A remarkable late 17th-century Scottish family Bible preserved in its custom clamshell case and known as "The Murray Bible." While the general title page is no longer present, the surviving sections identify this as a composite Bible assembled in the late seventeenth century from separately printed components, a common practice of the period.
The volume retains its original calf-over-board binding with raised bands and remnants of the original clasp hardware. Despite significant wear, the binding appears substantially original and has not undergone a modern rebinding.
What distinguishes this Bible is not simply its age, but its extraordinary manuscript history. Numerous blank leaves, end leaves, and flyleaves contain decades of handwritten family records, ownership inscriptions, genealogical notes, sermons, biblical references, and devotional writings.
Manuscript Inscriptions & Family History
The manuscript material is one of the most significant features of this volume.
Murray Ownership
The custom clamshell identifies the book as "The Murray Bible," and the manuscript inscriptions support a long association with the Murray family.
Visible inscriptions include repeated ownership entries such as:
- Mary Murray
- "Mr Mary Murray is ye right owner…"
- Multiple elaborate signatures and ownership declarations.
These inscriptions appear in seventeenth-century hands and strongly suggest that the Bible served as a Murray family Bible for many years.
Cumming Family Register
The later manuscript entries transition into what appears to be an extensive Cumming (or Cuming) family register, recording multiple generations.
The records include entries for:
- Alexander
- Isabella
- Elizabeth
- David
- William
- George
- Robert
- Richard
- John
Among the events recorded are:
- births
- baptisms
- deaths
- family relationships
- scriptural references
- devotional notes
Dates visible in the manuscript include approximately:
- 1687
- 1691
- 1694
- 1695
- 1698
- 1702
- 1720s
- a death recorded in 1763
Several entries mention places identifiable as Watten, Lybster, and Achingale, suggesting the family lived in Caithness, Scotland.
The manuscript material spans many decades and represents an unusually rich surviving family archive preserved inside a single Bible.
Binding
- Original blind-tooled calf binding
- Raised bands
- Original wooden boards
- Original metal clasp hardware (partial)
- Original hand-sewn text block
- Evidence of original sewing supports
- Later custom cloth clamshell box titled "The Murray Bible"
Condition
Condition is consistent with a heavily used family Bible over more than three centuries.
- General title page absent.
- Old Testament title page lacking.
- Spine leather heavily deteriorated.
- Boards detached/loose.
- Losses to leather at spine and corners.
- One clasp surviving with hardware.
- Text block remains remarkably solid.
- Manuscript leaves well preserved with excellent legibility throughout much of the volume.
Dimensions (With Clamshell):
Weight - 1.32KG
Height - 24.3cm
Width - 19cm
Thickness - 5.8cm
