A copy of The Book of Common Prayer dating to 1679 – just 17 years after the Church of England’s final revision to it – has sold at John Nicholson’s auctioneers in Fernhurst for £1,700.

Passed down through generations of the Marryat family, lately of Fernhurst, and featuring multiple inscriptions relating to past owners, it had been estimated at £700 to £1,200 in the auction house’s January 23 books sale.

Printed in London by John Bill, Christopher Barker, Thomas Newcomb, and Henry Hills, Printers to the King’s most Excellent Majesty (Charles II), the copy came in a contemporary elaborate and decorative metal-mounted covers red Morocco ‘cottage roof’ binding, complete with original spine.

It also contained The Bible and The Apocrypha, as well as The Complete Book of Psalms.

A hand-inscribed page found among the psalms relates the tales of the births of one of the owners’ children. Starting with ‘My son John’ on July 27, 1701, who was baptised by Mr Killinghall and registered in Ealing Parish, Middlesex, it continues with the 1702 birth of Margaret. It then briefly details “a son born alive which expired soon after”, presumably in 1703, as the next birth is dated 1704, a son, William, also baptised by Mr Killinghall – as are all the children – but registered in Christ Church in (Southwark) Surrey.

Another daughter, Miriam, arrived in 1705, while a final son, Shorter, followed in 1706.

A bookplate for Joseph Marryat, with an accompanying Coat of Arms, adorns the inside cover, while highly decorative engravings illustrate the book.