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THE
RADFORD HRAYER ROOK
THE BRADFORD PRAYER BOOK
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PRINTED A. D. 171 o,
BY
WILLIAM BRADFORD,
UNDER THE AUSPICES OF
TRINITY CHURCH, NEW YORK.
The first edition of that book ever printed on the American Continent.
PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR
HORATIO GATES JONES.
1870.
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[From the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, July 15, 1870.]
HE LOVERS of early and rare Ameri-
can books, and especially such of them
as belong to the Protestant Episcopal
Church, have recently had a gratifica-
tion by the discovery of a copy of the
first edition of the^ cc Book of Common
Prayer" ever printed on this continent.
The fact that an edition of the volume had been
printed by William Bradford, the first printer of the
Middle States and an early vestryman of Trinity
Church, New York, somewhere between the years
1704 and 1714 was noted by Mr. John William
Wallace in his admirable address before the Histori-
cal Society of New York, on the occasion of the
bicentenary celebration of Bradford's birth, in New
York, on the 2oth of May, 1863, by Trinity Church
and the Historical Society just named. But the
evidence of the publication rested wholly on early
records of Trinity Church which Mr. Wallace had
M1J34G11
The First American
been allowed to inspect. No copy of the book could
then be found in New York, nor was there any evi-
dence that any had ever been seen, and Mr. Wallace,
in his printed address, stated that he was quite
unable to say whether or not "any copy of this
Editio princeps Americana of a book which now
covers the continent in numberless forms, has
survived its century and sixty years." In fact,
numerous persons doubted whether at that early
day the book had ever actually appeared. But
behold! in 1870 a copy turns up in Philadelphia!
Mr. John Jordan, Jr., an indefatigable and very
liberal member of the Historical Society of Penn-
sylvania, getting certain intimations, discovers in some
old library the precious volume, which, as names
in it show, belonged a hundred and fifty years ago
to some of the parishioners of Christ Church, in
this city. Of so curious a volume one which
stands at the head of the immense line of issue of
"Prayer Books" which has since been proceeding
from the American press every particular will
prove interesting to bibliographers and ecclesiolo-
gists of the Episcopal Church, and we have pro-
cured from Mr. Horatio Gates Jones, well known
for his interest in our early literature, a correspond-
ence between himself and Mr. Wallace, the
Book of Common Prayer.
President of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania,
to which the Bradford Prayer Book now belongs.
The correspondence, we have no doubt, will prove
a valuable record.
The NORTH AMERICAN AND UNITED STATES
GAZETTE, speaking of this volume, justly says that
"the early date at which this book was printed
1710, and the fact that the English Book of
Common Prayer was never, so far as we know,
printed on this continent during the colonial term
afterward, speaks highly of Bradford's enterprise."
The correspondence referred to, is as follows:
Roxborough, Philadelphia., July 9, 1870.
HON. JOHN WILLIAM WALLACE,
President of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
DEAR SIR:
Numerous inquiries have been made about "the
first Prayer Book" which Mr. Jordan recently gave
to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Some
notices of it have appeared in the New York papers,
where the book was sent for exhibition, but I do
not know how accurate they are. I see that you
presided at the last meeting of our Society, when
the donation of the book was made. I shall be
much obliged, if your leisure allows, if you would
write something that I can use as a record of
"The First American
that precious volume, bibliologically and typograph-
ically alike.
I well remember that when the Bradford Prayer
Book was spoken of by yourself in your address
at the splendid celebration in New York a few
years since, when Trinity Church erected a new
monument to WILLIAM BRADFORD, the first printer
of the Middle States, many of the New York
bibliophiles argued that the absence of any such
volume from the library of the opulent "Bradford
Club " was a very strong evidence that no copy
could have ever been actually issued by Mr. Brad-
ford, although it was admitted that a publication
of the volume by him had been contemplated in
very early times. I dislike to disturb you in
your occupations, but a brief description of this
book will prove of great satisfaction to many
who are interested in the early literature of our
country.
I am yours most truly,
HORATIO GATES JONES.
728 Spruce St., Philadelphia, July 12, 1870.
MY DEAR SIR:
The Prayer Book about which you inquire is a
copy of the identical Prayer Book of which the
Book of Common Prayer.
origin is to be found in an early record of Trinity
Church, New York, as follows :
"August 23, 1704.
" Ordered that the Church Wardens to lend Mr. Bradford
30 or 40 for six months, on security, without interest,
for purchasing paper to print Comon Prayer Books."
And for the return of which money the Rev.
John Sharpe, D.D., Chaplain of the Queen's forces
at the Fort, and, as such, an assistant minister of
Trinity Church, became Bradford's security. The
book is a small quarto, "Printed and sold by
William Bradford, in New York, in 1710," an
exact reprint of the English "Book of Common
Prayer (of 1661) and Administration of the Sacra-
ments 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." Facing the title page are the royal
arms of Great Britain, and following it, prefatory
to the body of the book, are twenty-three pages,
containing " Rules for the more devout behaviour
in the time of divine service in the Church of
England ; with some explanations of the Common
Prayer." The volume contains the (then) f< New
8 The First American
version of the Psalms of David, fitted to the
tunes used in churches, by N. Tate and N.
Brady." There is nothing special to note in the
matter of the book, which is the exact English
Book of Common Prayer, &c., of Charles II.'s
day.
typographic ally, different parts of the volume have
different characteristics. The Prayer Book part
has obviously been printed at a different time
from the part having the cc new version of the
Psalms." This is obvious from the fact that in
the Prayer Book part continuous subjects are in
letter of two different sizes; one part in small pica
and the rest in bourgeois. The Offertory appears
in this way, and so sometimes does the same
Psalm, all showing plainly enough that the founts
were small when this part was printed. The
whole of the "new version of the Psalms/' on the
other hand, is in one letter small pica ; and small
pica, I should say, of a somewhat different face
from that used in the body of the book more
round, showing that when this part was printed
the founts had been increased. The paging of this
part begins, too, anew, making seventy-nine pages
of its own ; and the paper of this part is different
from that in the Prayer Book part ; made out of
Book of Common Prayer.
better rags, finer and more tough ; sized also, and,
I. should say, of less weight. Whether or not
Bradford ever printed the Prayer Book with the
old metre Psalms I can not determine, but I think
it plain that he printed this "new version" of the
Psalms, as Tate & Brady's was then called, after the
other part of the book was done, and in a volume
or tract by itself; doing this doubtless for the use
of persons who had old editions of the Prayer
Book alone, and in which nothing but the old
versions of the Psalms were contained. His Chris-
tianity, in this respect, was greater than his craft,
and it is not surprising that he lost money by his
benevolent course, although Trinity Church made
the loss lighter to him by generously condoning
his debt to them. The book looks at first, to a
person accustomed to the type of this day, as
though it was leaded. But by looking at words
where long letters, such as f and y or / come near
each other on two lines, their ends are so near to
touching that you discover that what gives the im-
pression of the leading is due to the type having
been cast with a long shoulder. The composition
in the main is fair, though the division of the
words is sometimes peculiar different at least from
what we make in this day, when we should space
i o First American Book of Common Prayer.
out and drive the syllables into a new line. The
press-work is very creditable; the color, even; in
some parts first-rate, though there are occasional
light places. The calendar, in the beginning of
the book, has some of the peculiarities universal
in all "rule and figure work'* of that day. It is
made up with short rule; making, of course, such
work as now would be supposed to be made up
with "odds and ends" of rule. In some places
the rules lie low and are scarcely seen. In this
part of the volume, also, the type seems worn,
and the balls were apparently hard. The ink, at
least, is imperfectly distributed. The main part of
the book is much better. Altogether, considering
the early day when the work was done, it was
a great one ; and comparing it with publications,
long subsequent but still early, the Prayer Book
of 1710 must be called very creditable to the
typographer's art in the colonies.
I am, with great regard,
Most respectfully yours,
JOHN WILLIAM WALLACE.
HORATIO GATES JONES, ESQ.
M194611
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
