The Bible of the ‘Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man’.

Those who might be aware of my other hobbies might not know that I love collecting very old books, I came across a really nice one the other day with a lot of local interest, and as I like local history,this one was a must, even though it was a bible, and again, anyone that knows me would not think that I would purchase a bible, not exactly being religious, but this was so worth it.

Click on any of the images below to see some full size previews:

It was this very bible that belonged to and was used in many sermons by the ‘Rt. Rev. Charles Leonard Thornton-Duesbury’, and for those that might of heard of the name but could not exactly pin point it, he was the Lord Bishop of the Sodor and Man between 1925 and 1928 when he passed away.

The Bible is actually called ‘The Imperial Family Bible‘ and this one was printed in 1844 by the famous Bible printers of the day ‘Blackie and Son, Glasgow’. and includes engravings from the very best engravers of this time, such as William Miller and Henry Cook. There are many copies of the two volume edition which is dated 1846, but the 1844 version was released as a single version, with a very small print run of around 500 copies, and this copy is remarkably well preserved with very little discolouration and the binding is solid even though it shows a bit of wear, which you would expect from a book that has been used quite a bit throughout the years. I have come across a few versions of this book, but none in this condition and none with this history.

It has an inscription  in the front pages from his wife, ‘Ethel Nixon Thornton-Duesbury’ which is:

Presented to

The congregation of St. Marks Sodor and Man

In Remembrance of the late Lord Bishop

Charles Thornton-Duesbury

From his wife

1928

Charles Leonard Thornton-Duesbury was born on the Isle of Man in Glen Helen in 1867 and was the son of the late Captain W. Thornton-Duesbury, of Ballacosnahan, Patrick, and a brother of Mr. Hugh Thornton-Duesbury, of Ballaveare, Port Soderick.

He was a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and after being ordained at St. Paul’s Cathedral, held a curacy at St. George’s-in-the-East, London-where one of his fellow-curates was the Rev. R. D. Kermode, who was the vicar of Lezayre here in the Isle of Man.

Prior to taking up holy orders, he was for a number of years a lay worker at St. George’s, Douglas.

He lived for a while at St. Mark’s in Barrow upon Furness; St. Peter’s in Islington ; Leyton in Essex and also in Marylebone before he became the Bishop of Sodor and Man (which use to be the term for the Diocese of the Isle of Man).

Besides being a gifted preacher, he had a marked capacity for organisation ; he was chairman of the Sunday School Institute, chairman of the Home Committee of the Church Missionary Society, and vice-chairman of the Church of England Temperance Society in the London diocese, He was unmistakably an Evangelical.

He is well-remembered in the Isle of Man as a fine exponent of Rugby football.

He died, aged 61 on the 11th March 1928 leaving a son ‘Julian Percy Thornton-Duesbury’ who was the staunchly evangelical Master of St. Peters College, Oxford, and the principal of Whycliffe Hall, he also left a daughter called ‘Jean Constance Thornton-Duesbury‘ who moved back to the Isle of Man in 1939 and who was a very prominent member of the House of Keys between 1966 and 1976, she passed away late November 1997.

I have come across, this very edition on the internet for over £1700, and that is without the history that this one has… Though I am not looking for that much for this one.