[Please note: This is the Book of Common Prayer proposed by the Church of England in 1928.  To view the 1928 edition of the US Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, click here.]

In the late 1920s, the Church of England was stunned when its first new prayer book since 1662 – a book that had received overwhelming support from bishops, clergy and laity alike – was rejected by the House of Commons. The need for a new prayer book had arisen in the wake of the growth of Anglo-Catholicism in the 19th century with its emphasis on ritual. In 1927 the Church Assembly (the predecessor of the General Synod) voted to authorize the use of the Prayer Book which had been previously approved by large majorities in the Convocations of Canterbury and York.

A resolution approving its use was passed in the House of Lords by a large majority, but a similar resolution in the House of Commons was defeated on 15 December 1927, and therefore it could not be presented for the Royal Assent.

It was almost another sixty years before a new prayer book was attempted and although many of its rites went on to appear in the 1984 Alternative Services Book (and continue today in Common Worship), to many Anglican minds, the 1928 Prayer Book is unsurpassed and it continues in demand, especially among Anglo-Catholics.

This new facsimile edition will make available to students of liturgy and worship one of the finest written treasures of the Church of England.