The Holy Bible, Standard Edition, Illustrated Family Bible, 1885

Brown’s Self-Interpreting Bible. The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments,  According to the Authorized Versions. With an Introduction: Marginal References and Readings;  Explanatory Notes and Reflections. By the Rev. John Brown, of Haddington. And Many Thousand Additional Notes by the Rev. Henry Cooke, D.D., LL.D., President, Assembly’s College, Belfast. Re-Edited, with Considerable Additions by the Rev. J. L. Porter, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Biblical Criticism, Assembly’s College, Belfast. Illustrated by Historical Designs and Scenes from Bible Lands. London: The Gresham Publishing Company, circa 1880s. Large quarto, with original full leather carved and gilt tooled boards, all edges gilt, and metal clasps. Presented with a custom-made archival clamshell box with gilt tooling. Presented is a beautifully restored and exquisitely bound Brown’s Self-Interpreting Family Bible. Brown’s Self-Interpreting Family Bible was first published in 1778 in two volumes in Edinburgh. The Self-Interpreting Bible was Reverend Brown's most significant work and it remained in print well into the twentieth century. Although undated, this family bible was published by The Gresham Publishing Company, in London, circa 1880. Reverend John Brown (1722-1787) was a Scottish Minister of the Gospel at Haddington. He wrote numerous works on the bible, including The Dictionary of the Bible, A General History of the Christian Church, and Brown’s Self-Interpreting Family Bible, as seen here. The design of the Self-Interpreting Bible, Brown explained in the original preface, was “to present the labours of the best commentators in a manner that might best comport with the ability and leisure of the poorer and labouring part of mankind, and especially to render the oracles of God their own interpreter.” Thus, the work contains a thorough history, chronology, geography, and summary, as well as explanatory notes and reflections, on the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. As this was printed as a “self-interpreting” bible, many of these notes occur in the margins, next to the pertaining scripture. This bible is further elucidated by upwards of eight thousand explanatory and critical notes by the Reverend Henry Cooke, D.D., LL.D., a minister of the Presbyterian Church and President of Assembly’s College in Belfast. It was further edited and notated by Reverend J. L. Porter, D.D., LL.D., a Professor of Biblical Criticism at Assembly’s College in Belfast. A publisher’s advertisement for Brown’s Self-Interpreting Family Bible was printed in the January-July 1880 issue of The American Bookseller journal. The advertisement claims, “Brown’s Self-Interpreting Bible is widely and most favorably known on both sides of the Atlantic. It is pre-eminently A Family Bible, suitable alike for all the members of the household and particularly Helpful in explaining difficult passages, and admirably adapted to promote a Devotional spirit. Also, its unusually Clear Type makes it an excellent Book for Pulpit use...

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