1763 King James Bible – Matching Two-Volume Set – Mark Baskett, King's Printer to George III – With Apocrypha
A handsome and increasingly uncommon matching two-volume edition of the Holy Bible, printed in London in 1763 by Mark Baskett, Printer to King George III, and by the Assigns of Robert Baskett.
This is the Authorised or King James Version, printed during the reign of George III and now more than 260 years old.
The edition is bibliographically recorded as Darlow & Moule 1147 / ESTC T91954. The 1763 quarto edition comprises the Old Testament, Apocrypha and New Testament, the latter having its own separate title page dated MDCCLXIII (1763).
The two substantial volumes survive in matching period leather bindings with dark leather spines and contrasting red morocco title and volume labels lettered in gilt:
HOLY BIBLE – VOL I
HOLY BIBLE – VOL II
Particularly attractive hand-marbled endpapers survive within both volumes.
Volume I includes the Books of the Old Testament and volume II the Apocrypha, and the complete New Testament.
Mark Baskett and the Baskett family
The Baskett family occupies an important place in the history of the English Bible.
John Baskett established one of the great Bible-printing dynasties of the 18th century, obtaining control of Bible printing at Oxford in 1713 and producing numerous editions of the Authorised Version. His most famous production was the magnificent 1717 folio Bible, remembered today as the celebrated "Vinegar Bible." Bible printing subsequently passed through the Baskett family, with Mark Baskett continuing the business during the reign of George III. Historical research records Mark as carrying on the family printing concern until 1769.
As the title page proudly records, Mark Baskett was:
"Printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty."
This was not simply a decorative title. Baskett's press produced official government printing as well as Bibles and religious works during the reign of George III.
This particular edition was printed in 1763, the year traditionally associated with the transfer/consolidation of the Baskett printing operation in London and only a few years before the family's long association with the King's printing passed to John Eyre.
The volumes also possess an attractive 19th-century family provenance. One blank leaf carries a presentation inscription dated 10 September 1859, presenting the Bible to the writer's "Dear Sister Ann". Further handwritten family information appears elsewhere, including an early-19th-century birth record. Both volumes bear matching presentation inscriptions dated 10 September 1859, reading “This to my Dear Sister Ann, the wife of Thos. Gaukroger … Thos. Stansfield.” Research strongly identifies the recipient as Ann Stansfield (1824–1900), daughter of Abraham Stansfield of Todmorden, who married Thomas Gaukroger (1818–1861), a gardener and former live-in servant of her father; the couple had four children—Eliza, Mary Alice, Annie. Stansfield—and Ann lived at Vale Cottage, Todmorden. An earlier, very faint pencil family record on a rear blank appears to record a marriage at St Mary’s, Islington, on 15 July 1824, between G. C. Collinson and S. W. [surname indistinct], followed beneath a dividing line by the birth on 17 June 1825 of Mary Ann [middle name indistinct, Collinson. A George C. Collinson, upholsterer, is independently recorded in London in 1843 and who is a likely candidate. Taken together, the inscriptions indicate that this matching pair had an established family history extending from at least the 1820s, before being presented by Thomas Stansfield to his sister Anne Gaukroger in 1859.
Condition: The two volumes display some external wear consistent with their age and long history of use. The bindings have rubbing, scuffing to the corners, edges and spine extremities. The red leather spine labels survive and remain attractive. Internally there is expected age toning, foxing, spotting and occasional staining but text remains clean and readable throughout. The marbled endpapers remain particularly decorative. Please study all photographs carefully as they form an important part of the condition description.
An impressive Georgian King James Bible, combining the history of the Baskett printing dynasty, the royal printing privilege of George III, the Apocrypha, attractive matching bindings and more than two centuries of documented family ownership.
Each volume measures 25.5 x 21.3cm (10" x 8.4") .
