Fine Books & Manuscripts

[CIVIL WAR PRAYER BOOK]. The Book of Common Prayer. New York: Louis Sherman, 1839. 12mo. Contemporary morocco with original owner’s name lettered in gilt within a central gilt frame with gilt scrolled cornerpieces, 3 flat raised bands with gilt acorn ornaments, all edges gilt, gilt dentelles (light rubbing along joints and corners, joints showing, some browning to sheets). Provenance: Henry B. Woodbridge (1825–1862), contemporary ownership inscription dated 1840 with Woodbridge’s name gilt lettered on the upper cover. [With:] a note from Woodbridge’s daughter explaining how the book belonged to her father and was “used by him through the Civil War and returned to my mother with his uniform.” Woodbridge was a paymaster in the U.S. Navy that died during the Civil War.