BIBLE IN ENGLISH. NEW TESTAMENT PRINTED IN GOLD. 'THE NEW TESTAMENT...ACCORDING TO THE PRESENT AUTHORIZED ENGLISH VERSION. WITH COMMENTARY BY MATTHEW HENRY.' LONDON: DE LA RUE, CORNISH AND ROCK, CA. 1831

Large 4to (11 1/2 x 7 7/8 in.; 285 x 200mm). Enameled white paper, text printed throughout in gold; one or two stray spots to preliminary and final blanks, occasional and minor marginal spotting or fingersoiling, 4T with repaired closed marginal tears and some soiling. Publisher's full navy morocco, covers with wide greek-key blind tooled borders, enclosing gilt filigree borders, central panel with vignette of the Ascension in blind, spine with an altar and Sacrament before a church window, and the Agony in the Garden in blind, title and filigree motif in gilt, all edges gilt, turn-ins elaborately ruled and gilt, aqua watered silk dobulres and endleaves; some rubbing to extremities, joints starting, silk faded.   

Large 4to (11 1/2 x 7 7/8 in.; 285 x 200mm). Enameled white paper, text printed throughout in gold; one or two stray spots to preliminary and final blanks, occasional and minor marginal spotting or fingersoiling, 4T with repaired closed marginal tears and some soiling. Publisher's full navy morocco, covers with wide greek-key blind tooled borders, enclosing gilt filigree borders, central panel with vignette of the Ascension in blind, spine with an altar and Sacrament before a church window, and the Agony in the Garden in blind, title and filigree motif in gilt, all edges gilt, turn-ins elaborately ruled and gilt, aqua watered silk dobulres and endleaves; some rubbing to extremities, joints starting, silk faded.
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A remarkable rarity, with only three copies having previously been offer at auction The paper is enamelled after a process originally developed by Thomas De La Rue for use on superior grades of cards. It is likely that many of the other copies of the New Testament that were printed succumbed to their own weight (the present volume is approximately 12 pounds), and the enamellised paper stock, which, though innovative, rendered the pages prone to adhesion. Particularly in the damp atmosphere of churches and chapels, the text leaves would become irrevocably fused to one another. 

Thomas De La Rue was born in Guernsey in 1793, and moved to London by 1820 where he set up as a straw hat maker. Soon, however, he began embossing card in imitation of straw, silk, and other materials.  He moved on to embossing leather, and the binding of the present volume represents the zenith of his technique. Around the time that De La Rue presented the gold-print New Testament to King William IV in 1831, he also received a Royal Warrant to produce playing cards. From playing cards De La Rue progressed to postage stamps, and ultimately to print money.  To this day the De La Rue Company remains the world's leading manufacturer of bank notes and bonds, and it could be argued that the gold-printed New Testament is the company's foundation stone.