Description:
Leather-bound volume containing "A Book of Common Prayer" printed in 1666, "The Holy Bible" printed in 1668, and "The Whole Book of Psalms," all printed by John Field and bound into one volume with extremely fine, gold-tooled leather covers. The prayer book belonged to Jonathan Belcher (1682-1757) and was given to his son, Jonathan Belcher, Jr. (1710-1776), in 1736. Jonathan Belcher was the Governor of Massachusetts from 1729/30 to 1741 and New Jersey from 1747-1757; his son, Jonathan Belcher, Jr., was the first Chief Justice and a Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (1760-1764). The book is also inscribed with Belcher family history and genealogies. John Field became the Cambridge University Printer in 1655. He built a printing house on part of the land now occupied by the Master's Lodge of St. Catharine's College, and this remained the university printing-house until the early 19th century. Field was in close touch with the Parliamentary party, and, during the Protectorate, styled himself 'one of his Highness's Printers.' One of the most important products of his press was his folio bible (1660), and John Ray's Index Plantarum was published in the same year. The earliest printings of the King James Bible were done in London starting in 1611, and by Cambridge University Press in 1629.
Subjects:
Leather Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+3113 |
