[A booke of Christian prayers, collected out of the auncient writers, and best learned in our tyme, worthy to be read with an earnest mynde of all Christians, in these daungerous and troublesome dayes, that God for Christes sake will yet still be mercyfull unto us.]

1578 Queen Elizabeth’s Prayer Book with Historiated Borders on Every Page with Scenes from the Life of Christ and the Dance of Death

Description: London: Richard Day, 1578. 4to (approx. 7.5" x 5.5"). Facsimile title page without the image of Elizabeth on the verso. The text features 146 cuts in various borders around every page, with footpieces specifically related to each series. Twenty-seven cuts of the Virtues and Sacraments, twelve detailing The Works Of Mercy, nine of the Five Senses, fifteen of Signs of the Coming End, thirty-nine from the Dance of Death, and forty-four various cuts depicting the life of Christ. The woodcuts have been attributed to Durer, Francis Frey (his wife) and Hans Holbein. The devotional work assimilates traditional material from primers, the Catholic liturgy, and continental texts into a new Protestant context of private devotions.

Collation: [hand]^4 (-[hand]^4), A^2 (-A^2), B-Y^4, Aa-Oo^4 (-Oo^4). Lacks title (in facsimile), five prelims, and final four leaves (two leaves of Prayers and two leaves of Tables).

Binding: Expertly rebound brown calf in period style. Spine with five raised blind-lined raised bands. Covers rolled in blind with diaper framework surrounded by a concentric rectangular frame. Endpapers renewed.

Condition: B1 trimmed to all edges but reducing lower border only; occasional marginal staining; Q2 loss to upper half of leaf, repaired with tissue; Ll pulled; Mm3 small upper marginal loss; Mm4-Nn4 fore-edge reinforced without loss.

Provenance: “Thomas Lambe owneth this booke, 1619” to top of preface. “J.P. Harthan, London, July 1948 from Arthur Wheen” to front blank leaf. Harthan worked at the Victoria and Albert Museum and includes a description of how he acquired the book from Athur Wheen, keeper of the library. From the estate of Bowdoin Professor William Collins Watterson.

Note: The scarce first edition of Queen Elizabeth’s prayer book, the only English prayer book patterned after the traditional Parisian Book of Hours. Gewirtz mentions “Of the books of private prayers authorized for use during Elizabeth's reign, this version . . . was particularly popular for its many woodcut illustrations and decorated and historiated borders” (But One Use, GTS, p. 31).

References: ESTC S121845; Luborsky & Ingram 6429.

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