A large pulpit folio of the Book of Common Prayer Bible printed by John Baskett in 1735, measuring 40 x 26cm (15.75" x 10.24"). Original leather cover, clean text and complete, two loose pages at the beginning of The Liturgy, some marks, and rubbing to the cover, but generally good condition, bound together with "THE WHOLE BOOK OF PSALMS" by Thomas Sternhold, John Hopkins and others, printed in London by John Marsh for the Company of Stationers in M DCC XXXV. 
 
The title page reads:
"THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENTS, AND OTHER Rites and 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 and Form or Manner of Making, Ordaining and Consecrating Bishops, Priest and Deacons The Gift of JOHN POLLEXFEN OF MOTHECO MBE ESQUIRE MAY XXIV ADOM: MDCCXXXVIII. LONDON: Printed by John BASKETT, Printer to the UNIVERSITY M DCC XXXV."
 
The reference to John Pollexfen means 'This book was presented as a gift by John Pollexfen of Mothecombe, Esquire, on May 24th, 1738." Such inscriptions marked the donor's contribution and served as a record of benefaction, commonly found in church or institutional copies of important religious works. John Pollexfen (1636–1715), of Walbrooke House in the parish of St Stephen Walbrook, City of London and of Wembury House in Devon, was a merchant, a courtier to Kings Charles II and William III, and a political economist who served four times as a Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle in Devon, in 1679, 1681, 1689 and 1690, as the death of John Pollexfen precedes the date of publication, it is likely that this was a bequest.
 
John Baskett (1664/5–1742), was the King's Printer for England. His sons, Thomas and Robert, and grandson by the latter, Mark, were also engaged in the press. By purchasing reversion of the King's Printer position, Baskett kept it in the family for the following generations.
 
The first Bible printed by 'the assigns of Newcomb and Hills' appeared in 1710, and the name of John Baskett was first added to theirs upon a New Testament in 1712. Baskett began to print the Book of Common Prayer in the following year. He was made master of the Company of Stationers in 1714 and again in 1715. Four editions of the Bible (folio, quarto, octavo, and duodecimo) appeared with his imprint in 1715. His next publication was an edition in two volumes, imperial folio, printed at Oxford (the Old Testament in 1717 and New Testament in 1716), a work of great typographical beauty, styled by Dibdin 'the most magnificent' of the Oxford Bibles. 
 
Three copies on vellum have been traced: one in the British Museum, one in the Bodleian Library, and a third formerly at Blenheim. Daniel Prince, writing on 4 June 1795, says: 'Great care was taken to preserve the waste of that book, and indeed of some few others of Baskett's printing worth preserving. About the year 1762 all Basket's stock, &c., was removed to London. 
 
The name of John Baskett is last seen in a New Testament of 1742. He died on 22 June of that year. His sons Thomas and Robert printed the Old Testament in 1743. The name of Thomas alone appears in Bibles after 1744, and the imprint so continued down until 1769. He issued editions of the Prayer Book between 1746 and 1757. We find that 'Mark Baskett and the assigns of Robert Barker' printed two quarto bibles in London in 1761 and 1763, and a folio prayer-book in 1760. With the name of Mark Baskett is connected a remarkable bibliographical mystery. Isaiah Thomas, our chief authority for the history of printing in North America, assures us that 'Kneeland and Green' printed at Boston in about 1752, was the first Bible printed in America in the English language.
 
The Worshipful Company of Stationers, usually known as the Stationers' Company, is one of the livery companies of the City of London.The Stationers' Company was formed in 1403 and it received a royal charter in 1557. It held a monopoly over the publishing industry and was officially responsible for setting and enforcing regulations until the enactment of the Statute of Anne, also known as the Copyright Act 1710.