Page 29 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript African Americana- Sale 2308 - March 21, 2013

33 ● (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) The Mears Family Bible. The Holy Bible,
Containing the Old and New Testaments. Enclosed in a specially made clamshell box, in
which there is a separate compartment housing a number of pieces of family poetry, pho-
tographs etc found in the Bible. Should be seen.
Philadelphia: Kimber and Sharpless, circa 1820’s [3,500/5,000]
WITH ENTRIES REGARDING THE MEARS FAMILY’S SLAVES ON THE FRONT ENDPAPERS,
and copious Mears family records preceding the New Testament, as is customary. This particular
Bible is especially interesting in that it contains a lot of poetry from some member of the family
laid in between the pages plus a couple of photographs, one identified as Ellis Mears 1888.
The insertion of memorabilia in the family Bible was a common practice in the 19th century,
but it usually entailed pressed flowers, silk ribbons with sentiments, or an occasional piece of
Sunday “churchgoing” related material. But in this case, whoever the family poet was, their
verse is quite interesting and not at all bad; from the patriotic to a poem on the late family dog
titled “In memory of Canis Familiaris.”
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