WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. THREE FIRST-EDITION PRINTINGS OF THE WESTMINSTER STANDARDS, BOUND WITH JOHN WILKINS’S ECCLESIASTES. London and Edinburgh, 1645–47.

WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. THREE FIRST-EDITION PRINTINGS OF THE WESTMINSTER STANDARDS, BOUND WITH JOHN WILKINS’S ECCLESIASTES. London and Edinburgh, 1645–47.

An important contemporary bound collection containing the first edition of the Directory for Public Worship, the first Edinburgh edition of the Larger Catechism, and the first publicly published edition of the Westminster Confession of Faith, with Scripture proof references.

A Directory for the Publique Worship of God. London: Evan Tyler, Alexander Fifield, Ralph Smith and John Field, 1644 [1645]. First London edition. [8], 86, [2] pp. ESTC R210506; Wing D1544. WITH The Humble Advice … concerning a Larger Catechism. Edinburgh: reprinted by Evan Tyler, 1647. First Edinburgh edition, without Scripture proofs. 56 pp. ESTC R23909; Wing W1437A. WITH The Humble Advice … concerning a Confession of Faith: with the Quotations and Texts of Scripture annexed. Edinburgh: reprinted by Evan Tyler, 1647. First published edition, with Scripture proof references. [2], 14, 17–56 pp. ESTC R204060; Wing W1430. WITH WILKINS, John. Ecclesiastes: or, A Discourse concerning the Gift of Preaching. London: M. F. for Samuel Gellibrand, 1647. Second edition. [4], 92, 103–108 [i.e. 98] pp. ESTC R22806; Wing W2189.

Bound in contemporary calf, re-backed in morocco while preserving most of the original spine and title label, later endpapers. The Directory’s preliminary order to print has a repaired tear and loss to the fore margin, its title and following leaf are heavily cropped at the upper and outer edges. Some dust soiling and damp staining. The final six leaves of Wilkins are cropped or excised at the fore margins, occasionally affecting text; the final blank is torn with loss. Some toning and occasional spotting. Generally a good solid volume containing rare and historically important documents.