The Bible
Printed 1638 Cambridge The Book of common prayer and administration of the sacraments and other rites etc... I would say it’s in very very good condition all the pages present I have kept it out of the light for years some binding issues on the marbled paper There is writing on the back pages which is rather interesting it would probably be easier to just photograph but there is some quote from a knight Sir War (?) Jones a famous linguists? I am not sure who he is There is also some very very old writing on the back and some of the last names are Wilmot well actually looking through it now it looks like a Wilmot family lineage/marriage record that starts in 1800s. There is no other writing in the Bible
I got this Bible at a rummage sale when I was in high school and I have had it 15 years or so. I just happened to see it in a collection of books and paid a few bucks (which was a lot for my high school self) I was just totally excited that it was so old. I am now an adult that wants to make sure That it’s not too special and maybe if it’s valuable I should sell it to someone who knows more about the care of old books.
Other
Maybe
Dear Amber,
Thank you for your help and patience. My sincere apologies for the delay with the appraisal.
The presented object appears to be a bible with the whole title "Book Of Common Prayer And Administration of the Sacraments: And other rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, with the psalters and Psalmen of David.", the seal of Cambridge and the remark "Printed by the printers to the University of Charles I. Cambridge 1638". This bible was used over a long time and many remarks and autographs tell the history of this book and the owners. The most known owner who probably left an autograph was the linguist Sir William Jones (1746-1794) who discovered a similarity and relationship between European and Indo-Aryan languages, which he named as the Indo-European language family. Sadly this remarks is not shown and the context of the autographs is unknown. I attach a link for background information (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jones_(philologist)).
This piece is in suprisingly good condition and there is no serious damage visible in the images provided.
A fair market estimation would be between 2.500 to 5.000 USD.
This estimate is based on actual recent past recorded auction sales of comparable items. Retail "asking prices" can be higher and may vary.
This estimation is conditional because of the missing autograph of Sir William Jones which needs to be researched and can influence the estimation.
With kind regards,
George
