HANDSOMELY BOUND THREE-VOLUME ANGLICAN FAMILY BIBLE, 1826, ILLUSTRATED WITH 55 ENGRAVED PLATES AND NINE ENGRAVED MAPS

BIBLE. The Holy Bible, According To the Authorized Version; with Notes, Explanatory and Practical; Taken Principally from the Most Eminent Writers of the United Church of England and Ireland… Prepared and Arranged by The Rev. George D'Oyly, D.D. and The Rev. Richard Mant, D.D… Under the Direction of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. For the Use of Families. Oxford: Printed for the Society at the Clarendon Press, 1826. Three volumes. Large quarto, contemporary full red morocco, elaborately gilt-decorated spines and boards, raised bands, patterned blue endpapers, all edges gilt. $2800.

Three-volume, illustrated, 1826 Oxford Family Bible, profusely annotated by “the most eminent writers” of the Church of England, splendidly illustrated with numerous engraved plates, many after the paintings of old masters, and including several fine engraved maps, most handsomely bound.

The King James Version of the Bible (first published 1611) has exercised an incalculable impact on piety, language and literature throughout the English-speaking world. "Other translations may engage the mind, but the King James Version is the Bible of the heart" (Campbell, 275). It is probably the text most commonly found in family Bibles such as this one. In his Library Companion (1824), Thomas Frognall Dibdin remarked that D'Oyly and Mant's annotated Bible could "satisfy both the anxious and enlightened reader." "The first appearance of this Bible, prepared at the instance of Archbishop [of Canterbury] Manners-Sutton, appeared in 1814; the editors were his Domestic Chaplains" (Herbert 1658). In addition to copious notes from noted contemporary preachers, theologians and scholars in the Church of England, this Bible features 55 engraved plates after paintings by artists including Raphael, Caracci, Poussin, Reynolds, Rubens and Titian, and nine engraved maps (two folding). With Apocrypha and extensive indices. Binder's small tickets. Neat manuscript family record in Volume I, recording the marriage of John Charles Blackett and Emily Jane Cockcraft in 1852 and tracing the births of their children through 1871.

Small abrasion to front board of Volume III. Gilt bright. A beautifully bound copy in fine condition.