This series contains English-language Bibles - in various editions and translations - used by Mary Andrews. Bibles that have been retained are ones that contain clear signs of use as well as underlined passages and marginal annotations, and in some cases handwritten inserts.
Additionally, some Bibles have been preserved due to the historical interest of their provenance. Mary had possession of a Bible owned by former Archbishop of Sydney (and missionary to China) Mowll, presented to her as a keepsake after his death, as well as a New Testament commemorating the death of the late Archbishop's father. A nearly-pristine illustrated Bible presented to Mary before her departure on missionary service (but to all appearances not taken on that voyage and never used) has similarly been preserved.
Deaconess Andrews frequently left scraps of annotated paper, bookmarks and old envelopes inserted to mark places in the volumes, and these have been left in their original position where possible and desirable. While some of the inserts include annotations of particular relevance to the passage they mark, in many cases it is clear that they were used as bookmarks only with no relevance to the wider context.
A small number of Bibles has been disposed of due to a lack of historical interest - easily-obtainable translations with no features particular to Mary Andrews other than an occasional bookmark. Chinese Bibles have not been included in this series, and neither have other religious texts (such as Prayer Books).
