Unrecorded 1734 London Primer in Contemporary Silver Filigree Binding

1734 Stationers' Company "Primer or Catechism" in an elaborate Silver filigree binding

"The Primer or catechism set forth agreeable to the book of common prayer authorized by the King, to be used throughout his dominions: containing godly Prayers and Graces.

"London: Printed for the Company of Stationers. 1734"

-94 pages, lacks preliminary leaf A1 and commences at A2 (Title Page). Otherwise complete A2-C16. 

-9 x 7.5cm approx.

-Woodcut border to title page. Blue endpapers with a few marks. Minor bumps to textblock and toning to edges, but otherwise near fine overall.

-Bound in an elaborate silver filigree binding

This is a seemingly unrecorded early Primer or Catechism, published by the London Company of Stationers in 1734. Editions of the Primer are described in OCLC and ESTC in 1724 and 1742, but no 1734 edition is described. Further editions of the Primer were printed in 1754, 1758, 1764, 1772, 1777, and 1785. Before 1769 the editions are scarce with either one or no recorded examples.  

Primers were small devotional books, widely used to teach children and adults Christian prayer. They were among the most enduring forms of popular religious printing in early modern England and an important record of day-to-day devotion.

The book is bound in an intricate silver filigree binding with two clasps. The decorative binding is comprised of a six by seven border of three-petaled flowers with four central five-petaled flowers and a central four-petaled flower. Each flower is filled with fine filigree silver in circular form. The base is solid ground silver with a mother-of-pearl.  Binding in near fine condition with clasps and spine firm.

Provenance: Old newspaper cutting to rear fly leaf noting the previous owner "Sophie Countess of Hardwicke". Sophia Georgiana Robertina Yorke(1840-1923) was the daughter of Henry Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley, and great niece of the Duke of Wellington. Sophie's husband, the Count of Hardwicke, gambled away much of the family's wealth and was forced to sell the family seat at Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire.

A particularly attractive example of a seemingly unrecorded 1734 London Primer in a fine contemporary silver binding with aristocratic provenance.