IN DEPTH
Paul Moorbath, Librarian, Faversham Society.
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These books are in English but during the reign of catholic Queen Mary prayer-books had to be in Latin as church services were entirely in Latin and prayers in English would be considered blasphemous.
Hidden in a chimney: the Tudor prayer-book
The discovery of a book in the attic of the Faversham Society set in motion a bibliographic detective story. Not only was the book clearly very old, it also came with an intriguing note – claiming it had been found hidden in a chimney. Here Paul Moorbath, librarian with the society, explores the history and significance of the book.
A VERY rare and intriguing Tudor prayer book has been discovered in the Faversham Society attic. It is made up of large sections of three Tudor prayer-books bound together, and its story of rediscovery sheds light on a turbulent time of religious conflict and persecution.
A book of three parts
The first book is missing the title and first pages but has 190 surviving pages and starts at page 51 but is the Primer set forth by the kinges maiestie and his clergie [sic] and is known as the King’s Primer. It is in English and was authorised by King Henry VIII. It was first published anonymously in 1545 but was written by Thomas Cranmer who had been influ- enced by Protestant ideas. This copy has a prayer for Edward VI and so dates from 1547-53. The next book is identified as Psalms and prayers taken out of holye [sic] scripture which had been published anonymously by John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester in 1529 in Latin. However, it was trans- lated into English by Queen Katherine Parr and first published anonymously in 1544. It concludes with a prayer for men going into battle and a prayer for King Edward VI thus this copy dates to his reign of 1547-53. This copy is missing the title page and first pages but has 156 surviving pages.
The third book has the title page and the first 28 pages. It is Prayers or medytacions wherein the mynd is stirred…[sic] by Queen Katherine Parr. This is the very first book in the English language printed and published by a named woman author.
A royal connection A recent film, Firebrand, (released on 6 Septem- ber 2024) based on the novel Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle, film tells the story of Queen Katherine Parr who was appointed regent for King
50 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
Henry VIII while he was off to war in Europe and as part of the deal, he allowed her to write and publish Prayers or meditations.
It seems probable that these three books, all in English, were originally bound together. They are all the same size and perhaps this was the inten- tion. The present binding is 19th century, as can be seem where the leather spine had split revealing a nineteenth century paper under spine with adver- tisements typical of the time.
This bound set of three books was submitted to Dr David Shaw of the British Library and he kindly examined it and has added it to the online English Short Title Catalogue of British Library with location of Fleur de Lis [sic] in Faversham. Now a surprise! He has ruled that this edition of the King’s Primer is “apparently unrecorded”.
Coming to light
But there is another surprise element with the book. On the fly-leaf at the front of the book there is a hand-written inscription in blue pencil, which reads “Found hidden away in an old chimney 1881 Geo Johnson”.
A search of The 1894 Faversham Directory, pub- lished by Voile of Faversham, has an advertisement for George Johnson, a builder and decorator of St Mary’s Road, Faversham.
A descendant of George Johnson presented the book to the Faversham society in 2009, helping to confirm the link to the 19th Century builder. In the hope that that George Johnson might have taken the story to the press, and revealed the location of the find, the County Archives were searched but yielded nothing. Further, there is a complete folded letter attached inside the book written by Carus Wilson, Vicar of St Catherine’s Church in Faversham on headed note-paper, and dated February 1900 to Mr Johnson
Summer 2025
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