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In July 2023, Kathy Magruder, the owner of Pageturners Bookstore in Indianola, Iowa, received an invitation from the Calvin Community retirement facility to browse through the facility’s collection of used books, according to the Independent Advocate. At the time, the Calvin Community’s library had a large collection of used books that no one had checked out in years.
Magruder accepted the invitation, stocked up on used books from the Calvin Community library, and left the retirement home with four totes of books. Inside these totes was a leather-bound Bible that stood out for several reasons.
First, Magruder said that the Bible’s copyright and title pages were missing from the front and located in the middle of the book. Along with this, the middle of the Bible featured a family history, Magruder noted. Based on the printing information she found within the book, Magruder said she believed the Bible had been printed in 1605.
Magruder’s discoveries from the antique Bible prompted her to research the book’s history. She found that the family behind the company that printed the Bible had served as the printer for the king of Scotland in the 17th century.
Magruder eventually shared the details of her Bible discovery on Facebook. She obtained documentation from another rare bookstore employee through Facebook, who confirmed that there had been a “known copyright misprint” with the Bible that she found. This printing error revealed that the Bible was actually produced in 1705 rather than 1605.
Since the discovery, Magruder has sold the antique Bible to an Indianola resident, the Independent Advocate reported. The buyer has no connection to the family that produced the Bible or Scotland but purchased the book to add to their Bible collection.
If you want to view more antique Bibles, you can see tens of thousands of such items in the WorthPoint Price Guide. To learn more about valuing antique Bibles, watch Antique Roadshow’s Kathleen Guzman talk about the worth of an antique Bible she came across.
Dan Kobialka is a self-employed content writer and editor with about a decade of experience. He produces content across a wide range of industries, including antiques, insurance, and real estate. To learn more about Dan, please visit his website.
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