Our Newest Oldest Item

At some point in the late 1970s, the librarian of Trenton Public Library, Dorothy Davies (1934-2020), purchased a copy of a King James Bible that had been published in London, England in 1701. The volume has recently been donated to the Community Archives by the Quinte West Public Library and will be on display in the Gerry Boyce Reading Room during December 2024. It is a large and impressive item, designed to be read at the pulpit of a church.

Dorothy Davies (later Dorothy Flindall) was an active member of the Anglican church, receiving the Anglican Award of Merit in 2007. This involvement gives us some insight into her motives for purchasing the volume, which, as far as we know, had no previous local connection to Trenton or Hastings County.

When purchased, the bible was in poor condition: in around 1979, Dorothy sent it to Ivar and Margit Heissler at the Crown Bindery Service in Frankford. They reported that the spine was "broken, the cover completely worn out and many pages torn and creased."

The Heisslers restored the bible by cleaning and repairing the pages, re-sewing the sections and covering the original boards of the volume with new leather. These steps were recorded in a comprehensive set of photographs and notes which were received with the book and which can also be seen as part of the Reading Room display.