83 HUGH OF CAMPDEN, about 1400. The history of kyng Boccus z Sydracke how he confoundyd his lerned men . . Also his answeris to the questions of wysdome.. translatyd by Hugo of Caumpeden out of frenche into Englyshe. At end: . . FINIS. Thus endeth the hystory and questyōs of Kyng Boccus and Sydracke. Prynted at London by Thomas Godfray. At the coste and charge of dan Robert Saltwode moke of saynt Austens at Cantorbury. Cum priuilegio regali. On the reverse the woodcut arms of St. Augustine's.

Small 4to. not quite perfect as described below; hf. bd. uncut

The missing leaves are A1 (the title supplied in MS.), A3 and 4, sheets D-F (twelve leaves); sheet P (four leaves); Q2 and Q3; R1, R4, T2, T3, C2, C3, G four leaves, Q four leaves, part of S2.

The age of Hugh of Campden has not been ascertained, but the language of this first edition seems to be of the late fourteenth century rewritten or respelt in the fifteenth. John Twyne was the editor; Thomas Godfray the printer flourished about 1530. Only some four or five copies of the book are known to be extant.

84 N. N., about 1450. LYF OF SEYNT IEROM, and other pieces, in one volume. Small 4to. MS. of 56 leaves about 50 lines to the page, written in Sion Monastery at Sheen, somewhat waterstained and torn; calf, with the bookplate of Richard Towneley 1702

About 1460

CONTENTS: De modo Psallendi, in Latin, page 1; The Vertues of the Masse, in English verse, pp. 2-6; An Exhortation on the same subject, in English prose, pp. 6-8 ; Here begynnyth the prologe ynto the lyf of Seynt Ierom drawen ynto Englysh. . of the legende aurea vnto the hygh pryncesse Margarete Duchesse of Clarence by Syr N. N. brothir and prest of the monastery of Syon the which is comynly callyd Shene.. In English prose, pp. 9-42; exhortation in English with a reference to the book composed by Gower, pp. 42-43; Medys and Grace of the Masse, in English verse, beginning “ That blyssyd childe yn Bethlem born," pp. 43-54; Exhortation on the same, in English prose, pp. 54-69; Tabula super Dialogos Gregorii in Latin, pp. 71-83; General and Special Confession, in English prose, pp. 84-100; Sorowes of our blissed Lady, English prose, pp. 100-101; Observations on Confession, in Latin, pp. 101-111. On the margin of p. 5 is a birth-record," Mr. Holmes of the Gard born at Lyrpole in Lankashyre 1539."

85 THE AUTHOR OF THE FERRUMBRAS, about 1450. ROMANCE OF THE SOWDON OF BABYLOYNE AND OF FERUMBRAS his sone who conquerede Rome And Kynge Charles off Ffraunce with xii Dosyperes toke the Sowdon in the feelde and smote of his heede. In English verse. Small folio, MS. ON VELLUM, 41 leaves with 42 lines to the page; hf. bd. from the libraries of Richard Farmer, George Steevens (1798), Octavius Gilchrist (1800), Richard Heber, and Sir Thomas Phillipps (1836)

About 1460 80 0 0

Said to be the UNIQUE COPY of the work of an English poet in the time of Henry VI, beautifully written in a cursive hand and apparently complete with the exception of parts of a few lines on the second last page.

86 NORTH

ENGLISH MIRACLE PLAYS ABOUT 1450. THE TOWNELEY MYSTERIES. A famous unique volume of Early English Mysteries or Miracle-Plays, supposed to have been written at Woodkirk, in Yorkshire, in the Cell of Augustinian or Black Canons, for the study of persons intending to take part in those Pageants at Wakefield, or at Woodkirk Fair, folio,

MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, written in a bold hand with Initial Letters ornamented with the Pen, having the Speeches separated by lines of red ink; olive morocco extra, gold tooling, tooled leather joints, gilt edges, by C. Lewis

About 1450 700 0 0

The Mysteries (or Miracle Plays) contained in this remarkable
Volume are: Creatio, Mactatio Abel, Processus Noe cum Filiis,

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Processus Prophetarum, Pharao, Cæsar
Augustus, Annunciatio, Salutacio Elizabeth, Prima Pagina Pastorum,
Secunda Pagina Pastorum, Oblacio Magorum, Fugacio Joseph et Mariæ
in Ægyptum, Magnus Herodes, Purificacio Mariæ, Pagina Doctorum,
Johannes Baptista, Conspiracio et Capcio, Colaphizatio, Flagellacio,
Processus Crucis, Crucifixio, Processus Talentorum, Extractio Ani-
marum ab Inferno, Resurrectio Domini, Peregrini [or Thomas Indie],
Ascencio Domini, Juditium, Lazarus, and Suspentio Judæ (this last is
in a later handwriting and was probably added towards the end of
the XVth century). The language of these Pageants betrays a
northern origin and the Secunda Pastorum, described by Mr. Collier
as "the most singular Piece in the whole collection," offers local
allusions tending strongly to corroborate the claim of Woodkirk to
the production of these Mysteries. The word Wakefield, written by
the original scribe in the heading of the first and of the third piece,
seems however to indicate beyond a doubt that the mysteries were
played in that town. The editor of the volume published for the
Surtees Society did not observe this fact. He was evidently under
the impression that "Wakefield" was in the same somewhat later
hand in which are written in one place the word "barkers," in the
other the word "glovers," and in a third and fourth "lytsters" and
"fysshers "the names of the guilds or trades which performed the
pieces in question. But whether Woodkirk or Wakefield be the spot
in which this volume was produced-and the two places are not far
apart the MS. remains a wonderful and priceless monument of old
English dramatic literature, and one of the chief glories of the literary
history and language of Yorkshire.

It is not known when this volume first came into the possession
of the Towneley family. Their early connection with Yorkshire, as
well as Lancashire, enables us to surmise that it may have formed
part of the Towneley collection at a remote period, or that at least it
was in the fine library formed by John Towneley, who died in 1607,
whose great love for his books was evinced by the bindings in which
he had them covered, all bearing his arms and motto.

87 SIR THOMAS MALLORY flor. 1450-70. THE MORT ARThur.

The story of the most noble and worthy Kynge Arthur. . and also of
his noble.. Knyghtes of the rounde Table. Newly imprynted and
corrected. A woodcut, under which is AN. M. D. LVII. Colophon on last leaf:
Imprynted at Londo in Fletestrete at the sygne of the Rose Garlande,
by Wyllyam Copland.

Small folio, woodcuts; 13 leaves of Table wanting; having the title and the last leaf mended, nevertheless a fine copy in brown morocco, gilt edges 1557 50 0 0

The earliest edition in my stock of the famous and brilliant story which has tinged the name of Mallory with a bright reflected light. He was by far the greatest English prose-writer of his time, and even for long afterwards. His skill was such that he converted the Arthur story into a book as genuinely English as the Bible was made by the writers of the sixteenth century. He finished his task in the year 1470 but seems to have worked upon French MS. of the thirteenth century, rather than on the compilations of the fourteenth and fifteenth.

88 MALLORY. The storye of the most noble and worthy Kynge Arthur, the which was the fyrst of the worthyes Chrysten, and also of hys noble and valyaunt knyghtes of the rounde Table. Newly imprynted and corrected. Under a woodcut: Imprynted at London by Thomas East. Small folio, wanting four leaves of text (L 3-6, M 4 and 5) otherwise perfect in red morocco extra, gilt edges

(About 1570) 28 0 0

In this copy the table is preceded by Caxton's simple prologue which may still be read with interest.

90 ARTHUR. The Byrth, Lyf, and Actes of Kyng Arthur; of his noble Knyghtes of the Rounde Table, Thachyeuyng of the Sane Greal; and in the end Le Mort Darthur, with introduction and notes by Southey, 2 vols. 4to. hf. morocco, uncut

1817 Thomas Malory, son of Sir John Malory, served under Beauchamp Earl of Warwick in France, and was in Calais when it was attacked by the Bergundians in 1423. He succeeded his father about 1435; was Knight of the Shire for Warwick in 1445; and died in 1470. These details are given in Dugdale's Warwickshire.

91 JOHN CAPGRAVE (died 1464) NOVA LEGENDA ANGLIE. Leaf 1 is an illustration of the Assembly of the Saints impressed on both sides of the leaf. Leaf 2: Prologus. SAncti patres.. Leaf 5: habitacula.. Presens volumen istud (vt videtur) non incongrue vocari potest (Noua legenda anglie). Tabula. . Leaf 6 has the end of the table on its obverse and a woodcut of the royal arms on the reverse. Leaf 7: De sancto Adriano . . Folio i.. Leaf 340, numbered Folio cccxxxiiii.. has on its reverse the colophon: Explicit (Noua legēda anglie). Impressa lōdonias: i domo Winādi de Worde: comorātis ad signu solis: in vico nucupato (the flete strete). Anno dni. M.CCCCCxvi. . xxvii. die Februarii . . Leaf 341 obverse has the woodcut as appears on leaf 1; on the reverse is the Caxton woodcut imprint bearing the letters W C

Small folio, fine copy in brown morocco, gilt edges

£ 8. d.

3 16 0

1516 36 0 0

The first leaf is a facsimile, but the impression of the same design on the last leaf is genuine. This copy belonged successively to William Maskell, Beresford Hope, and W. C. Borlase.

92 ANTHONY WOODVILLE, LORD RIVERS, 1442-1483.
DICTES OF THE PHILOSOPHERS, the first book printed
in England. Fol. la: w Here it is so that euery humayn
Creature by the suffrance of our lord god is born z
ordeigned to be subgette and thral vnto the stormes of
fortune And so in diuerse & many sondry wyses man is
perplex-id with worldly aduersitees, Of the whiche I
Antoine wydeuille Erle Ryuyeres, lord Scales zē haue
largely in many diffirent maners haue had my parte
And of hem releued. . Fol. 1b, line 3: . . whyche
book I had neuer seen before. and is called the saynges
or dictis of the Philosophers. . Fol. 2a, line 1:
concluded in my self to traslate it in to thenglyssh
tonge..
Fol. 2b blank. Fol. 3a: f Edechias was the
first Philosophir Fol. 72b, last line: the traslacion
of the sayingis of these philosopheres .. Fol. 73a:
h Ere endeth the book named the dictes or sayengis❘ of
the philosophres enprynted, by me william | Caxton at
westmestre the yere of our lord .M. CCCC. Lxxvij.
Whiche book is late translated out of Frenshe into
englyssh. by the Noble and puissant lord | Lord Antone
Erle of Ryuyers lord of Scales z of the | Ile of wyght,
Defendour and directour of the siege apostolique, for
our holy Fader the Pope in this Royame of | Englond and
Gouernour of my lord Prynce of wales |
Fol. 75b,

line 5. . Humbly requyryng and | besechyng my sayd
lord. ... .. to take the labour of thenpryntyng in
gre thanke, which gladly haue don my dyligence in

thaccom- plysshyng of his desire and commandement. .
Last line: Et sic est finis ..

Small folio, 75 leaves, 29 long lines to the page, printed
in Caxton's No. 2 type; a little wormed towards the end,
and having a hole in the middle of two leaves, but every leaf
genuine; gilt russia, by C. Hering

1477 1500 00

A PERFECT AND LARGE COPY (11 inches × 7) OF THE FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN ENGLAND. The last three leaves are entirely of Caxton's own composition, and exhibit him as a humourist of the gentle Addisonian kind. He remarks that Lord Rivers had omitted some of the sharp sayings of Socrates against women, and therefore proceeds to supply the deficiency in his own language. He says "I am not in certayn wheder it was in my lordis copye or not. or ellis perauenture that the wynde had blowe ouer the leef, at the tyme of traslacion of his booke, I purpose to wryte tho same saynges of that Greke Socrates, whiche wrote of tho women of grece and nothyng of them of this Royame, whom I suppose he neuer knewe, For if he had I dar plainly saye that he wold haue reserued them inespeciall in his sayd dictes. ." No more than five perfect copies are recorded by Blades. Three of them are locked up in public institutions. This is the fourth, the copy at Britwell is the fifth. Even imperfect copies are very rare. Blades only mentions six.

Colard Mansion printed contemporaneously at Bruges, the French text of the Dictes, from a MS. of which Lord Rivers had translated the above English book.

93 THE DICTES and SAYINGS of the Philosophers, a facsimile reproduction, with preface by W. Blades, 4to. calf neat, Charles Wyman's copy 1877

94 DICTES AND SAYINGS. Title: The dyctes and the sayenges of the Phi- | losophers other wyse called Dicta Philosso- | phorum. Under this, a woodcut of a man meditating in his library. On the reverse: W Here it is so that euery creature by the suffraunce of our lorde god is borne and ordeyned to be subgecte z thrall unto ye | stromes of fortune. . . . . . Of the whiche I Anthonie wyde wylle Erle Ryuers lord Scales zc Leaf 78: Thus endeth the dyctes and sayenges of Philosophers. Inprynted at London | in Fletestrete at the sygne of the sonne by me wynkyn de worde in the yere our lorde. M.CCCCC. xxviij. Under this and on the reverse is Wynkyn's woodcut mark bearing the letters W C

Small 4to., 78 leaves, 32 lines to the page, with several woodcuts; the lower margin of leaves 1-9, and of leaf 78 mended; brown morocco extra, gilt edges

140

1528 50 0 0

Amongst the rarest books in old English literature are the small quartos printed by Wynkyn de Worde. There was no copy of this little volume in the Ashburnham collection.

Lord Rivers gives an account of the book which he first saw in a French translation from Latin made by Jehan Destouteville, on shipboard on his way to Compostela in 1473. Reading, he admired it, and at once determined to set it out in English. His translation was first printed, in 1477, as above.

95 HENRY PARKER of Doncaster, Carmelite, 1465-70.

DIVES AND PAUPer.

Pp. 1-2 are the concluding leaf of Table. Pa. 3: Of hooli pouertee.
be first c9. Diues et Pauper obuiauerunt sibi . pese ben pe wordis of
Salomon pus mych to seie on englische. pe riche z pe pore metten to
hemsilf pe lord is worcher, of euerp. pis text worschipful Bede
expounep. Pa. 408.. Heere endip pe nynpe pcepte z biginep pe
tenpe precepte. Diues. Me penkip pe speche skilful good Here the
text breaks off imperfect, wanting a couple of leaves at the end.

Small folio, MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, double columns, 37 lines to the

column; old rough leather binding, from the Ashburnham collection

About 1470 36 0 0

This was based upon a sermon preached by the author in 1465, which he wrote out and augmented soon afterwards. The book is a treasury of idiomatic English, full of racy passages and bits of contemporary gossip.

96 THE AUTHOR OF THE BALLADE OF TRUTH and Conscience, about 1470-80.
Some maner matere wolde I fayne meue in fourteen stanzas of
varying length; followed by the thirty lines of the little poem Erth upon
Erth, etc. in 1 vol. folio, MS. ON VELLUM; hf. calf
1470-80

The ballad is satirical and each stanza usually ends with the refrain "Where
Trowth and Conscyens ys become," or "Kowde wete where Conscyens was become.'
The fourth stanza is a shorter one with a difference

But wyll ye here a wondour thing

The purpose of this Palmer here
He gatte a patent of owre Kyng

To seche conscyens where he were

In all courtis bothe ferre and nere

In Benche, Chekkyr, and Chauncerye

They excused hem all in feere

And seide conscyens came not in here compayne

The other poem begins thus: When lyfe is moost loued And dethe is moost hated Then dethe drawith his draust and makith men naked. Erthe out of erthe is wonderly wroust.. The REGIMEN SALERNITANUM in Latin occupies the first seven leaves of the MS.

OF

97 TRANSLATOR
S. BRIGIT'S VISIONS (about 1470).
BRIDGET (Saint) OF SWEDEN, VISIONS. Fol. 1: OwR
LORDE IHU CRYST TELLYTH SEYNTE BIRGYTTE WHY HE
CHESYTH HYR TO BE HYS SPOVSE AND HOW AS A SPOWSE
SHE AWYTH TO ARAY HYR AND BE REDY TO HYM.
I am

maker of heuen and erth and see, and of all thyng that
bene in hem. Fol. 63: . . Shakyth from yow the
grevouse yokke of the fende and hath mynde on my
cherite and ze shall see in yowr conscyence that I am esy
and myld. Amen. Assint laudes Deo. Fol. 64: HOW
OURE BLISSID LADY IS REDY TO HELPE ALLE BOTHE WYUES
WIDOWES AND MAYDENS . . Fol. 77:
Fol. 77. . yf he had be
sufficient to haue brought it aboute. And Fol. 78 deficient.

800

4to. MS. ON VELLUM, 77 leaves, generally 32 lines to the page, written in a clear charter hand, with headings in red ink, and painted initials; bound in old calf (about 1560) with a Crucifixion stamped within an oval wreath in gold, and the letters BS as representing the owner at that time; from the Phillipps collection About 1470 105 0 0

There are 24 chapters in the first book, and the second book is in unequal divisions. This is apparently the only known MS. of the work, there being no copy either in the Bodleian library or the British Museum. The translator or compiler's name does not appear, but his language seems to be Southern English of Henry VI or Edward IV's time, and he may have been the actual transcriber of the MS. 98 WILLIAM CAXTON (1418 (?) -1491). THE GOLDEN LEGEND. Leaf 1 obverse, a large woodcut of the Company of Saints. On the reverse: Tabula. | Here folweth a lytell Table conteynynge the lyues and hystoryes Leaf 2: The lyf of Adam. Folio I.. Leaf 37: Here begynneth the legend named in latyn legenda aurea That