Dent Family Collection Addendum--Joseph and Fannie Dent's Bible

Object/Artifact

St. Mary's County Historical Society, Leonardtown, MD

Joseph Dent Bible family p. 1

Name/Title

Dent Family Collection Addendum--Joseph and Fannie Dent's Bible

Entry/Object ID

2013.007.0111

Description

12 1/4"h x 10"w x 3 3/8"d Holy Bible belonging to Joseph H. and Fannie L. Dent. The covers are very dark brown to black and heavily embossed with many decorations. The front cover is completely detached. There was a long black silk page marker that was also detached and in poor condition. The interior cover pages are dark red marbled with gold. The book was published by the Southwestern Co. of Nashville, Tenn., but there is no publication date. The paper for the pages was very thin and at the time of cataloging the edges of most of the pages were brown and the paper tore very easily. There were many illustrative engravings, full color illustrations, and maps in the book. Besides the usual Bible text, there was a question and answer series, a concordance, a subject index, a temperance pledge, and a few pages to record family information. I think the information was recorded after the fact for the marriage and births of children for the couple, since only the children who lived to adulthood were listed. As was common, the primary function of the Bible was to press botanicals. Between pages 68 and 69 were two large leaves, between pages 130 and 131 are what may have been snapdragons wired to a stick, a large fern was between pages 174 and 175, and a rose was between pages 430 and 431. The family pages were between the Old Testament and a section called "Parables."

Collection

Dent Family Collection Addendum

Made/Created

Date made

1880 - 1920

Dimensions

Height

12-1/8 in

Width

10 in

Depth

3-1/2 in

Location

Person or Organization

Dent, Ruth Petrie (1890-1959)