This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/13/2021
[PRAYER BOOK]. BYFIELD, Mary (1795–1871), illustrator. The Book of Common Prayer… London: William Pickering, 1853. 8vo. Title printed in red and black, engraved additional title within a woodcut border representing the Tree of Jessel; a full portrait of Queen Elizabeth on verso, every leaf of text surrounded by wood engraved borders by Byfield after designs by Holbein, Dürer, etc. in Queen Elizabeth’s 1569 edition of Book of Christian Prayers. Modern crushed black morocco, raised bands, gilt titles in upper compartment, all edges red, marbled endpapers (several leaves with pale brown dampstaining, last 14 leaves with marginal bleeding from top edge stain). FIRST PICKERING EDITION considered to be Byfield’s masterpiece and possibly ONE OF 40 COPIES hot–pressed to resemble vellum which McLean remarks in Victorian Book Design as a “triumph of printing as well as of illustration and typography.” Keynes, p. 86. From the private library of a prominent Chicago collector, part II.