#embroideredbindings

This bible belonged to Mary Sandwith, who also likely crafted the embroidered chemise. The bible itself is bound in calf and covered with canvas stitched with a vibrant bargello or flame stitch pattern.  Mary's name is stitched on the spine, along with the date, 1743, her eleventh year.  Mary was the sister of Elizabeth Drinker, the famous diarist.  A similar chemise covers Elizabeth's bible, which is in the collections at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.