[BIBLE, in English]. BYFIELD, Mary (1795–1871), illustrator. The Book of Common Prayer… London: [Chiswick Press for] John Camden Hotten, 1863.

8vo. Engraved title–page printed in red and black 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 navy blue niger gilt, spine in 6 compartments with raised bands, gilt–lettering and tooling in all, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, turn–ins gilt, GILT STAMP–SIGNED BY BAYNTUN–RIVIERE.

FIRST HOTTEN EDITION considered to be Byfield’s masterpiece which McLean remarks in Victorian Book Design as a “triumph of printing as well as of illustration and typography.” Keynes, p. 86.