The Church of Scotland (known as the Kirk) is a Presbyterian denomination with several differences in worship in comparison to the neighbouring Church of England. This copy of the Psalms of David and catechism was printed at Edinburgh in 1615 for the use of the Kirk.

From the Reformation in 1560 until the early seventeenth century, the Kirk worked in compromise with the Scottish crown and while nominally Presbyterian and following the teachings of John Calvin and John Knox, bishops were regularly appointed, albeit with the title 'superintendent'. Throughout his reign, James VI & I endeavoured to mould the church along episcopal lines and by the time of his death in 1625, the church had a full hierarchy of bishops and archbishops. This compromise ended during the reign of Charles I when bishops were abolished by the General Assembly of 1638 in protest at the king's introduction of Anglican prayer books in Scotland.

Historically believed to have been bound by Grolier, this book was one of those selected by the Royal Librarian, Richard Rivington Holmes in 1893 as a fine example of bookbinding in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle.

Binding Information

Full leather bound in brown calf, with a binding style after Grolier, probably French. Strapwork ribbon and tendrils design with six-pointed pointille stars, with initials I.F. to centre, within triple gilt fillet border frame. Spine divided into six compartments, with THE CL. PSALMES OF DAVID to the second, and EDINBURGH 1615 to the third. The binding is an "embo?tage", that is, an older binding, [in this case 40-50 years older] than the book it contains, inlaid into a 19th century binding by B.M. Pickering [the son of William Pickering, bookseller].