01 Start with the title page, not the cover
A prayer book or missal is identified by its title page first: the title, the name of the publisher or printer, the place, the date and the approbation or imprimatur printed there. The calendar and the table of contents then confirm what the book actually contains, because the title page can be vague while the calendar names the feasts and the rite. Read those two parts together before you judge age, use or value.
The cover is often a replacement. Binders rebound worn books in plain cloth or leather, and a nineteenth century binding can sit on a seventeenth century text. The title page is the part that carries the claim.
Read it in this order. Title. Author or compiler, if any. Publisher or printer. Place of publication. Date, usually in Roman numerals on older books. Then the approbation, imprimatur or permission of a bishop or religious superior, often on the reverse.
A title page that says missal is not the same as one that says prayer book. A missal contains the texts the priest uses at Mass. A prayer book, a manual or a key of heaven contains devotions for the reader: morning and evening prayer, examination of conscience, the rosary, litanies, preparation for communion. A book can hold both, and many do, but the title usually names the main use.
Roman numerals are worth reading slowly. MDCCLXXXIV is 1784, not 1789. A misread numeral moves a book by decades and changes what it is worth.
Watch for the words translated, revised or adapted. These mark a later edition of an older text, and they tell you the book was made for a particular market, often a diocese or a country. A book printed in Dublin, London, New York or Regensburg points to where it was used.
If the title page is missing, work from the calendar and the rubrics. The calendar lists the feasts kept by the rite, and the rubrics are the instructions printed in red. Together they narrow the book to a rite and a period. This is the same habit of observation that applies to the care of devotional objects generally: the object states what it is if you read the right part.
02 How do you identify an older prayer book or missal by its calendar?
The calendar is a list of days with the feasts kept on them, and it is the second half of identification. It tells you which rite the book follows and roughly when it was printed.
Look for the rank of feasts. Older calendars mark feasts as double, semidouble or simple. A calendar full of semidoubles points to a book printed before the reforms of the twentieth century. A calendar that names a saint's day as a commemoration only, or that omits a feast you expect, suggests a later printing or a different diocese.
Look for local entries. Diocesan calendars add the patron of the place and the dedication of the cathedral. A book with a feast for a saint venerated in one city was probably printed for use in that city or its region.
Look for the table of movable feasts. This short table gives the dates of Easter, Ash Wednesday, Ascension and Pentecost for a run of years. The first year in the table is a strong clue to the printing date, and it is often the only date left when the title page is gone.
Check the language. A missal in Latin follows the Roman rite. A prayer book in English, French, German or Polish was made for private use, and the language tells you who read it.
Check the page numbering and the signatures. Gatherings are usually signed with letters at the foot of the page. A book with continuous signatures and no inserted pages is likely to be complete. Missing signatures, or a jump in the numbering, point to lost leaves.
03 What are prayer objects and sacramentals made of, and what does that decide?
Materials decide how an object ages, how it should be handled and whether it can be repaired. The common materials are few.
Rosaries are made of wood, bone, glass, stone, seed, shell, base metal or silver. Wood and bone dry out and crack in low humidity. Glass and stone chip. Silver tarnishes and is soft enough to wear at the links. Seed and shell are organic and react to damp.
Medals are struck in bronze, brass, aluminium or silver, sometimes gilt. The metal decides the surface. Bronze and brass develop a patina that many people value and that cleaning removes. Aluminium is light and dulls rather than tarnishes.
Scapulars are textile: wool, cotton or a wool blend, with two panels joined by cords. Wool is the traditional material for the brown scapular. Moths and damp are the enemies, not light.
Crucifixes and images are wood, plaster, resin, stone, ivory, or metal. Wood moves with humidity and splits along the grain. Plaster and resin chip at the edges. Paint and gilding sit on a ground layer that lifts when water gets in.
What this decides is practical. A silver rosary needs a dry place and a soft cloth, not a polish. A wool scapular needs air and a moth deterrent. A painted crucifix needs stable humidity and no direct sun. The material also decides whether a repair is safe. Loose links can be closed. Lifted paint should be left to a conservator.
04 How should devotional objects be stored, bought and handed on?
Storage is about stable conditions rather than sealed boxes. Keep the temperature and the humidity steady, avoid attics and cellars, and keep objects out of direct sunlight. Light fades textiles and bleaches wood.
Store books upright or flat, not leaning. Support them at the sides so the boards do not warp. Keep leather bindings out of very dry air, which makes them brittle, and out of damp, which brings mould. A shelf inside a room is better than a box in a garage.
Store textiles folded with acid free tissue at the folds, and refold along different lines every year or two so the creases do not set. Keep wool away from moths with cedar or a suitable deterrent, and check the object rather than trusting the deterrent.
Store metal in a dry place, in a cloth bag rather than a sealed plastic one. Sealed plastic traps moisture and can cause corrosion.
Buying is about provenance and condition. Provenance means what is known about where the object came from: a family, a parish, a dealer with records. Condition means what is wrong with it now: missing leaves, replaced parts, repairs, over cleaning. Ask for both in writing. A repaired object is not a ruined one, but the repair should be disclosed.
For books, check the title page, the calendar, the signatures and the plates. For rosaries, check the links and the centre medal. For crucifixes, check the joins and the surface. For textiles, check for moth holes and for colour that has faded unevenly.
Handing on is a matter of record. Write a short note with each object: what it is, where it came from, what is known about its date, and any repair. Keep the note with the object, not in a separate file. A baptism, first communion or confirmation gift carries more meaning when the recipient knows what they have received.
For seasonal gifts, the same rule applies. An Advent or Nativity object should be stored with the other seasonal items, labelled, and brought out in the same order each year. This keeps the set together and prevents loss.
05 A short checklist for a new acquisition
Read the title page and note the date in Arabic numerals. Read the calendar and note the rite and the first year of the movable feasts. Check the signatures for completeness. Identify the material of every part. Note the condition in writing. Record the provenance. Then decide on storage.
None of this requires specialist training. It requires patience and a habit of looking at the object before deciding what it is. The same method works on a printed missal, a silver medal and a wool scapular.
A prayer book or missal often travels with its owner, and the same is true of the planning that surrounds a trip. If you want a worked example of how to compare a cabin before booking, pack for an isolated stay, read a trail by season and set a turn-around time, the article on cabin stays and walks sets out the order to settle those points before you go. The method is plain: check the access, the water and the exit route first, then let the season decide the rest.
Source: https://www.bl.uk/