THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENTS AND OTHER RITES AND CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH ACCORDING TO THE USE OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

New York: Printed for the Convention, 1893.. [28],566,[2]pp. Folio. Original heavily gilt decorated vellum over boards, with brass fore-clasps, t.e.g., others untrimmed, ribbon marker. Printed in red and black, with floriated borders by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, title in black letter. Binding a bit dust soiled, with bruises to foretips and small chip from lower corner of front pastedown, front inner hinge cracked, but webbing sound, some occasional dust and finger smudging to the margins of the early leaves, bookplate and small label on front pastedown, some bleed-through on the title from the array of original ink signatures on the verso, otherwise about very good. Copy #12 of the limited issue of the revised Book of Common Prayer, overseen by D.B. Updike, and signed in ink on the verso of the title of many of the principals associated with the revision approved at the 1892 General Convention, including financier J.P. Morgan, who helped fund the edition's publication. The limited edition was prepared in several variants, one being this form, intended for distribution to each diocese and jurisdiction within the Church, with original signatures on the verso of the title and with a variant title, all in black letter, without border. The standard limited edition of 500 copies on handmade paper has the signatures of the principals in printed facsimile, and a foliated border around the title resembling those around the main text, and the central "Laudate Dominum" device, and the two lines: "Together with the Psalter or Psalms of David." Updike comments at length on this project in his introduction to NOTES ON THE MERRYMOUNT PRESS, and about his role in the attempted rescue of an ill-conceived attempt to produce a decorated edition from the plates of the 1892 printing: "The best things about the book were the cover and charming end-papers which Goodhue designed for it. Sad to relate, the edition had an immediate and resounding success! We were congratulated, and we blushed. Our shame was taken for modesty and we were congratulated more! While the book is indeed a strange one, it is by no means so strange as the designs originally made for it" (see pp. 9-10). Nonetheless, the experience was an important prelude to the production in 1928 of Updike's own edition, widely regarded as his finest work. Laid into this copy is a photocopy of the 4pp. leaflet, ON THE DECORATIONS OF THE LIMITED EDITION OF THE STANDARD PRAYER BOOK OF MDCCCXCII. GRIFFITHS 1893.6.