The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Newly Translated Out of the Original Greek, and with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised, by His Majesty's Special Command. Appointed to be Read in Churches. London: Printed by Thomas Baskett, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty; and by the Assigns of Robert Baskett, MDCCLVII (1757).
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A magnificent extra-illustrated New Testament using the King James Version. From what we can trace, this edition is unrecorded in Herbert or Darlow & Moule, and no examples of this edition exist on WorldCat, and so it is quite possibly a New Testament from a different edition (which we couldn't trace either), or an exceptionally rare separate printing. It has a phenomenal suite of beautifully fine plates inserted throughout the text, a total of 73. The illustrations seem to originate from a much earlier edition, possibly circa the 1670s as there exists an edition of 1679 with the same illustrations, but due to the trimming of these plates, we don't know the original size. They almost certainly originate from another edition, as they are red-ruled and of a different paper stock than the main text, visibly earlier in date. Nonetheless, it is an incredible octavo New Testament, likely entirely unique.
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Provenance:
Contemporary ownership inscription of Sarah Kerr, likely the original owner.
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Size: 130 x 205 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[(3), frontis, t.p., A2-2F8, 2G1-2G4, (3)].
Full brown calf binding with blind-stamped boards, gilt title in a compartment to the spine between raised bands, and decorative blind-stamping in the remaining compartments. Binding rubbed and scuffed. Small fragment of the backstrip lacking from the bottom of the spine, and backstrip cracked along the centre. Backstrip somewhat peeling along the extremities. Both boards attached with the front joint and hinge cracked, rubbing along the rear joint and rear hinge starting, thus somewhat fragile. Shelf and edge wear. Page edges dulled with uneven colouring. Ink inscriptions to front pastedown and front blank. Text block very clean with light toning and occasional foxing and marks. Illustrations are not collated against a bibliographic reference as it is unknown how many there should be, but there are a total of 73. Plate facing E1 has the bottom right corner lacking of the illustration. Small hole to the bottom of F7, not affecting any text. Plate facing H6 lacking a small fragment from the top right corner of the illustration. Some occasional dampstaining to leaves and plates, but generally exceptionally clean throughout. Small edge tear to the top of Q1, not affecting any text. Top corner of Y1 lacking, not affecting any text.
