Take apart books in pitiful English (9)

I believe the answer is:

dismantle

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'take apart' is the definition.
(I know that take apart can be written as dismantle)

'books in pitiful english' is the wordplay.
'books' becomes 'NT' (New Testament).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'pitiful' becomes 'dismal' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation as in OED).
'nt' put into 'dismal' is 'dismantl'.
'dismantl'+'e'='DISMANTLE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dismantle that I've seen before include "Undo" , "strike" , "Take apart" , "Unrig" , "Take to pieces" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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