(SLAVE BIBLE) The Holy Bible

Sale 2034 - Lot 54

Price Realized: $ 10,350

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000

TOWNSEND FAMILY SLAVE BIBLE (SLAVE BIBLE.) The Holy Bible. 12mo, contemporary calf, neatly rebacked with the original back retained; contemporary inscription on the front pastedown states "Bible for the servants in the House of Samuel Townsend Oyster Bay Long Island" and inscriptions at the end of the volume give the dates of births and deaths of the Townsend slaves; early morocco solander case made around 1900, partially split along one joint on the lid and repaired with cellotape. Edinburgh: Alexander Kincaid, 1771

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The birth and death dates of the slaves in the Townsend household begin in 1769 and end in 1790. A note on the rear pastedown lists a few more names of the slaves who were overlooked in the earlier reckoning. The Bible was passed on to Howard Townsend M. D. of Albany, the great grandson of Samuel Townsend.
The Townsends were one of the founding families of Oyster Bay, Long Island. Samuel Townsend was a patriot during the Revolution and Raynham Hall was seized and used by the British. Samuel's son Robert worked as a spy for George Washington under the name "Culper Jr." and he gathered information which led to the arrest of Major Andre and the thwarting of Benedict Arnold's plot. The Townsend homestead is now a museum.