“BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE”

“BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE”

“BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE” “BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE” were props in the medieval excommunication ceremony before they were invoked by the bastard Faulconbridge in King John (Act 3, scene 3). Faulconbridge may perhaps leave us with the first written record of this particular permutation of the three words, but the phrase “candle, book, and bell” shows up around 1300.