Magnificent Large Folio Book of Common Prayer – Thomas Baskett, King's Printer, London 1754 – with 1752 Sternhold & Hopkins Psalms.
An imposing mid-18th-century Church of England Book of Common Prayer, printed in London in 1754 by Thomas Baskett, Printer to King George II, and by the Assigns of Robert Baskett.
A particularly impressive large folio edition measuring approximately 40 × 26.5 cm, retaining its handsome engraved frontispiece depicting St Paul's Cathedral and striking title page printed in red and black beneath the Royal Arms.
The title page gives the original price as “Eight Shillings Unbound.”
The volume contains the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, together with the Psalter or Psalms of David, the calendar and tables of lessons, Morning and Evening Prayer, Communion, baptismal services, forms for the ordination and consecration of bishops, priests and deacons, special historical services including that commemorating deliverance from the Gunpowder Plot, and the Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical.
Especially interestingly, the volume concludes with a separately printed metrical Psalter dated 1752:
The Whole Book of Psalms, Collected into English Metre, by Thomas Sternhold, John Hopkins and Others, printed in London by James Roberts for the Company of Stationers.
The Baskett printing dynasty
The Baskett family occupied an important position in the history of English printing. John Baskett acquired the highly valuable royal privilege for printing authorised Bibles in the early 18th century and established a printing dynasty whose members served as King's Printers for several decades. Following John's death in 1742, his sons Thomas and Robert Baskett continued the family's printing interests. Thomas's editions of the Bible and Book of Common Prayer consequently carry the prestigious designation “Printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty.” The Baskett family's association with royal and biblical printing continued until 1769.
The Baskett name is particularly celebrated among collectors of early English Bibles: John Baskett was responsible for the celebrated great folio Bible of 1717, subsequently nicknamed the “Vinegar Bible.”
This substantial 1754 Prayer Book was therefore produced by one of the most important families associated with the printing of the English Bible and Church of England liturgy during the Georgian period.
Condition: An impressive but well-used approximately 272-year-old volume showing considerable evidence of its long working life. Bound in heavily worn 18th-century panelled calf with substantial rubbing, scuffing and leather loss, worn corners and edges, and an extensive old vellum repair to the spine. Internally there is age-related toning, spotting, staining, creasing and marginal wear, together with tears and weakness/separation to some gatherings, particularly around the Psalter. Nevertheless, the printed text remains remarkably clean, crisp and strongly impressed, and the engraved St Paul's frontispiece and red-and-black title page display particularly well.
Please study the photographs carefully as they form an important part of the condition description. The volume has not been collated leaf-by-leaf and is therefore offered without a guarantee of absolute completeness.
A highly decorative and historically interesting survivor from the reign of George II, particularly appealing to collectors of Georgian books, Church of England history, early printing, Books of Common Prayer and the celebrated Baskett printing dynasty.
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