The Book of Common Prayer
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Books about the Book of Common Prayer

 

 

Everyman's History of the Prayer Book, by Percy Dearmer. An accessible, illustrated book on the Book of Common Prayer, published in 1912.

A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, by Francis Procter & Walter Howard Frere. The classic text on the Book of Common Prayer, from a 1910 printing.

The Book of Common Prayer: Its Origins and Growth, by J. H. Benton. This is the text of a short book about the Book of Common Prayer, written in 1910 by a Boston lawyer and collector of Prayer Books.

A Short History of the Book of Common Prayer, by William Reed Huntington, perhaps the greatest American voice for Prayer Book reform in the late 19th century. (An expanded version is availble from the Internet Archive)

Liturgiae Americanae, by William McGarvey (1907): the narrative portions of this book, describing the development of the American Prayer Book through the 1892 Revision. (The entire book is available online from the Internet Archive).

The Book of Common Prayer among the Nations of the World, by William Muss-Arnolt (1913). An examination of all the translations of the English and American BCP's.

From Project Canterbury:
The People's Book of Worship (1919), a book about the Book of Common Prayer, from two members of the committee which wrote the 1928 U. S. BCP.

The New American Prayer Book, by E Clowes Chorley (1929): an introduction to the 1928 U. S. BCP, and a general history of the American Book of Common Prayer.

Studies in the History of the Book of Common Prayer, by Herbert Luckock (1900): The History of the English BCP, through the 1662 revision.  (from CCEL)

From the Internet Archive:
An Introduction to the History of the Successive Revisions of the Book of Common Prayer, by James Parker (1877): Focusses primarily on the drafts and discussions leading up to the 1662 BCP.

The Book of Common Prayer, Interpreted by its History, by Clement Moore Butler (1845). History of the BCP, primarily dealing with some of the more important services, from a "low church" point of view.

A History of the Conferences and other Proceedings connected with the Revision of the Book of Common Prayer, from the year 1558 to the year 1690, by Edward Cardwell (1840). Also from Google Books.

An Elementary Introduction to the Book of Common Prayer, by Francis Procter & George F. Maclear (5th Ed., 1901).

Studies in the History of the Book of Common Prayer, by Herbert Luckock (2nd ed. 1882). A general history (also availble from CCEL - see above - and from Google Books)

The History of the Book of Common Prayer, by Leighton Pullan (1900). Another general history and examination of the services. Also available from Google Books.

The English rite : being a Synopsis of the Sources and Revisions of the Book of Common Prayer (Vol. 1 only), by Frank E Brightman (1915). A thorough history of the BCP, and comparison of its revisions. The standard work on the subject. Hopefully vol. 2 will be forthcoming shortly.

The Book of Common Prayer, by Samuel Hart (1910). A thorough examination of the 1892 U. S. BCP, by the first Custodian of the BCP. Also available from Google Books.

A Rational Illustration of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England, by Charles Wheatly. An 1871 reprint of this classic text, first published in 1710; reprints from 1848 and 1846 are also online. This 1848 reprint and one from 1845 are also available from Google Books

Edward VI and the Book of Common Prayer, by Francis Aiden Gasquet & Edmund Bishop (2nd ed., 1891). Includes reprints of many original documents.

A History of the Book of Common Prayer, by J. H. Maude (1900). A textbook, primarily covering a history and description of the services.

A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer, by Anthony Sparrow. An 1840 reprint of the first commentary and apology for the BCP, written in 1657.

A history of the Book of Common Prayer and other books of authority: with an attempt to ascertain how the rubrics and canons have been understood and observed from the reformation to the accession of George III, by Thomas Lathbury (1858).

The Bradford Prayer Book, 1710: An account of the first printing of the Book of Common Prayer in the United States, by Trinity Church, New York, in 1710.

All of the texts from the Internet Archive are available as PDF graphics with associated text files. Note that the text files appear to be uncorrected OCR results (i. e., they contain errors, often many errors). Most of the texts come from the library of Trinity College, Univ. of Toronto.

From Google Books:
The Annotated Book of Common Prayer, by J H Blunt (1st ed., 1866, Griffiths 1866/12; 6th ed., 1872, Griffiths 1872/11; and "new impression" 1907, Griffiths 1907/5). A classic description of the 1662 BCP.

Litugiae Britannicae, by William Keeling (2nd. ed., 1851; Griffiths 1851/31). The classic side-by-side comparison of all the English BCP's, plus the Scottish 1637 BCP.

A History of the Book of Common Prayer, by Francis Procter (2nd ed., 1861; and 3rd ed., 1898). The predecessor of the famous "Procter and Frere".

A Companion to the Temple, by Thomas Comber (1676). A devotional aid often bound up with older Prayer Books.

The Book of Common Prayer Illustrated so as the Shew its Various Modifications; the Date of its Several Parts, and the Authority on which they Rest, by Henry Keatinge Clay (1841, Griffiths 1841/3). Basically shows which parts of the 1662 BCP were introduced when.

Texts from Google Books are all presented as PDF graphics. Note that quality of the texts varies; some have lines cut off, pages out of order and possibly missing, etc.

 

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