Physical description
Book, black hard cover with embossed pattern and gold test, metal locking clasp. King James Version of the Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments. It was published by Oxford University Press in 1866.
Inscriptions on the loose endpaper list the marriage of Joseph and Elizabeth Bell in 1854 at St Paul's, Bristol, England, and their ten children born from 1856 to 1878.
Publication type
non-fiction
Inscriptions & markings
Spine: "Holy Bible"
“The holy Bible containing the old and new Testaments”
Additional title information: Translated out of The Original Tongues, and with the Former translations Diligently Compared and Revised by His Majesty’s Special Command “Appointed to be Read in Churches”
Publisher: Oxford University Press for the British and Foreign Bible Society Instituted in London in The Year 1804.
LOGO with a motto: [shield with scroll, three crowns and test] "dominus illuminatio mea" (The Lord is My Light)
Black heaver embossed hardcover with a black spine and lettering in gold. The spine has no Library label or catalogue inscription. End pages has registration of family births
On end papers: Heading in script: "Singleton 2nd day of 1st month 1869" and listed below " Joseph Bell, born 9/5/1829 married Elizabeth Bell, born 22/10/1833 on 12/9/1854 at St Pauls, Bristol, England."
(Numbered 1 to 10, their children and their birth dates, from 1856 to 1878, are also listed. The children were Thomas, Mary, James, John, Ruth, Andrew, Joseph, Elizabeth, Lewis and Hannah.)
Summary
To understand the nature of your 1866 Oxford University Press (OUP) Bible, it helps to look at how Bibles were produced in the 19th century and the massive historical scale of the publisher. The context of the King James Version Bible is indicated by the standard phrase on the flyleaf: "Translated out of the Original Tongues... By His Majesty's Special Command." This work is a historical 1866 reprint of the original version published in 1611. This particular volume served as the family Bible for Joseph and Elizabeth Bell, documenting their family history through the births and deaths noted on its end papers.
