Beschreibung:

CHURCH OF ENGLAND, Liturgy]. The Book of Common-Prayer, And Administration of the Sacraments And Other Rites & Ceremonies of the Church, According to the Use of the Church of England, Together with the Psalter or Psalms of David, Pointed as they are to be Sung or Said in Churches . [New York:] Printed and Sold by William Bradford at the Sign of the Bible, in New York, 1706. Cum Privilegio . 4 o (201 x 148 mm). 168 leaves. Collation : π 2 (-1 woodcut or blank) (a)-(c) 4 λ 4 2 (a) 2 ; A-Q 4 R 4 (R2+1) S-2B 4 2C-2E 2 ; 2 A-x 2 . Contents : π2 Title (verso blank), (a)1 ("Rules for the more devout Behaviour in the time of Divine Service in the Church of England. With some Explanations of the Common-Prayer"; (c)4r blank), λ(Church calendar, printed 2 months to the page; "A Table of and [sic] Movable Feasts Calculated for Forty Years," table "To Find Easter forever"), 2 (a)1 (directions for readings from psalter and scripture, table of "Proper Lessons" etc.), A1 (text of the Book of Common Prayer); 2 A1 ("A New Version of the Psalms of David, Fitted to the Tunes Used in Churches. By N. Tate and N. Brady," with a table and explanatory "Directions about the Tunes and Measures" on 2 X1 (p.[79]), last p. blank) Condition : Lacks first leaf (perhaps with woodcut Royal arms, as in the unique perfect copy of the 1710 edition), some headlines and catchwords very slightly shaved by binder, small paper flaws in margins of several leaves, small stain to lower margins of gathering O, final two leaves ( X 1-2) torn at inner margin affecting a few letters of index, some gatherings evenly browned, BUT AN EXCELLENT COPY, ONE OF TWO EXTANT, THE ONLY COPY WITH COMPLETE TEXT, IN UNRESTORED CONDITION AND IN ITS ORIGINAL BINDING. Binding : Original dark sheep, covers with triple-ruled borders at edges, a single central panel of triple-rules, faint evidence of speckling in inner panel (shaken, free endpapers lacking, leather cracked and worn, spine defective). References : Not in Evans; see Beverly McAnear, "William Bradford and the Book of Common Prayer," in Papers of the Bibliographical Society , vol. 43 (1949), 101-110. For Bradford's 1710 reprint, see Evans 1454 and 1444 (Psalter); ESTC W029994; Sabin 64998; Horatio Gates Jones, Some Account of the Book of Common Prayer , Printed A.D. 1710, by William Bradford Privately Printed, 1870; ; Grolier Club, New York, Catalogue of Books Printed by William Bradford , [New York], 1893, no.47; D.N. Griffiths, The Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer , 1710/9. On Bradford, see Alexander J. Wall, Jr., "William Bradford, Colonial Printer. A Tercentenary Review," in Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society , 1963, pp.361-384; James N. Green, "The Middle Colonies 1680-1720," in The History of the Book in America , ed. Hugh Amory and David D. Hall, pp.210-215. ONE OF ONLY TWO SURVIVING COPIES OF THE FIRST BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER PRINTED IN AMERICA AND THE FIRST AMERICAN EDITION OF THE TATE AND BRADY METRICAL PSALMS The discovery of a virtually complete copy of a substantial (300pp.) and textually important colonial imprint is remarkable news. This copy is one of only two extant copies of an edition of 1000, and is the most complete. (The other copy, in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, on deposit at the Library Company of Philadelphia, also lacks the first leaf, has a defective title, with loss of most of the imprint, some Calendar leaves partly defective, lacks signature Ee and all except the first two leaves of the Psalms). William Bradford arrived in Philadelphia in 1685 with a press and an assortment of types. As the son-in-law of Andrew Sowle, a successful London printer associated with the Society of Friends, he found no shortage of work. He contracted with the Quakers to print tracts and other matter and soon invested in a local paper-mill. In 1688 he circulated a subscription proposal for a folio Bible with marginal notes and with the Book of Common Prayer appended