The Penington-Penn Bible, Prayer Book, and Psalter: Notes on the Rare Volume Now in Possession of The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia

A metrical version of the Lord's Prayer, from the Psalter of 1626, bound in with the PeningtonPenn copy of the Latin Bible of 1618. The binding of the Latin Bible, Prayer Book, and Psalter inherited by William Penn from the Isaac Pcningtons. "I Penington, 1630" almost hidden on the title page, an eighth of an inch from the top. Note the initials, "I P." "VVm Penn 169J4" signed on the title page of the Latin Bible. The bookplates of William Penn and the Earl of Portsmouth in the front of the Pcnington-Pcnn copy of Prayer Book, Latin Bible, and Psalter. THE PENINGTON-PENN BIBLE55 THE PENINGTON-PENN BIBLE, PRAYER BOOK, AND PSALTER Notes on the Rare Volume Now in Possession of The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia By Carroll Frey THE PENINGTON-PENN copy of the Latin Bible is in the format of a volume in which are bound three books— a Latin Bible printed in London in 1618; an English Book of Common Prayer printed in London in 1626 by "Bonham Norton and lohn Bill, printers to the King's Most Excellent Maiestie"; and "The Whole Book of Psalmes: collected into English meeter by Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins, Printed for the Companie of Stationers," London 1626. The cover reproduced in our illustration is the original morocco binding done for Isaac Penington in 1630. The bound volume existed fourteen years before the birth of William Penn, the Bible section having been printed three years before the birth of Admiral Sir William Penn. The evidence for William Penn's ownership is in his signature dated "I69y2" on the title page of the Bible, and in his bookplate inside the front cover. William Penn not only could read Latin, he could write it. One of his earliest Publishings was of his own poems done in Latin. The Peningtons also were proficient in Latin, the man who tutored the younger Penington family having studied Latin under the blind poet, John Milton. He was Thomas Ellwood, at one time a suitor for the hand of Gulielma Springett who later married William Penn. Isaac Penington's ownership is authenticated in the almost hidden hand-lettered inscription, "I Penington 1630," along with the hand-lettered initials "I P" on the title page of the Prayer Book at the front of the volume. The letters "I P" are also in gold stamped on the front and back of the binding. Now, which Isaac Penington? For just as William Penn, the Friend, was the son of a William Penn, so Isaac Penington, the Friend, was the son of an Isaac Penington. The evidence' indicates that the original owner of the volume was the elder Isaac Penington. In 1630 his son Isaac Penington was fourteen years Vol. 33, Autumn 1944 56 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION old and probably called himself Isaac Penington, junr, just as Penn for years called himself William Penn, junr, or William Penn the Younger. Furthermore, in the back of the volume there is an unsigned holograph prayer which, by comparison with an original signed letter, appears to be in the handwriting of Penington , the father. The elder Isaac Penington, step-grandfather-in-law of William Penn, the Friend, is seldom mentioned in books on Penn, but he was a considerable person in his own right. He was sometimes referred to as Aldermaa Penington. Some accounts say that he was knighted, but reference to him as Sir Isaac are rare. In 1638 he was High Sheriff of London; in 1640 he was a member of Parliament for London; in 1642 Lord Mayor of London ; later he was Lieutenant of the Tower. He was one of the Parliamentary Commissioners of the High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I, and, in 1649, member of the Council of State. At the time of the Restoration he gave himself up to the mercy of King Charles II, and was one of the fourteen regicides stripped of their estates and committed to the Tower of London. He was there incarcerated in 1660 and 1661 and died under duress in the very prison he had once commanded. According to Maria Webb's book...