The Printing and the Printers of The Book of Common Prayer, 1549–1561
The Printing and the Printers of <I>The Book of Common Prayer</I>, 1549–1561
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USDBibliographers have been notoriously 'hesitant to deal with liturgies', and this volume bridges an important gap with its authoritative examination of how the Book of Common Prayer came into being. The first edition of 1549, the first Grafton edition of 1552 and the first quarto edition of 1559 are now correctly identified, while Peter W. M. Blayney shows that the first two editions of 1559 were probably finished on the same day. Through relentless scrutiny of the evidence, he reveals that the contents of the 1549 version continued to evolve both during and after the printing of the first edition, and that changes were still being made to the Elizabethan revision weeks after the Act of Uniformity was passed. His bold reconstruction is transformative for the early Anglican liturgy, and thus for the wider history of the Church of England. This major, revisionist work is a remarkable book about a remarkable book.
- Completely transforms our understanding of how the Book of Common Prayer came into being, and will thus have major implications not just for the Book of Common Prayer itself but for Tudor history as a whole
- The revisionist history the author tells is compelling, novel and multi-layered, and provides an overview through the prism of the Book of Common Prayer of the entire history of the Reformations of Edward VI and Elizabeth I
- Peter W. M. Blayney shows how a close, engaged and 'archaeological' examination of printed books can reveal novel and illuminating historical facts undiscoverable by other means
Reviews & endorsements
‘… a densely written, excellently priced volume, generously illustrated with colour and black-and-white plates throughout. … the book will remain crucial reading material for book historians, bibliographers, and bibliophiles specialising in early modern European printing and the book trade in the years to come.’ Hannah Yip, The Review of English Studies
‘Blayney makes a significant contribution to understanding the history of The Book of Common Prayer … an insightful, interesting book … Essential.’ R. M. Kollar, Choice
‘This is a remarkable feat of scholarship, worth buying for its demolition of much extant thinking around the Black Rubric alone. Above all else, it is a reminder of how many stories bubble out from, and are inherent in, our ancient liturgy.’ Fergus Butler-Gallie, Church Times
Product details
January 2022Adobe eBook Reader
9781108945899
0 pages
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
Table of Contents
- 1. From Henry VIII to the first Edwardian prayer book
- 2. The second Edwardian prayer book
- 3. Mary's reign and Elizabeth's first Parliament
- 4. Richard Grafton's edition (STC 16291)
- 5. The first Jugge-and-Cawood edition (STC 16292)
- 6. The preliminaries: collaboration and cancels
- 7. The orphaned ordinal
- 8. The third and fourth editions
- 9. The quarto and octavo editions
- 10. The 1561 revision of the calendar
- 11. Concluding summary.
