Discovery of Biblical Proportions

126 year-old Bible was on display in the Port Angeles Goodwill.
 It is available for viewing in the Sequim goodwill until July 6.

A historical 1866 pictorial family Bible is on display at the Sequim Goodwill after being found in a plastic bag in the donations.

“This is an extremely rare piece of religious history,” said Brandi Donovan, an e-sales employee in Sequim who found the The Parallel Bible while going through donations June 14.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime find,” she said.

Donovan, who works online for shopgoodwill.com, said she would never sell the Bible.

Instead, it is probably destined for display in Tacoma.

She has never seen a Bible like this before, she said.

It contains 3,000 illustrations, the Bible says on its spine.

Nearly every page of the 17-pound book features an illustration, either in color or in black and white.

Both the cover and the spine of the Bible are broken. It has many loose pages. The edges of the first pages of the Bible are tattered, as well.

Donovan estimated the value of the Bible between $500 and $2,000, although no formal appraisal has been done of it.

But to believers, she said, this book is priceless.

This book has probably seen more excitement in the last two weeks than in the last 100 years, Donovan said.

The Bible was on display –– not for sale –– at the Goodwill in Port Angeles from June 18 until Friday.

The display featured the Bible with a cross on a necklace laying across it, a plaque with the Ten Commandments, a portrait of Jesus Christ and candles.

Customers have asked to buy the decorations that were in the display, but haven’t asked for the Bible, Port Angeles Goodwill employee Cindy Bronson said.

The Bible is now on display at Goodwill in Sequim, 680 W. Washington St., until this coming Friday.

This 126-year-old Bible was an old family Bible, Donovan said, adding that such Bibles generally are passed down through families.

Inside the Bible, a notation says that it had been presented to William H. Duvall from his son in 1887.

It also contained a lock of hair and pressed flowers.

“It’s too bad we can’t contact the people who donated it,” Donovan said.

“The Bible will be coming down to Goodwill headquarters for safe keeping,” said Manda Bedell, public relations for Goodwill.

There are no plans at this time to display it in Tacoma at this time, but Goodwill has no plans of selling it, Bedell added.

Donovan agreed.

“I wouldn’t sell something as unique as this,” Donovan said.

Donovan prepares the bible for transport
 to the Sequim Goodwill by wrapping
it in several sweatshirts.

The spine and cover of the Bible are cracked
 and broken. There are several loose pages.

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Published in Peninsula Daily News - www.peninsuladailynews.com