A Virginia man who had gone to drop off his trash at the Route 41 dump bin was caught to his surprise when he found a 188-year-old King James Bible along with other books in a box meant for disposal. The man, who's fending off offers approaching $1,000, says the price offered for the ancient Bible is not realistic and thus would "hold on to it for now."

In an interview with the Danville Register and Bee, electrician Michael Hoskins, who discovered the rare, ancient Bible, said, "I go up there all the time to drop off my household trash, and there it was. There were three or four boxes of books leaning up against the concrete wall behind the Dumpsters."

Hoskins revealed that he "found the Bible in four pieces, put them together and took it home."

According to Hoskins' research, the sheepskin-covered book was printed in Pittsburgh in 1818 and is one of less than half dozen copies in existence.

The otherwise intact Bible appeared to have fire damage and had watermarks on some of its inner pages.

"You can also see where it survived a fire at one time," he said. "I was always told a Bible wouldn't burn and have seen it before in other church and house fires."

Hoskins, who researched the Bible's history, discovered that it belonged to the Enoch family.

Enoch was born on Jan. 25, 1775, and he and his children are listed on the outer pages.

"I talked to a man named James Lockhart in Coolville, Ohio, and he claims to be a direct descendant of Isaac," Hoskins said.

The 71-year-old Lockhart told Hoskins that he has researched his family genealogy for 40 years and always felt there had to be a family Bible out there.