“AS A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION, IT IS FOR MOST ENGLISHMEN SECOND ONLY TO THE BIBLE”: ILLUSTRATED 1678 BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER WITH 50 HAND-COLORED ENGRAVED PLATES, IN RICHLY TOOLED CONTEMPORARY CALF WITH SILVER FITTINGS
BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. The Book of Common Prayer… and Administration of the Sacraments, and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church… Together with the Psalter or Psalms of David. London: John Bill, Christopher Barker, Thomas Newcomb, and Henry Hills, 1678. 12mo, contemporary full crimson calf, elaborately blind-tooled covers and spine, contemporary silver cornerpieces, armorial centerpieces and clasps, raised bands, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt and gauffered. Housed in a custom clamshell box.
1678 London edition of the beloved Book of Common Prayer, illustrated with 50 detailed and brightly hand-colored engraved plates, handsomely bound in contemporary elaborately tooled calf with engraved silver cornerpieces, centerpieces, catches and clasps.
Born of Thomas Cranmer's desire for liturgical texts upon which all of Europe's Protestant, English-speaking churches could agree, the beautiful and dignified language of the Book of Common Prayer, first issued in 1549, has considerably influenced not only ecclesiastical practice but also literature in English. "The language of the Prayer Book is now part of the whole language… and as a source of spiritual inspiration, it is for most Englishmen second only to the Bible" (PMM 75). This 1678 London edition is illustrated with 50 engraved and vividly hand-colored plates depicting Jesus' life and ministry, numerous apostles and saints, as well as a frontispiece portrait of King Charles II and plates depicting the Gunpowder Plot [facing R10], the execution of King Charles I [facing R12], and the restoration of King Charles II [facing S3]. Bound with a contemporary edition of Sternhold and Hopkins' popular metrical psalter. Griffiths 1678:4. Engraved armorial bookplate; late 19th-century owner family notations to front flyleaf in a neat hand.
Minor marginal wear to frontispiece just touching image, text and plates generally clean and fine, with vivid coloring. Joints expertly repaired. A beautifully bound copy with engraved silver fittings in excellent condition.