Friday, September 21, 2012

On finding a used R. L. Allan Long Primer Bible

 
 
Back when I visited Ron Young, Sr. he showed me his R. L. Allan & Son (a family owned bindery in Glasgow, Scotland since 1863) Long Primer KJV.  Then, when a brother Pastor visited CRBC from Orlando this summer, he also brought along his R. L. Allan Long Primer.  These are beautiful books.  They have rich, supple covers and are printed on strong India paper.  With my eyes weakening, I particularly like the large, readable font size.  For more on Allan Bibles look here.
 
Most folk who know me know I like to visit used bookstores. I usually enjoy buying a used book more than a new one.  So, this week I go into one of my favorite used bookstores in C-ville (Daedalus Bookshop off the Downtown Mall), looking for a used copy of Foxe's Book of Martyrs for Sam and Lydia to read for a school assigment, when what do I run across but a black R. L. Allan & Son Long Primer, Oxford Edition.  It had some highlighting in a few chapters in Genesis, Exodus, and Galatians and a child had gotten hold of it and scribbled in pencil on the front and back notes pages.  The cover is "Persian Morocco" and not the more high dollar "Highland Goatskin," and the red and gold gilt edges are faded, but what a beautiful copy of the Bible.  I purchased it for $8 and took it home to scrub the cover and erase the pencil markings.  It now doesn't look half bad and handles like it could be a good preaching Bible.  Here are a few more pics:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

1 comment:

A J Bergren said...

Thanks for this article. Nice old Longprimer you have there.