Of Publick Authority in the Church of Scotland
Together with associated Acts of Assembly and Parliamentary material relating to the doctrine, worship, discipline and government of the Church of Scotland and the Covenanted Reformation.
Edinburgh: Printed by Thomas Lumisden and John Robertson, 1725.
A substantial and highly interesting early eighteenth-century collection of the historic doctrinal and ecclesiastical standards of the Church of Scotland, incorporating the Westminster Standards together with earlier Scottish Reformed confessions, covenants, books of discipline and associated ecclesiastical and parliamentary documents.
The bibliographical record for this edition gives the complete pagination as xv, [1], 560 pages, octavo, and notes that the various constituent works have their own separate title pages while retaining continuous pagination and register.
This copy retains numerous attractive divisional title pages dated 1725, printed at Edinburgh by Thomas Lumisden and John Robertson.
Among the material contained in the volume are the Geneva Confession of Faith, Scots Confession of Faith, Craig's Catechism, National Covenant, Solemn League and Covenant, Westminster Confession of Faith, Larger Catechism, Shorter Catechism, Sum of Saving Knowledge, Directory for Public Worship, Directory for Family Worship, Form of Presbyterial Church Government, First and Second Books of Discipline, material concerning church censures and ordination, and a collection of Acts and Ordinances relating to the Scottish Covenanted Reformation.
The 1725 Lumisden and Robertson collection is recognised bibliographically as an edition of the Scottish Presbyterian/Westminster Standards, and contemporary library records confirm the Edinburgh imprint and date.
Date: 1725
Place: Edinburgh
Printers: Thomas Lumisden and John Robertson
Format: Octavo
Dimensions: approximately 169 × 100 × 45 mm
Weight: approximately 377 g
Surviving pagination: v–xv, [1], 1–556, with losses as detailed below.
Incomplete copy, sold with all faults and carefully described.
The volume has been rebound at a later date in plain brown cloth, with gilt lettering and date to the spine. The later binding is sound and functional and the surviving leaves are secure.
The leaves show considerable general browning, toning, occasional spotting, staining, handling marks and other signs of age and use consistent with a book now approximately three centuries old.
The principal defects noted are as follows: preliminary pagination begins at v, whereas the bibliographical collation calls for xv preliminary pages; p.51 has a long tear at the inner edge with some loss of text; the fore-corner of the leaf comprising pp.191/192 is defective with a small amount of text lost; there is an apparent early pagination irregularity around pp.214–217, although the text itself appears to continue; pp.434–448 bear water staining; pp.547/548 are absent; there is also corner loss in this latter portion of the volume as shown; and the surviving text terminates at p.556, whereas the complete edition should extend to p.560. Consequently the final leaves are absent.
Approximately half a dozen leaves also contain old ink scribbling/doodling, largely confined to blank areas or margins. Example in photographs.
Despite these faults, this remains a substantial surviving example of an uncommon 1725 Scottish Presbyterian collection, preserving a remarkable range of foundational documents associated with the Scottish Reformation, Covenanters and Westminster Assembly in a single early eighteenth-century volume.
The many separately printed-looking title pages are a feature of the original publication rather than evidence that unrelated works were subsequently assembled: the bibliographical record specifically notes separate title pages with continuous pagination and register.
An interesting antiquarian volume particularly suited to a collection concerned with Scottish church history, Presbyterianism, Covenanters, Westminster Standards, Reformed theology or eighteenth-century Scottish printing.
Please study all photographs carefully. They form an important part of the condition description.
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