The Priest to the Altar: Or Aids To The Devout Celebration Of Holy Communion Chiefly After The Ancient English Use Of Sarum By Peter Goldsmith Medd, M.A. Fifth Edition .

London: Longmans, Green, And Co., 39 Paternoster Row, 1910 .. A very good full leather binding. 24.5cm x 16.0cm x 3.7cm. 8vo. pp.xliv/pp.372 .Polished brown morocco, edges lightly rubbed and bumped. Spine with 5 raised bands, and gilt title to spine: "The Priest To The Altar". Original yellow endpapers (soiled). Light soiling to free-endpapers and half title. Printed title in red & black, obscured by a single sheet: " Order of service for dedication of the Lich Gateway and reredos at St Mary's , Kingswinford by the Bishop Of Lichfield, May 17th, 1931 ." Preface ends: "...P. G. Medd. North Cerney Rectory, Cirencester, Ash Wednesdy, MDCCCXCVIII." Clear English text throughout, with some soiling from previous use. Most text in double columns and in red & black. Stiil, a very good copy. ** "MEDD, PETER GOLDSMITH (1829�1908), theologian, born on 18 July 1829, was eldest son of John Medd, F.R.C.S., of Leyburn, Yorkshire, who practiced at Stockport, by his wife Sarah, daughter of William Goldsmith. After education at King's College, London, where he was associate in theology in 1840 and subsequently honorary fellow, Medd matriculated at St. John's College, Oxford, on 1 March 1818, whence he migrated as scholar to University College, graduating B.A. there in 1852, and proceeding M.A. in 1865. He was fellow of University College from 1852 to 1877, bursar in 1856, tutor from 1861 to 1870, dean and librarian (1861). Taking holy orders in 1853, he served the curacy of St. John the Baptist, Oxford (1858-67), and leaving Oxford in 1870 was rector of Barnes until 1876. He declined in 1875 an offer of the bishopric of Brechin; from 1876 till his death he was rector of North Cerney, Cirencester. In 1877 Medd was made honorary canon of St. Albans. He took a leading part in the establishment of Keble College, Oxford, of the council of which he was senior member in 1871. He was select preacher at Oxford in 1881 and Bampton lecturer in 1882. His Bampton lectures, 'The One Mediator,' published in 1884, although condensed and harsh in style, show great learning. In 1883 he was proctor in convocation for the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol.Medd took a keen interest in the higher education of women, and represented his university on the council of Cheltenham Ladies' College. He died, after a long illness, at North Cerney on 25 July 1908, and was buried there. He married on 19 Jan. 1876 Louisa, daughter of Alexander Nesbitt of Byfield House, Barnes, who with six sons and two daughters survived him. A learned authority on the liturgy, Medd edited with William Bright [q. v. Suppl. II] in 1865 the 'Liber precum publicarom ecclesiae Anglicanae,' the Latin version of the Prayer Book. He contributed in 1869 an historical introduction to Henry Baskerville Walton's edition of the first Prayer Book of Edward VI and the ordinal of 1549, and in 1892 he edited Andrewes's 'Greek Devotions' from a manuscript annotated by Andrewes himself, which was discovered by Robert George Livingstone, tutor of Pembroke College. This manuscript was an earlier and more authentic transcript than that made in 1648 for Richard Drake, on which all previous editions had been based." - See DNB 1912 Supplement ( Wikisource) . ***Transcript of letter (Folded folio, written on 3 sides in black ink): [Medd, P.G. Re The Authorship of The Priest to Altar ] "4 June 1895. North Cerney Rectory, Cirencester. To the Editor of the Church Times. Sir - I am sorry to write to you as an unknown friend, and to have to address you merely officially, having been a loyal subscriber to the "Church Times" for more than 30 years, and always really valued its influence. I should esteem it a favour if you could kindly find room for the enclosed in your next issue. I believe you will agree with it and feel that such content was necessary. My only complaint against the "Church Times" is that they never did me the honour to notice my Bampton Lectures of 1882, of which the Bishop of Fond du Lac (Formerly Father Grafton of the Cowley Brotherhood) did me the honour to write - in a pamphlet published in Boston (USA) in 1887 that it was 'The oldest Theological treatise produced in the Anglican Church since that of the Incarnation by Wilberforce.' Perhaps it might not be possible now to refer to it. I read some time in the earlier part of the year - in your answers to correspondents - that "The Priest to the Altar", which has... a large sale, was Cannon Liddon's work. This is not so. As my dear personal friend till his death, he was involved in much of its planning & preparation. We were then both resident in Oxford - but it is wholly my book, in all its editions from the first. While I was Rector of Barnes (which was practically Canon Liddon's appointment, and first field of 'preferment' he had to dispose of). Monsignor Capel tried to discredit him by forcing the authorship upon him. I remember well in .... lengthy communications by telegrams from him to Barnes Rectory requesting me to Arches Court, one Saturday afternoon, and we together concocting a letter on the subject to the Friends of the .... disclaiming responsibility for it. It is... you should know the fact about this, though i do not wish any public notice of it. should another edition be required I would probably put my name on the Title page, but I did not feel it necessary at the first as the work is a compilation with no original matter. Believe me, Sir, faithfully yours P. Goldsmith Medd".