The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments : translated out of the original tongues; and with the former translations diligently compared and revised, by His Majesty's special command. Appointed to be read in churches.
Frame, Colin,bookbinder.StEdNL
London : Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, and sold at their warehouse 189 Fleet Street.,
M.DCCC.L. [1850?]
Accompanied by a pamphlet entitled 'The Rentons of Renton'.
The binding was specially commissioned for the 50th wedding anniversary of William and Agnes Renton on 7 July 1852. Agnes Renton was born into a merchant family in Edinburgh on 16 February 1781. William Renton was born in Edinburgh on 7 January 1774 and was also a merchant. In the interior of the board fronting the title-page a silver shield is inserted, of ten inches by six, within which is an oval tablet, six inches by four and a-half, containing an embossed genealogical tree of gold. On the base of the trunk are engraved the names of the grandparents, with a plaited lock of the hair incased beneath each. On the successive branches are the names of their children, and where married those also of their partners, with a number of twigs attached, corresponding to that of the grandchildren, and affixed to each a lock of the child's hair with a number indicating the name on the margin of the shield. Surrounding the tablet is a space of about an inch, between the gold rim inclosing it and the border of the shield, which is occupied at the top and bottom with the inscription, and on either side with the names of the donors, in the order of their families, to the number of thirty-one.
The Bible is finely bound with gold tooling all over, gilt gauffered leaf edges, fine brass clasps and a velvet lining inside the boards. It is housed in a purpose-built box, also lined with velvet. The book measures 340 x 260 x 112 mm., and the box 345 x 405 x 195 mm. The combined weight is significant. The box also contains two small envelopes containing the hair of two great grandchildren of William and Agnes Renton and a rather damaged pamphlet 'The Rentons of Renton' (printed in the first half of the 20th century). According to the lettering on the inner edge of the joint of the front board, the binding is the work of Colin Frame of Glasgow.