Composite Bible & Prayer Book 1737–1739, Folk Art Hand Stitched Patchwork Hide Wrapper, Published By John Baskett.

A rare example of an 18th-century family Bible and Prayer Book by John Baskett.

Bound as a single, substantial octavo volume, this collection represents the quintessential spiritual library of a George II English household. It comprises The Book of Common Prayer (Oxford: John Baskett, 1739), The Holy Bible with Apocrypha and Old and New Testaments (Oxford: John Baskett, 1738), an Index to the Holy Bible, and The Whole Book of Psalms (London: A. Wilde, 1737). The text blocks remain remarkably crisp, featuring woodcut initials, elegant typography, and typical light age-toning.

The Folk-Art Patchwork Hide Wrapper:
The book is housed in its original calf binding, which has been lovingly protected since antiquity by an extraordinary, completely unique hand-stitched patchwork hide outer wrapper meticulously pieced together from irregular scraps of thick, rustic suede and bound with heavy, visible hand-drawn twine, this protective over-binding is a really interesting example of historical working-class folk art, designed to shield a highly valuable family asset from the rigours of rural life.

The front free endpaper features a pristine contemporary ownership inscription: "Anne Blythman's. March the 21st 1739. Pretium documenting a massive purchase price of 14 shillings—nearly a fortnight's wages for a labourer at the time.

Included is an amount of ephemera relating to the day to day financial affairs of an owner including a 19th-century manuscript farming log dating from 1826 to 1828. Meticulously recorded in ink are the breeding dates for the family's livestock, explicitly naming individual animals ("White Lucy," "The young white grey," "The large grey"), also tax demands and handwritten accounts altogether transforming this sacred volume into a functional, living record of an English homestead.

John Baskett was the first of three generations of Bible printers and John Baskett Bibles are very rare and collectable.

John Baskett (1664/5–1742), was the King's Printer for England. His sons, Thomas and Robert, and grandson by the latter, Mark, were also engaged in the press. By purchasing reversion of the King's Printer position, Baskett kept it in the family for the following generations.

The first Bible printed by 'the assigns of Newcomb and Hills' appeared in 1710, and the name of John Baskett was first added to theirs upon a New Testament in 1712. Baskett began to print the Book of Common Prayer in the following year. He was made master of the Company of Stationers in 1714 and again in 1715. Four editions of the Bible (folio, quarto, octavo, and duodecimo) appeared with his imprint in 1715. His next publication was an edition in two volumes, imperial folio, printed at Oxford (the Old Testament in 1717 and New Testament in 1716), a work of great typographical beauty, styled by Dibdin 'the most magnificent' of the Oxford Bibles.

Three copies on vellum have been traced: one in the British Museum, one in the Bodleian Library, and a third formerly at Blenheim. Daniel Prince, writing on 4 June 1795, says: 'Great care was taken to preserve the waste of that book, and indeed of some few others of Baskett's printing worth preserving. About the year 1762 all Basket's stock, &c., was removed to London.

The name of John Baskett is last seen in a New Testament of 1742. He died on 22 June of that year. His sons Thomas and Robert printed the Old Testament in 1743. The name of Thomas alone appears in Bibles after 1744, and the imprint so continued down until 1769. He issued editions of the Prayer Book between 1746 and 1757. We find that 'Mark Baskett and the assigns of Robert Barker' printed two quarto bibles in London in 1761 and 1763, and a folio prayer-book in 1760. With the name of Mark Baskett is connected a remarkable bibliographical mystery. Isaiah Thomas, our chief authority for the history of printing in North America, assures us that 'Kneeland and Green' printed at Boston in about 1752, was the first Bible printed in America in the English language.

The Worshipful Company of Stationers, usually known as the Stationers' Company, is one of the livery companies of the City of London.The Stationers' Company was formed in 1403 and it received a royal charter in 1557. It held a monopoly over the publishing industry and was officially responsible for setting and enforcing regulations until the enactment of the Statute of Anne, also known as the Copyright Act 1710.

The Bible measures 26 x 20 x 9.5cm (10.24" x 7.87" x 3.74").

Additional dimensions information:

(10.24" x 7.87" x 3.74").