockout.  (21996)

The presence of the “Select passages from the Holy Scriptures” and the hymnal is most uncommon in these ad hoc volumes of Bible parts. The hymns are without music. There is one illustration, a crucifixion, in John.

•  O’Callaghan 288–89; Hills 1161. Binding as above, carefully and reasonably rebacked, with portion of uppermost spine compartment left free of gilt; a few small scuffs, and some minor refurbishing over extremities. All edges gilt. First few leaves with outer edges ragged; pages very faintly age-toned, otherwise clean. A gorgeous copy, with the interesting manuscript additions described above.

Binding:  Contemporary black morocco, covers framed in gilt triple fillets surrounding gilt-stamped arabesque rectangular medallions, spine gilt extra. All edges gilt.

•  Binding as above, very minor wear to edges and extremities. Front hinge starting; front pastedown with label as above and with small scrape; back pastedown with pencilled notations. Reverse of front free endpaper with child's inscription scrawled in pencil.  (22734)

Binding: Pebbled black leather sumptuously gilt: The covers tooled with a design composed of a base and pavilion formed of foliated C and S curve volutes enclosing fine foliated strapwork. Ornate columns support the pavilion, which encloses a shell. From the base hang a pair of acroteria, and the base supports a vase of flowers on a rocaille. Board edges gilt-rolled; gilt inner dentelles. Spine divided into compartments by narrow raised bands: Each compartment with a frame of treble fillets, within the second compartment the title gilt-lettered, the remaining compartments ornamented within by fine foliated filigree. All edges gilt.

Provenance: Presentation copy to Harriet E. Henderson with her name in gilt centered on the front cover.

•  Not in Hills; not in Herbert; not in O'Callaghan. Binding as above with a few barely noticeable small abrasions. A few spots of light staining on some pages. As nice an example of this kind of Bible "production" as you are ever going to find.

Binding: Signed reddish-brown morocco binding by Root & Son, with covers and spine gilt extra; extremely wide and handsome turn-ins elaborately gilt tooled.

Provenance: Front fly-leaf with attractively inked gift inscription to the Rev. John Francis O’Hern, the third Bishop of Rochester, NY, dated 1929.

•  Not in Darlow & Moule. Leather showing small rubbed spots over edges and extremities, with faint leather discoloration to part of front cover; front pastedown with traces of a now-absent bookplate. The weight of this substantial volume has partially cracked the front joint; however, with careful use (and storage on the volume’s back, not its lower edge), this damage should not quickly progress. A lavishly produced Victorian New Testament, in a still-impressive binding.

•  Front wrapper present, lacking rear one; removed from a bound volume. (15152)

For more BIBLES & TESTAMENTS,  click here.
For the INDIA gathering, including
MORE TAMIL,  click here.
For DICTIONARIES/GRAMMARS, ETC.,  click here.
For more “GIFTABLES”— mostly $150
      & UNDER,  click here.

•  Publisher’s cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title; cloth faded along edges and spine. Front hinge (inside) slightly tender. Pages faintly age-toned; in fact, a very clean nice copy.

Binding: Ornately gilt- and blind-tooled black morocco (with but remnants of gilt on covers and spine) including gilt inner dentelles. White silk endpapers. Purple silk placemarker. All edges gilt.

•  Not in Hills. Binding as above, and at right; lightly rubbed and beautifully refurbished. Light foxing on engraved title-page and some plates; a few of the latter with traces of soiling; guard papers with occasional folding and a little tattering. Instances of light waterstaining, not affecting impression, on plates facing pp. 716 and 736; the plate facing p. 368 has remnants of adhesive. Pages lightly age-toned, with a few more instances of light waterstaining. Tears in the margins (only) of some leaves. Ownership inscription in ball point in a pretty hand on front pastedown, and notation in same hand on last page. Unusually solid for a centennial-era Bible of this size—the weight of such an imposing volume works against its retaining its covers as here, over the years.

For more ILLUSTRATED BOOKS,  click here.