1870s Holy Bible - Adam Miller & Co., Toronto - Any info?

Hi

Just wondering if anyone might be able to help me find out more information about this Bible. I can't find any other copies of it anywhere.

It's very large and heavy. The hard cover is beautiful but the binding is in pretty pitiful shape. It has been in my family for generations.

Printing date assumed to be somewhere between 1876-1878

I found a little bit of history on the Toronto-based Adam Miller & Co., but this is all I know about it so far

The firm that later became W.J. Gage and Company began in Montreal in 1844
as R. & A. Miller, Booksellers and Stationers. The firm expanded to Toronto
in 1860, and in 1863 it became Adam Miller & Co. William Gage was hired as
a clerk and bookkeeper in 1874. Adam Miller died the next year, at which time
William Gage bought into a partnership with Miller's widow, an arrangement
which lasted until 1878. Gage then went into partnership with Samuel George
Beatty, who later became president of The Canada Publishing Company. The
partnership with Beatty was dissolved in 1879, and the firm became known as
W.J. Gage and Company, with Gage as sole owner, in 1880. The company was
incorporated as a joint stock company in 1893. The physical plant was destroyed
in the great Toronto fire of April, 1904, but Gage was able to rebuild with new
and more efficient machinery, relocating from Front Street to Spadina Avenue.
See W.J. Gage Co. Limited: A Story of Sixty-Five Successful Years, 1844-1909
(Toronto: W.J. Gage, 1909).​

Any special significance to this particular copy, or just a run-of-the mill family bible? Any additional info would be appreciated!

Cover by cow posted Mar 9, 2022 at 4:32 PM

Binding by cow posted Mar 9, 2022 at 4:32 PM

Front Page by cow posted Mar 9, 2022 at 4:32 PM

Award by cow posted Mar 9, 2022 at 4:32 PM

 

I found this 1876 Centennial Bible that sold for $127. Even with the condition issues, I think you would still have a lot of interest.

https://www.auctionninja.com/full-o...tes-centennial-commission-with-lock-3233.html

 

Nice find, thank you! Same centennial commission page and everything. I don't know if I want to sell it, it's too pretty. It seemed to be quite rare, as I cannot find another copy anywhere else on the internet.

 

There was another that sold listed on Worthpoint. I don't have a membership to see the end price.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-1876-centennial-edition-536374048

 

That one probably sold to a Centennial Exhibition collector, not a Bible collector. Many, many old Bibles out there, most for a song. Ornate ones, however, do command a higher price. Centennial and International Exhibition collectors seem to have deep pockets.

 

I see a few other ornate centennial editions in the recommendations below that post on Worthpoint. Thanks for digging these up. I'd be curious about value difference (if any) of centennial editions versus centennial awarded. @Mill Cove Treasures' first link was a medal winner as well. Interesting stuff. When I first started looking around, I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to the award page

I'd have a hard time selling a small family treasure like this (to me anyway) for what amounts to a 2022 tank of gas.

It's sad that they don't make books like this anymore.

Thanks to all for your input

 

I found some other information on the 1876 Exhibition, but I did not have time to read through. There were other links as well, but this one sounds like it covers what was exhibited. It might have info about the awards.

http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/pacscl/ead.html?id=PACSCL_PCA_PCARecordGroups230and231

 

There are genealogical and historical organizations that have collections of family Bibles. Sometimes they just have photocopies of the family information pages. Even if you keep the Bible, you may want to donate photocopies of pages to an organization that is local to the area where the people lived. Another possibility is an org that collects more widely. Not sure whether the family was in Canada or the U.S., but the American Ancestors, a.k.a. the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston, is interested in such information.

And that is very interesting about interest in the publisher's publicity about their Centennial award. I collect antique photography and there was a trend in the late 19th century for photographers to print similar information on the back of cabinet card photographs, from all sorts of exhibitions. Some were quite elaborate and "bragged" about many exhibitions. Here is an example of one that just listed the 1876 U. S. Centennial.

 

Welcome @cow. Does your Bible have illustrations? The page touting their medal awards notes that the awards were made "for our illustrated editions of the Holy Bible". I would expect something like "Illustrated Edition" to be on the title page if yours was actually one of the award winning versions. Otherwise, I think that page about the awards is just a form of advertising for their more expensive editions.

In our experience as used book sellers, such family Bibles rarely command significant prices. $50-100 if you are lucky. Those with bindings in better condition are more desirable.

 

If you Bible has its genealogy pages intact and you would not mind sharing the information, please contact one of your local chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution and ask the to submit the information to National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. If you cannot find a DAR chapter, please contact me and I will have you send me the photocopies of the genealogy pages and I will type up the pages and send them to you to sign to send them to NSDAR. This information will then be included in their files for research by ladies needed information to complete their family genealogical line to Revolutionary War patriots.
Thank you for sharing this old Bible with us today.