“Great Letters,” “Fairer Letters”: A Theological-Bibliographical Investigation

Abstract

This article is an extended note that examines the unique typography of a seventeenth-century Book of Common Prayer, which came to the attention of an advisory group investigating “innovations in the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England.” After a survey of the purpose and the turbulent context of the advisers’ deliberations, the article suggests the most likely theological reasons for their concern with the print in the church’s official liturgy. From there it goes on to mount an argument for identifying the individual who was responsible for the typographical novelty the advisory group deemed unacceptable. A final section dispels a long-lived legend about the one edition of the Prayer Book in which this unusual printing appears.