[Rarebooks] fa: BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER - JOHN BASKERVILLE - 1762

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, along with several other 18th- and 19th-century titles,  
auctions ending Sunday, Sept. 26. Details and images can be found at  
the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/yhk74ma
OR
http://shop.ebay.com/arch_in_la/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

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. Cambridge: Printed  
by John Baskerville, Printer to the University; by whom they are sold,  
and by B. Dod, Bookseller, in Ave-Mary Lane, London, MDCCLXII [1762].  
Thick 8vo (23 cm) in full dark blue-green polished morocco, gilt- 
tooled floral borders on covers, spine with raised bands, elaborately  
decorated in gilt; all page edges gilt; unpaginated; final leaf is  
Tt4. Original printed tissue strip affixed over the price on the title- 
page. Gaskell 19; ESTC T87227.

John Baskerville (1706-1775) made his fortune in japan-work and lost  
nearly all of it as a printer and type-founder. But while financially  
ruinous, his printed works, with their bold, clean simplicity, their  
wide margins and innovative use of leading between each line, earned  
him worldwide fame—Benjamin Franklin was an ardent admirer. His name  
has since become synonymous with fine printing and craftsmanship, and  
variations on his "Baskerville" typeface are still in wide use today.  
Interestingly for a non-believer, two of his finest achievements were  
religious works, the magnificent folio Bible of 1763 and the Book of  
Common Prayer on offer here.

Flawed but still handsome binding well worth restoration/repair: lower  
half of front hinge splitting, exterior rear hinge lightly cracked,  
spine crown leather broken and repaired, shelf-wear to the bottom  
edges, modest rubbing to the boards, corners lightly bumped; very  
light scattered foxing to the margins of some leaves, crack to gutter  
between leaves a3 and a4; otherwise clean and sound, firmly bound.  
Early ownership signature on the title-page.