THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER is one of the major works of English Literature. Since its introduction in the sixteenth century it has had an enormous influence on everything written in English. It has gone through a number of revisions, both in England and in the other countries of the Anglican Communion, but the original text is still comprehensible and relevant.

Please note: A number of BCP versions (the US 1979 Prayer Book in Spanish, for example) or BCP equivalents (A New Zealand Prayer Book, for example) are under copyright and are therefore not available on the web.

GENERAL
Books of Common Prayer
Chad Wohlers's comprehensive and superb site, with extensive links to other prayer books used within the Anglican Communion. The gold standard online resource for versions of the BCP that are not copyrighted.

Everyman's History of the Prayer Book, by Percy Dearmer.
This classic is now online, well formatted, and worth your time. Note the Family Tree of the Prayer Book.

National Public Radio (USA) on the Book of Common Prayer
Scott Simon offers a brief tribute to the BCP, tying it in to the American Thanksgiving holiday. (RealAudio, about three minutes long.)

A New History of the Book of Common Prayer
Charles Wohlers has digitized and annotated a 1910 edition of this classic historical commentary of the Book of Common Prayer by Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere.

1549
Book of Common Prayer on Chad Wohlers's site (see above).

1559
1559 Book of Common Prayer
The full text of the 1559 Book of Common Prayer.

Closely related to the 1559
A comprehensive site on the remarkable and much-loved English poet, George Herbert. It includes an imaginative presentation of the 1559 Communion service, with links to Herbert poems at appropriate places. (Beware of the music.)

1662
1662 Book of Common Prayer
This site has the full text of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer along with a few supplemental links.

1928 (US)
1928 Book of Common Prayer (US)
This site contains Morning and Evening Prayer offices with links to the King James Version and the 1928 prayer book Psalter for both speed and ease of use. Abbreviated Daily Offices are also posted and linked, together with the Ordinal, Catechism, and so on.

www.commonprayer.org
'This Internet Edition of the Daily Offices includes versions of the Order for Morning and Evening Prayer which incorporate the Psalms, Scripture Lessons and Collect for the day based on the [US] 1928 Book of Common Prayer (1943 Lectionary) and the Authorized (King James) Bible into the text. The Occasional Offices from the [US] 1928 BCP commonly used with Morning and Evening Prayer, and privately, are included in their entirety, along with all of the various sections of the BCP useful as prayer supplements.'

1979 (US)
The (Online) Book of Common Prayer (US)
This is the official 1979 Book of Common Prayer including The Psalter or Psalms of David. Available as html.

Book of Common Prayer, Version 1979
'This version of the Book of Common Prayer is based on the 1979 Prayer Book, and hopes to provide you with more than just an electronic reproduction of the BCP. Wherever possible, the pages are dynamic — pulling Bible Passages from a database for insertion into the Daily Offices — and interwoven — linking various liturgies to proper prayers, anthems, and other pages or passages.' Provided by the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church.

Other Languages

Ainu: The 1662 Book of Common Prayer in Ainu
Charles Wohlers has posted much of the Book of Common Prayer in Ainu, an extremely endangered language spoken in northern Japan.

Arosi: Translation of Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in the Bauro [sic Arosi] language
attributed to John Coleridge Patteson. Arosi is spoken on Makira (San Cristobal) in the southeastern Solomon Islands.

Cree: The 1662 BCP in Cree
'Translated by Bishop John Horden (1828–1893) into the Cree dialect of the area around Moosonee, Ontario (Canada), this edition was first printed in 1889, and is now available as a image files on-line.'

Dutch: Het Boek van het Algemeen Gebet
Portions of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer are now available online in Dutch. This edition was first published in 1853 for use in what is now South Africa.

French: The 1962 Canadian Book of Common Prayer in French

Hawaiian: 1979 Book of Common Prayer (US, portions) in Hawaiian

Hebrew: The 1662 Book of Common Prayer in Hebrew
Presented as a single 28MB PDF file for download.

Igbo: Ekpere Anekpere Chineke N'Obo N'Okwu Ibo
Portions of the BCP in Igbo, a major language of Nigeria, are available online in html.

Japanese: Nippon Sei Ko Kai 1959 Book of Common Prayer
Charles Wohlers has digitized a transliterated version of this liturgy, along with an English translation.

Luganda: Service Book in Luganda (1900)
Luganda is a major language of Uganda, spoken by about three million people.

Maori: Te Pukapuka o nga Inoi
Online in html, excepting the Psalter; transcribed by AO Editor Richard Mammana.

Mohawk: The Book of Common Prayer in Mohawk
AO Editor Richard Mammana has transcribed an 1875 version of the American 1789 BCP translated into Mohawk. It is now available on Charles Wohler's magisterial BCP site. The translation is by Eleazar Williams, an American clergyman (1787-1858) who claimed to be the Lost Dauphin—the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

Ottawa: The Morning and Evening Prayer, Translated from the Book of Common Prayer of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America
This liturgy published in 1844 for Ottawa members of the Diocese of Michigan is the only known liturgical translation into the Ottawa language, spoken by indigenous North Americans in Oklahoma, Michigan and Ontario. AO Editor Richard Mammana transcribed this text.

Portuguese: Livro da Oraçaõ Comum
The 1950 Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church of Brazil. Charles Wohlers has posted the beginnings of a transcription of this Portuguese-language translation of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer of the US Episcopal Church.

Savosavo: Tabu Samu Koluzagu Lova Abeni Lo Savo La Sua Vere La Archbishop Lova Malanala Telo Tei Ata Melanesia Lo Province La
This liturgy, published in 1978, is used by members of the Church of the Province of Melanesia on Savo Island. It is written in Savosavo, a threatened language spoken by just over 2000 people.

Sioux: Ikce Wocekiye Wowapi Kin Qa Minahanska Makoce Kin En Token Wokduze (1870).
AO editor Richard Mammana has transcribed a translation of portions of the Book of Common Prayer in the Yankton dialect of the Sioux language, also called Dakota. Sioux is spoken by c. 26,000 people in Canada and the United States, and the BCP has been translated into several of its dialects at regular intervals.

Spanish: Libro de Oración Común
The 1979 US BCP in Spanish, is available in Adobe Acrobat format from the Episcopal Church Center. Also available are Lesser Feasts and Fasts and the Book of Occasional Services in Spanish.

Welsh: The Book of Common Prayer in Welsh
The 1662 Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England was used as the Prayer Book in Wales up until 1966, when trial liturgies were introduced, followed by a Prayer Book specific to the Church in Wales in 1984. Revision is still ongoing, and a new Communion service was authorized in 2004, in English and in Welsh. Additionally, the Church in Wales has the 2004 Ordinal online, both in English and in Welsh.

The Book of Common Prayer among the Nations of the World
by William Muss-Arnolt (1913). An encyclopedic work on translations of the BCP. This digital edition of a very important work includes extensive hyperlinking to online versions of the translations and background documents.