The First Italian Edition of the Book of Common Prayer (1685)

Abstract

In 1685 the first printed edition in Italian of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer was published in London: Il Libro delle Preghiere Publiche secondo l’uso della Chiesa Anglicana. The translation’s editor was Edward Brown, an Anglican cleric, who also published a translation into English of Paolo Sarpi’s Lettere Italiane Scritte al Signor dell’Isola Groslot in 1693. While Brown was the promoter of this Italian edition of the Book of Common Prayer, the translator was a certain Giovan Battista Cappello from Valtellina. Because an Italian Protestant church in England no longer existed when this translation was published, it was apparently not meant for use in worship. The decision to translate the Book of Common Prayer aimed to demonstrate the excellence and doctrinal purity of the Church of England at a time when a Catholic king had succeeded to the throne with an Italian wife.