My father, Thomas Sayer Volans, was a Church of England clergyman with two parishes in Cambridgeshire: Rector of Little Eversden, and Vicar of Great Eversden from 1939 until his death in 1978. I think he bought or was given this Bible when he went to study theology at Cambridge University in 1928; so it may be well over seventy years old.
The Holy Bible Containing the Old & New Testaments Translated Out of the Original Tongues And With the Former Translations Diligently Compared & Revised By His Majesty's Special Command Appointed To Be Read In Churches. Authorized King James Version
I remember him holding it in the particular way he had as he walked down the lane from the Rectory to St Helen’s Church to take the Morning Services. I remember seeing it lying on the desk in his study. He always had it to hand. He took his role as a Rector and his calling to the Church very seriously; and wore his vestments – the black cassock, pristine white surplice, and black stole. with pride.
When my father died most of his library was disposed of – it had little commercial value. But my mother took the Bible and one or two special books to her new home, where it was then forgotten until I found it while clearing my Mother’s house after she died in 2018. It was in constant use for nearly 40 years and then neglected for 40 years.
The soft leather cover is dry and losing it colour, the spine is damaged at the top and bottom, and several pages are coming away from the binding. The text is silk bound, in small font with a central column of notes or concordance, on very fine Indian paper with red and gold edging; at the back, on1 coarser paper, are fourteen maps of the Holy Lands. I am sad that it has lost the title page where he would have written his name in his big handwriting.
I adored and admired my father. In remembering and treasuring his Bible, I feel that I am respecting his work and life. During the first Covid lockdown I wrote and illustrated a small book, Most People Came in the Back Door2 about growing up in that Cambridgeshire Rectory. I drew pictures of the house, rooms, and village from memory, and added old photos. As I drew my father’s study and the Bible, I suddenly realised it was the only thing I have that belonged to him.
Most People Came in the Back Door is available at Lulu. You may also be interested in Elizabeth Adeline’s earlier book, Every Drop of Water