Five Lectures Upon the Church

New Haven, CT: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Press, 1896. First edition. Leather Bound. Very Good +. 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches. [6] + 173 numbered pages, which are bright and clean. Top edge gilt. Other edges uncut. Bound in striking full blue leather which is lightly rubbed and sunned. Gilt borders to covers and gilt title to front cover and spine. "Church Club of Connecticut" to front cover. The personal copy of Samuel Hart, one of the authors/lecturers, with contemporary pencil gift inscription on endpaper "Samuel Hart from the Church Club. From the library of Samuel Hart, which experienced a fire that damaged a number of books. As a result, items from Hart's library are extremely rare. Samuel Hart (1845-1917) was dean of the Berkeley Divinity School, the (un)official "middle way" seminary of the Episcopal Church at Middletown, Connecticut. In 1886, he became the third custodian of the Standard Book of Common Prayer. In 1892, he became secretary of the House of Bishops. In 1898, he became the fourth historiographer of the Episcopal Church. He served in all three of these offices until his death. (In 1893, he was elected Bishop of Vermont, but he declined the office.) A unique association copy.