A compact First World War period service-issue “Soldier’s Bible”, produced by Oxford University Press and bound in black leather-grain cloth with a gilt front-cover device reading THE SOLDIER’S BIBLE. The spine retains its original gilt HOLY BIBLE lettering and the page edges are evenly age-toned.
Inside the front cover is the distinctive red-bordered “A Soldier’s Prayer”—a feature unique to military-issue editions. The title page carries the Oxford University Press shield and the imprint Oxford: Printed at the University Press; London: Henry Frowde; New York: 35 West 32nd Street. Set in the compact Pearl 32mo type, it was designed expressly as a pocket Bible for field use. The following leaf bears the purple oval stamp Supplied for the Public Service beneath a Crown, confirming War Office issue rather than civilian purchase. The endpapers are clean and without inscriptions.
Dating Evidence & Historical Note (WW1, c.1914–1918):
All key features identify this as a First World War service edition. The crowned “Supplied for the Public Service” stamp was a government supply mark used up to around 1920, and the Henry Frowde imprint—retained on existing plates until about 1917—places production firmly within the wartime years.
The inclusion of A Soldier’s Prayer further confirms WW1 origin, as this page was introduced specifically for troops during the Great War and does not appear in later WW2 service testaments, which adopted different preliminaries and lacked gilt decoration. The compact Pearl 32mo format with gilt “The Soldier’s Bible” device is likewise characteristic of WW1 pocket issues, commonly carried in tunic or haversack pockets by soldiers on active service.
Pocket Bibles were distributed in great numbers during the conflict through the Army Chaplains’ Department and General Staff, with Oxford and Cambridge University Presses producing most editions under official arrangement. The “Supplied for the Public Service” stamp marked government-issued examples, distinguishing them from charitable or privately purchased copies. The Soldier’s Prayer became a hallmark of these pre-1918 editions, intended to offer reassurance to men deployed to France, Gallipoli, the Middle East, and other theatres of war. Though uninscribed, examples such as this remain poignant survivals of the devotional items carried by British troops during WW1.
