thaccom- plysshyng of his desire and commandement. . Small folio, 75 leaves, 29 long lines to the page, printed every leaf £ s. d. 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 Philosophers 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 1 4 0 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 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 þe wordis of Salomon pus mych to seie on englische. pe riche & 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 But wyll ye here a wondour thing The purpose of this Palmer here 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). зе Fol. 77: 800 maker of heuen and erth and see, and of all thyng that There are 24 chapters in the first book, and the second book is in 99 66 is to saye in Englysse the golden legende. For lyke . I Folio, black letter, 296 leaves, double columns, 55 lines to the column, with foliation and signatures; numerous little woodcuts and woodcut initials, some of them in the manière criblée; slightly wormed, but a large and absolutely perfect copy in old calf 1503(-4) 200 0 The signatures are a-d in eights, e six leaves, A-X in eights, A-K PERFECT. Only one other such is known, which is in the the same, wanting leaves, 79, 80 (Fi, Fii), half of leaf 100 CAXTON. THE GOLDEN LEGEND. Leaf 1 reverse, a woodcut of the Company of Saints. Leaf 2: The lyfe of Adam.. Leaf 53. The table of this present boke. Leaf 55: The aduent of our lorde. Folio primo.. Leaf 438 (marked Fo. CCClxxxiiii): . . Thus endeth the legende Finysshed the .xxvii. daye of August the yere of our lord. M.CCCCC.xxvii. the .xix. yere of the regne of our souerayne lorde kynge Henry the eyght. Imprynted at London in Flete strete at the sygne of the sonne, by Wynkyn de Worde. On the reverse is the mark of Wynkyn de Worde with W C occurring thrice in it. ... Small folio, 438 leaves, printed in double columns, with 101 many small woodcuts; very large and fine copy in russia £ S. d. 1527 150 00 - another copy, equally fine but not so large; brown See ante RIVErs, No. 92 1527 110 00 102 CAXTON. RECUYELL. Fol. 1 title, under a woodcut: 102. vnto Thus endeth the boke of the recu- | les or syege of Troye' Enprynted in | London in Flete strete at the sygne of the sonne by Wynken de Worde. The yere of our lorde god. M.CCCCC. | and. iij. Under this Caxton's small device as used by Wynkyn de Worde with his own name. Smallest folio, 202 leaves, double columns, 42 lines to the column; unfoliated but having signatures (A-Z and Aa-Kk in sixes, which do not include the four preliminary leaves) ; with numerous very rude woodcuts; olive morocco extra, by Lewis, with the book-label of the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (about 1827) 1503 135 00 Second edition of the famous Recuyell.-There is an inscription on the title-page, written about 1570: "Maria Herona est verus possessor huius libri Mrs. Mary Heron oweth this booke." This volume is excessively rare. There exist only about three or four other perfect copies; even imperfect copies are as few. THE RECUYELL of the Histories of Troye a new edition of the first book printed in English, 2 vols. 4to. in vellum wrappers 1474. 1892 Printed by William Morris at the Kelmscott Press, from the Caxton volume of 103 FABIAN (Robert) (1450-1512). The Chronicle of Fabian, whiche he nameth the concordaunce of histories, newly perused. And continued from the beginnyng of Kyng Henry the seuenth, to thende of Queene Mary, 1559. Mense Aprilis. Imprinted at London, by Jhon Kyngston. 2 vols. in 1, small folio, black letter, BEST EDITION, brown morocco, by Bedford 1559 The continuation ends with the coronation and first Parliament of Elizabeth. 990 6 15 0 104 ANONYMOUS, about 1490-1500. ASTROLOGICAL AND OTHER MISCELLANIES, MSS. in 1 vol. small 4to. stamped calf, from the Ashburnham Library 1490-1615 10 10 1. Pages 1-12. An acephalous Astrological treatise, beginning "thou doth with the 10, so do with the 5. Howe to knaw of wat schal hape to the at the place qwer thou intendith to go to .. Apparently in Scottish orthography About 1490 2. Pp. 13-20. Esop's Fables in Meter. Anth. Rous. These pages contain the first thirteen Fables. The continuation is added here and there throughout the volume upon blank spaces About 1615 3. Pp. 21-56. Another Astrological treatise in the same handwriting and 4. Pp. 53-66. Continuation of Rous's translation of Esop 6. Pp. 70-105. On the blank spaces Rous's Esop is continued 8. Pp. 118-120 and 133. The Farcical Dialogue of Cuffe, Ruffe and 10. Pp. 134-136. Continuation of the Astrological treatise with " Ascensiones signorum," etc. 11. P. 136. Sixteen lines of verse, beginning "Hence all ye vaine delightes . . "including the line "places which pale passion loves" and ending with "For nothing is so sweet as Melancholy." This is in Rous's handwriting 12. Pp. 137-150. Husbandry (Monthly). In Rous's hand. 13. Pp. 151-164. hand Secretes for Gardening, Arte of Grafting. In Rous's Foll. 1-4 14. Pp. 166-180. Booke of Laces (Fringe Lace, etc.). In Rous's hand. 105 THE AUTHOR OF THE NUTBROWN MAID, First Edition, about 1490-1500. ARNOLD'S LONDON CHRONICLE, First Edition. (a blank leaf and three leaves of Table) wanting. Fol. 5a: THe names of ye balyfs. Custos Mayers. and sherefs of ye Citefo (sic) London from the tyme of kynge Richard the first called cure de lyon. Small folio, not quite perfect, dampstained and flabby, some leaves defective and mended; vellum cover, with morocco back, from the libraries successively of the Rev. Edward Betham (King's College, Cambridge), about 1750; of William Cole, of Milton, Cambridgeshire, in 1769; of the Shakespearean scholar, Dr. Richard Farmer, about 1780; of John Towneley, about 1800; and of Thomas Jolley in 1815 S. n. (printed at Antwerp by Jan van Doesborch, 1503) 14 0 Four printed leaves are wanting; the first ten and the last two leaves are defective. A complete copy should consist of 130 printed leaves. Here we have 126 printed leaves. The full set of signatures should be A one blank and three printed leaves, A eight leaves, B four; C, D, E, in eights; F-Q in sixes; R eight leaves; S and T in sixes; V five leaves. The missing leaves are the first sheet A, and the first leaf of signature V. The famous ballad of the Nutbrowne Maide appeared here for the first time. It occupies leaf N6, Oi and Oii. 106 ARNOLD'S Chronicle, a sound, large and PERFECT COPY, 131 leaves including the rare blank leaf at the beginning; in old russia, from the Wilbraham collection (1503) 95 0 A wholly perfect copy of this book, such as here described, is one of the rarest things in English literature. From some scribbling on the first front leaf, it appears to have belonged about 1610 to the first and only Lord Knollys. |