Holy Bible

This Bible belonged to Clarissa Mabel Brierley (1878-1924, New Zealand). She acquired it in 1917 when living in Wellington (she married Thomas Brierley in 1901).

The Bible was published in New Zealand by Milton Porter, Wellington. It is a Sunday School teachers’ Bible based on the King James version of 1611. It shows where the revisions take place in the text, and the words of Jesus Christ are printed in red. The Bible includes colour plates and black and white illustrations, examples of ancient languages, helpful information (such as Jewish history), and maps of the biblical world. It appears to have been originally published by the National Bible Press in Philadelphia, United States, in 1895 and 1902. Philadelphia was an important centre for book printing and publishing, with firms specialising in religious publishing thriving in the nineteenth century. Religious publishers were generous with their products, often giving away their books for free. Hence, it appears that Milton Porter was able to republish the Bible locally in New Zealand (also in 1902).

The Bible includes a ‘Family Register’ between the old and new testaments which lists of all of Mabel and Thomas’s children and their birth dates in handwriting. Mabel gave birth to 11 children between 1902 and 1918 (two died in infancy). She died of cancer of the colon and exhaustion in 1924 at the age of 46 years (her youngest child at the time was only 5 years old). Mabel was buried in Karori cemetery. Her death is recorded in the Bible, along with Thomas Brierley’s death in 1957, and the death of their son John Rolf in 1963 (which is the last entry).