[Bible in English] | The Holy Bible and The Book of Common Prayer in a magnificent binding

[Bible in English] 

The Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New. London: Robert Barker, 1602. Text in double columns, black letter, title within woodcut border, calendar and almanac printed in red and black with typographical ornamentation, woodcut and letterpress, full-page woodcut of Adam and Eve before Genesis, a few woodcuts in text, woodcut initials; some light toning and spotting.

[With:]

The Book of Common Prayer. London: John Bill & Christopher Barker, [1662]. Black letter, architectural engraved title by David Loggan after Jan Barista Carspars [Johnson: Loggan 3], calendar printed in red and black, manuscript leaf listing the Sherard family with their birthdates bound in.

Together 2 volumes, large folios (Bible 415 x 264mm; Common Prayer 425 x 264 mm). Late eighteenth— or early nineteenth-century russia over oak boards with inward beveled edges, tooled in blind with silver clasps, corner— and centerpieces (hallmarked 1825), calf doublures richly gilt with entwined leafy sprays and tendrils, vellum endpapers with gilt stamped design, bookplate of John William Pease to centers, bookplate of D.B. to rear, all edges gilt and gauffered in the manner of Charles Lewis; rebacked, with some further expert repairs by Birdsall, white adhesive tape to spine of Bible.

Magnificently bound, the last edition of the bishops' bible and the editio princeps of the modern prayer book, with illustrious provenance.

The 1602 pulpit folio Bishops' Bible was used as the base text for the King James Bible in 1611. Robert Barker provided forty unbound copies of this bible for the project, and both in form and text it closely resembles the King James edition more than any other.

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer is here printed on thick, wide-margined paper. The accession of Charles II in 1660 brought the Book of Common Prayer back into favor, but not without controversy over textual matters between the Presbyterian divines and the Church of England. In an effort to unify the country, Charles established a Royal Commission of twelve state-created bishops and twelve non-states divines with the authority to advise upon a revision of the book. The result of the great Savoy Conference, as it was known, was the alteration of some six hundred passages. On 19 May 1662, Charles gave his Royal Assent and the book was published thus. For the next 300 years, it was left mostly unmodified.

The Sherard family is listed as follows:

Lucy Eleanor Sherard, born 21 May 1792

Anna Maria Sherard, born 22 Sept 1793

Sophia Sheard, born 16 November 1795

Robert Sherard, born 26 August 1797, also known as 6th Earl of Harborough, styled Lord Sherard

Jane Sherard, born 21 June 1799

Charlotte Sherard, born 31 March 1801

Susan Sherard, born 1 July 1802

The Sherard family were an important aristocratic family. Robert Sherard inherited the peerage from his father, Philip Sherard. Of his six sisters, Lady Lucy married the politician Henry Lowther, Lady Anna married William Cuffe, Lady Sophia married Sir Thomas Whichcote and William Evans-Freke after his death and Lady Susan married General John Reeve. Robert never married, instead having a longterm relationship with a married woman, the actress Emma Sarah Calcroft Kennedy, with whom he said two illegitimate children but none which would constitute a legitimate heir. His library was sold in London by Replica Shoes , Wilkinson & Hodge on 9 June 1864. Pease married Helen Mary Fox (1838–1928) (of the Fox family of Falmouth). In partnership with his brother-in-law Thomas Hodgkin, he founded the Newcastle bank of Hodgkin, Barnett, Pease, Spence & Co that became part of Lloyds Bank in 1902.

REFERENCE:

The Holy Bible—Herbert 271; STC 2188; ESTC S122093

Book of Common Prayer—Wing B3622; Griffiths, p.108 1662:1(2), royal folio edition

PROVENANCE:

The Sherard family (manuscript leaf and crest to centrepieces) — John William Pease (1836–1901) (bookplate) thus by descent to the heirs of Wardington; offered at Replica Shoes 's Wardington Library sale, 12 July 2006, lot 59