In Victorian England, and no doubt elsewhere in the world at that time, the Family Bible was regarded as more than scripture inspired by the presence of God. The religion of the day, as espoused by the Protestant faith, venerated the word of God, and placed value on sermons rather than ritual, so perhaps it is not surprising that the Family Bible became seen as such an iconic object. They became devotional objects in their own right, often given a special place in the home. So the family Bible became a shrine of domestic spirituality, somewhere where the sacred life of the household met the sacred life of the church fathers. At this time Bibles were sewn and bound in large trade binderies, possibly many dozens of women would be employed in the sewing of these books. The men being employed in covering the books in leather and dealing with decoration, gilt fittings, if present, would be added last. These binderies catered to their market by creating very large Family Bibles, with full page copperplate engravings, complete with explanatory articles, family history pages, and that owed much in style to the ancient book. As bookbinders we were housed in the grounds of an active monastery, I think that was one reason we had so many of these large Victorian Bibles to repair Looking at our receipts I see we carried out restoration work on approximately 20 large Family Bibles a year. Sadly the structure of most of these large Bibles lacked the wisdom of the content. The trade binderies that bound these tomes were governed by the economics of the day, and economies were made in terms of structure and materials. In particular the sewing of such books was quite fragile, and depended very much on linings being applied to the spine, which supported the sewing. The problem being that these linings fall away over time, leaving the sewing subject to quite rapid deterioration. Also the leather of choice for these bindings was usually thin sheepskin, In terms of design, many 19th century Victorian Family Bibles harked back to medieval examples of binding, at least superficially. The Bibles often had very heavy boards, sometimes half an inch thick or more. In further imitation of mediaeval bindings, they often came with gilt clasps and decorative corners. Some had engraved gilt edging around the sides of the boards. Of course these brass fittings added to the weight of the boards. Working within a tight budget, most of these Family Bibles were covered in quite thin sheepskin, which was easy to work with and cheap, but lacked long term strength. This thin leather was not up to the job of supporting the massive and heavy boards, that is why today, if unrepaired, these books will be found with the boards come away where the book hinges. It is of course possible to restore & preserve these books; I have been doing so for 30 years. The cost involved varies with the Bible, but should you decide to have your Family Bible restored, you can rest assured that you have done something for your family and its future generations. The family history pages of such Bibles can be a very good place to start a family tree. By R.Norman
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