Bible Coverlet
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- Maker:
- Harle, Catherine
- Date:
- 1890 - 1899
This coverlet was thought to have been made by Catherine Harle in Spennymoor, County Durham, in the last decades of the 19th Century. Known as the Bible Coverlet, it consists of printed cotton blocks of different background colours that have religious quotations, musical scores and biblical illustrations.
The Coverlet must have been constructed after 1876, as the printed religious blocks were the work of Robert Mimpress, a Victorian Evangelist. His aim was to use every day domestic textiles to communicate a devout religious message to its' user. He devoted a large portion of his time to designing a series of different blocks, of which 126 have so far been identified in the 8 recorded and remaining coverlets that contain them. After his death in 1876, his widow continued his work and sold the designs as sets of blocks or ready made up quilts.
