Mar 21, 2013 - Sale 2308

Sale 2308 - Lot 33

Price Realized: $ 2,375
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,500 - $ 5,000
RECORDS THE BIRTH & DEATHS OF BOTH MASTERS & SLAVE FAMILIES (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) The Mears Family Bible. The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments. Large, thick 4to, contemporary full calf, recased. Enclosed in a specially made clamshell box, in which there is a separate compartment housing a number of pieces of family poetry, photographs etc found in the Bible. Philadelphia: Kimber and Sharpless, circa 1820's

Additional Details

with entries regarding the mears family's slaves on the front endpapers, and copious Mears family records preceding the New Testament, as is customary. This particular Bible is especially interesting in that it contains a lot of poetry from some member of the family laid in between the pages plus a couple of photographs, one identified as Ellis Mears 1888. The insertion of memorabilia in the family Bible was a common practice in the 19th century, but it usually entailed pressed flowers, silk ribbons with sentiments, or an occasional piece of Sunday "churchgoing" related material. But in this case, whoever the family poet was, their verse is quite interesting and not at all bad; from the patriotic to a poem on the late family dog titled "In memory of Canis Familiaris."