Book Of Common Prayer & Book Of Psalms Printed 1729 Red-Ruled

A handsome and evocative early Georgian devotional volume, containing the Book of Common Prayer together with The Whole Book of Psalms, Collected into English Metre by Thomas Sternhold, John Hopkins, and others.

Printed in London in 1729 for the Company of Stationers, this compact Anglican service book survives in its original, heavily worn but characterful calf binding. Its pages remain notably clean and well-preserved, with handsome red-ruled borders, crisp typography, and decorative woodcut initials throughout.

Bibliographic Details

The Whole Book of Psalms, Collected into English Metre, by Thomas Sternhold, John Hopkins, and Others.
London: Printed by William Pearson, for the Company of Stationers, 1729.

Bound with the Book of Common Prayer, including the calendar, tables of movable feasts, morning and evening prayer, the Communion service, collects, readings for feast days, and other offices of the Church of England.

The Psalms title page is present and gives the clear 1729 imprint. The calendar and feast tables likewise correspond closely with this date.

The Book of Common Prayer

For centuries, the Book of Common Prayer was among the most influential books ever printed in English. First compiled in the sixteenth century during the English Reformation, it standardized the services of the Church of England and shaped the language of public worship, marriage, burial, baptism, confession, and private devotion.

By the time this copy was printed, the Prayer Book had been familiar to English households and parish churches for generations. It was not merely a religious text but a book woven into everyday life, heard aloud in churches each Sunday and consulted at major moments of birth, marriage, death, celebration, and national crisis.

The Sternhold and Hopkins Psalms

The accompanying Psalter is the famous metrical translation associated with Thomas Sternhold, John Hopkins, and other Elizabethan translators.

Rather than presenting the Psalms as prose Scripture, this version rendered them into English verse so that they could be sung by congregations. It became the most widely used English metrical psalter for generations and was an especially familiar feature of Anglican worship from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries.

This title page is a particularly pleasing survival, as the opening leaves of the Psalms section were often vulnerable to loss through use.

Binding

Bound in contemporary or near-contemporary full calf, with decorative blind-rolled borders to both boards and a raised-band spine.

The binding has seen considerable use over nearly three centuries. The leather is heavily rubbed and worn, the joints are weakened, and the spine has substantial loss and surface deterioration. Nevertheless, the book retains an attractive untouched quality and presents as an honest, original working devotional volume rather than a later restoration.

The marbled endpapers are an attractive period feature and complement the restrained Georgian binding well.

Condition

• The boards are heavily rubbed/scuffed
• worn at the edges and corners, with pronounced wear to the spine and joints
• The text block is complete
• strong surviving red rules.
• Some expected age toning, occasional marks, creasing, and signs of handling are present. 

Please study photographs carefully for the full condition and character of the volume.

Historical Context: Britain in 1729

This book was printed during the reign of King George II, who had ascended the throne only two years earlier in 1727.

Britain in 1729 was becoming an increasingly powerful commercial, naval, and imperial nation. London had grown into one of Europe’s great cities, overseas trade was rapidly expanding, and the country was entering the long period of relative political stability associated with the government of Sir Robert Walpole.

Religious life remained deeply structured around the Church of England. The Book of Common Prayer was at the heart of parish worship throughout England and Wales, while the old Sternhold and Hopkins Psalms continued to be sung in churches, homes, and religious gatherings.

This was a period before the great evangelical revivals of John Wesley and George Whitefield had fully transformed English religious life. A book such as this represents the established Anglican world of Georgian Britain: formal, communal, traditional, and rooted in the rhythms of the church year.

A Fine Early Georgian Survival

An appealing 1729 Church of England Prayer Book and metrical Psalter, with a confirmed London imprint, attractive red-ruled pages, clean internal condition, and an original binding bearing nearly three centuries of honest wear.

A wonderful piece for collectors of early Anglican printing, English devotional books, Georgian bindings, church history, or the history of the English Reformation and its long afterlife.

Dimensions:

• Weight - 550g
• Height - 19.5cm
• Width - 12.5cm
• Thickness - 3.5cm