A Companion to the Altar, Thomas Comber 1685. This book is titled “A Companion to the Altar. Or, an Help To the worthy Receiving of the Lords Supper; By Discourses and Meditations upon the whole Communion Office, To which is added, an Essay upon the Offices Of Baptism, Catechism, and Confirmation”, it was written by Thomas Comber, D.D. and published by R. Lambert, R. Chiswel, T. Sawbridge, R. Bentley, and G Wells in 1685 and printed by M. Clark, and it is the Fourth edition. The book has five raised bands, with six gilt-ruled compartments, a black label with gilt lettering and gilt decorations on the spine, a gilt decorated cover, marbled endpapers with gilt dentelles and the bookplate of Henry B Wheatley on the front paste-down, attached to the front flyleaf is a hand-written note which reads ”A Compagnon to the Altar 1685 Contemporary binding of crimson morocco of very soft & beautiful tone, richly tooled in gold over sides and back with sprays of leaves and flowers & monogram”, the inscription of “Warren of Stapleford “ on the first blank endpaper and the name “James Warren” inscribed on the first blank flyleaf, as well as the stamp of Alfred Wallis on the front blank flyleaf. The page facing the title page reads “Imprimatur, Jan. 21 1671. C. Smith, R.P.D., Episc. Lond. a facris domesticis”; an imprimatur is an official license by the Roman Catholic Church to print an ecclesiastical or religious book, and this license was granted in 1671 by C. Smith, an Episcopalian priest in London. The title page has black and red lettering, with black-and-red-ruled borders, followed by a six-page Dedicatory Epistle to the Lord Archbishop of York by Thomas Comber, a five- page Introduction, one leaf about an Analysis of the whole Communion Office, seven pages of Contents, 489 pages of text, a seven-page Table about the chief Heads in the Communion Office, all the text pages have red-ruled borders, and all the edges are gilt. Thomas Comber (1645 - 1699) was an English churchman and Dean of Durham from 1691 until his death. He was born at Westerham and his father was driven by a religious war between the Catholics snd Protestants to take refuge in Flanders for four years, so Thomas was left in the care of his mother for that time. His father returned to Westerham in 1649, and the following year, Thomas was placed under the tuition of the Rev. Thomas Walter; Thomas could read and write Greek before he was ten. He was admitted to Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge in 1659 when he was only fourteen, he studied philosophy, geometry, astronomy, music, painting, oriental languages, and divinity, and he was ordained a priest in York Minster in 1664. In 1672 the first installment of his major work, the “Companion to the Temple”, was published; it was intended to reconcile Protestant dissenters to the Church of England. In 1682 he was nominated one of the chaplains to Princess Anne, and a few years later, he got in trouble with the church hierarchy because he didn’t obey their wishes: during the reign of James II, Thomas refused to attend the chapter - a meeting - held in August 1688 for the suspension of a Rev. Lawson, and this chapter was supposed to take place on order from the Court of High Commission. When the king sent a silver crozier to York - a crozier was a staff that symbolized pastoral authority - and a congé d'élire recommending Dr. Smith, a Roman Catholic, Thomas was basically suspended for a year because of his act of protest. (A congé d'élire was a formal message from the English king or queen to authorize church delegates to elect a bishop or archbishop.) A year later, when William II and Mary II were proclaimed king and queen, they lifted the suspension of Thomas and he was installed as dean of Durham. Henry B. Wheatley (1838 - 1917) was a British author, editor, and indexer. He wrote “How to Catalogue a Library” and his book "London Past and Present" was described as his most important work and "the standard dictionary of London,” and he was a member of the Royal Society of Arts, a founding member of the Samuel Pepys Club, and a vice-president of the Bibliographical Society. Warren of Stapleford was Sir John Borlase Warren, 1st Baronet (1753 - 1822), a British Royal Navy officer, diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1774 and 1807. Born in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, he was lord of the manor and MP from Nottingham for several years, but he was most famous for his exploits at sea. He entered Emmanuel College in Cambridge in 1769, but joined the navy in 1771 as an able seaman. He rose through the ranks and in 1779 obtained command of a ship. By 1794, he was Commodore of a squadron that successfully engaged the French fleet, capturing many enemy ships; on his return, Warren became a conquering hero to the people in Nottingham. He was also British Ambassador to the Court in St Petersburg (then the Russian capital) from 1796 to 1806. From 1807 to 1810, he was Commander-in-Chief of the American Station and later was promoted to the rank of admiral, so he had a good naval career. The book measures 7 1/4 x 4 7/8 in. wide and is in good condition. The binding is tight and there are brown spots on the endpapers and here and there in the margins, but the text is pretty much not affected. The gilt has faded and there’s light rubbing on the spine and at the tips, there’s light wear on the crown, and overall the book is in very good condition. We only found two copies offered for sale on the rare book website we use, they go for $95 and $125 apiece, and we’re starting the book here much lower, to get the bidding going. #220 #4990