Part 4

First initial rubricated in the same style and by the same hand as in the _De duobus amantibus_. Other capitals and paragraph-marks in red and blue alternately. Initial-strokes in yellow. At the bottom of fol. 29^a a line accidentally dropped by the compositor is supplied in manuscript by a contemporary hand, viz., "non te uolunt. Quida_m_ uero pote_n_tes sunt! ac ex." Both the recto and the verso of the leaf have the full complement of 23 lines but there is a hiatus in the text. The copies in the Bibliothèque Nationale, and the Bibliothèque Mazarine, Paris, have the line supplied in manuscript in like manner, but instead of _uero_ read _non_, which does not suit the context.

According to Claudin this is the twentieth book printed at the Sorbonne press. To the five copies known to him this adds a sixth.

Bound with No. 19. De duobus amantibus.

21. PLATO. Epistolae. [Paris, Michael Friburger, Ulric Gering and Martin Crantz, 1472.]

_Fol. 1^a_: Ad prudentem _et_ magnificum uirum Cosma_m_ de medicis florentinu_m_, Leonardi Aretini clarissimi oratoris, in ep_isto_las plato_n_is quas ex græcis latinas fecit! p_rae_fatio; _Fol. 52^a_, COLOPHON: FINIS.

Discite rectores diuinitus, ore platonis! Quid uos, q_ui_d ciues reddat in urbe bonos;

Quarto. Quires [1-4^{10}, 5^8, 6^2, 7^2], 52 leaves, 23 lines to the page, roman letter, without signatures, catchwords, pagination, place, printer's name or date. Three- to five-line spaces left for capitals. The first initial supplied in blue and red, other capitals in blue and red alternately. Initial strokes in yellow. Claudia XIV. Philippe VII. Crevenna 1523. Hain 13066.

Leonardo Bruni, often called Leonardo Aretini from his birthplace Arezzo, translated five of the dialogues of Plato in addition to the letters.

The first notice of this edition is found in the _Catalogue Bolongaro-Crevenna_ (Amst., 1789), where it is described as containing 52 printed leaves. It appears from the price-list printed after the sale in 1790 that it had not been sold, but was "retenu, faute de commissions ou de concurrence," and was still obtainable at the price of 15 florins. No trace of it has since been found and Panzer and Hain were able only to copy the catalogue description. Philippe (1885) described Heynlin's copy, which is preserved in the library of the University of Basel, as consisting of one first blank leaf, forty-nine printed leaves and two blank leaves at the end. Claudin (1898), with a second copy discovered meantime in the Bibliothèque d'Angers at his command, finds one first blank and forty-nine printed leaves, and remarks that the two blank leaves placed by Philippe at the beginning [should be _end_] are only independent fly-leaves. Our copy has fifty-two printed leaves and no blanks and no occasion for them, since the printed leaves, of themselves, form complete quires. Claudin's collation, which gives both the quires and a register of the first words of each quire, shows that both his copies lack the sixth quire of our copy, composed like the seventh of only two leaves and beginning "_sibus interdixistis_." There is moreover still unexplained and not easily explainable in the descriptions of both the Basel and Angers copies the presence of a troublesome first blank leaf and the absence of another leaf of text, in addition to the lacking sixth quire. It follows that, at least until the Crevenna copy, which appears to have been in agreement with ours, comes to light again, this must remain the only complete copy known.

Bound with Nos. 19 and 20, from the same press.

22. MAGNI, JACOBUS [Jacques Le Grand]. Sophologium. Paris, Martin Crantz, Ulric Gering and Michael Friburger, 1 June, 1477.

_Fol. 1, blank._ _Fol. 2^a_: Sequitur tabula capituloru_m_ Sophologij. _Fol. 5^a_: Doctissimi atq_ue_ excellentissimi patris: sacraru_m_ litteraru_m_ doctoris deuotissimi: fratris Iacobi magni: religionis fratru_m_ heremitaru_m_: sancti Augustini sophologiu_m_ incipit. Cuius p_ri_ncipalis intentio est inducere legentis animu_m_ ad sapientie amorem. _Fol. 218^a_: Jacobi Magni sophologium finit feliciter. _Fol. 218^b_: Epigramma ad huius operis conspectore_m_ [five distichs.] COLOPHON: Anno do_mi_ni millesimo .cccc.lxxvij. die .i. mensis Iunij. Impressum fuit istud sophologium parisius p_er_ Martinu_m_ crantz. Vdalricu_m_ gering, et Michaele_m_ friburger.

Quarto. Sign. a-x^{10}, y^8, 218 leaves, the first blank, 32 lines to the page, gothic lower-case type, roman capitals. Two- to six-line spaces with guide-letters left for initials. Hain 10478.

Border ornamentation in color on fol. 5^a. Initials at the head of the first four of the ten books in dull gold and color; those of the remaining books in color only. Chapter initials and paragraph-marks in alternate red and blue. Blank first leaf wanting. The bottom line of fol. 116^b which had been accidentally moved across to the foot of fol. 115^a (the companion page on the imposing stone) is supplied in manuscript where it was lacking and the misplaced line of print is canceled.

On the discontinuance of the Sorbonne press in 1473, the printers, Crantz, Gering, and Friburger, moved into the neighboring Rue Saint-Jacques and set up a press, with new type, on their own account. An edition of the Sophologium had been one of the last books printed at the old press. A second edition was issued from the new press in 1475, of which the present edition is, in type, number of pages and lines, an exact reprint, but has printed signatures and is a quarto while that was a folio. Caxton's "Book of Good Manners," printed in 1487, was a translation of "Le livre des bonnes meurs," another work by the same author.

The present copy, bound in green morocco with gold borders and gilt edges, is from the Syston Park library, sold in December, 1884. Leaf 10-3/4 × 7-1/4 in.

23. HIERONYMUS. Vaderboeck. [Zwolle], Peter van Os, 1 April, 1490.

_Fol. 1^a_, TITLE: DIt boeck is ghenomet. dat vader boeck. dat in den latijne is ghehieten Vitas patru_m_. inhoudende dye historien en_de_ legenden der heyligher vaderen die hare leue_n_ in stre_n_gher penitencie ouerghebracht hebbe_n_ Ouergheset in goeder versta_n_delre duytscer sprake. [Rest of page occupied by two woodcuts.] _Fol. 1^b_: [H]Ier beghint die tafele va_n_ desen boecke dat ghehieten is dat va (_sic_) vader boeck. _Fol. 4^b_: Hier eyndet die tafef (_sic_) van den boecke..... _Fol. 5^a_: [Woodcut of the Annunciation, which is repeated on the verso of the leaf.] _Fol. 6^a_: Hier beghinnet dat eerste deel va_n_ desen boecke dat ghenoemet is Vitaspatrum in latijne. _Fol. 165^b_, COLOPHON: Hier eyndet dat derde deel va_n_ desen boecke van den wo_n_derlijke wercken en_de_ goede exempele_n_ en_de_ goede leri_n_ghen der heigher (_sic_) vadere_n_ so als die heylige leraer Jeronim_us_ vut de_n_ griecke_n_ in den latine ghetoge_n_ heeft Ouergheset in goeder v_er_standelre duytscer spraken om salicheit alre goeder kersten me_n_scen. Ghedruct bi mi Peter va_n_ Os In de_n_ iare ons heren Mcccc en_de_ xc. den eersten dach va_n_ den April. [PRINTER'S DEVICE, (shields of Zwolle and of the printer combined).] _Fol. 166, blank._

Folio. Sign. A^4, a^8, b-z^6, A^4, B-D^6, 166 leaves, the last blank, 6-165 numbered i-clx. 2 columns, 36 lines to the column, gothic letter. Two- to six-line spaces left for capitals. The first initial of the title is a ten-line ornamental woodcut D. The two woodcuts on the title-page are printed from sections cut from the blocks of the Latin Biblia Pauperum, that on the left (Descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost) from the central panel of sign. p., that on the right (Jacob's dream), from the right-hand panel of the sign. t. Other sections of these blocks were used in like manner in other books of van Os. In place of blank fol. 5 cut away, is inserted a full page woodcut of the Annunciation, printed on both sides of the leaf, on paper unlike any other used in the book. Campbell 938. Proctor 9135.

Prologue initial on fol. 6^a supplied in blue with pen ornamentation in red. Chapter initials and paragraph-marks in alternate red and blue. Initial-strokes in red. Blank last leaf wanting.

Bound by Alfred Matthews in three-quarter levant morocco with blind tooling, gilt edges. Leaf 10-1/2 × 8 in.

Peter van Os, of Breda, was actively engaged in printing at Zwolle from 1479 till the end of the century, except for the three years 1481-1484.

The English translation of the "Vitas Patrum," which was the closing labor of Caxton's life, was printed in 1495 by Wynken de Worde with this colophon: "Thus endyth the moost vertuouse hystorye of the deuoute and right renowned lyues of holy faders lyuynge in deserte, worthy of remembraunce to all wel dysposed persons which hath be_n_ translated oute of Frenche into Englisshe by William Caxton of Westmynstre late deed and fynysshed at the laste daye of hys lyff."

24. HIGDEN, RANULPH. Polychronicon, translated into English by Trevisa and continued by Caxton. [Westminster]. William Caxton, [1482].

_Fol. 1, blank._ _Fol. 2^a_: Prohemye. [G]Rete thankynges lawde & honoure we merytoryously ben bounde to yelde and offre vnto wryters of hystoryes, whiche gretely haue prouffyted oure mortal lyf, that shewe vnto the reders and herers by the ensamples of thynges passyd, what thynge is to be desyred. [Fol. 4-20, alphabetical table; 21, blank; 22-24, dialogue between the Clerke and the Lorde on translation, Trevisa's epistle to Lord Berkeley; 25, blank.] _Fol. 26^a_: Prolicionycion. Prefacio prima ad historiam. [A]Fter solempne and wyse wryters of Arte and of scyence.... _Fol. 389^b_: God be thanked of al his dedes. This translacion is ended on a thursdaye the eyghtenth daye of Apryll the yere of our lord a thousand thre hondred and .lvij. The xxxj yere of Kyng Edward the thyrd after the Conquest of Englond, the yere of my lordes age Syr thomas lord of berkley that made me make this translacion fyue and thyrtty. [390^a, Caxton's epilogue to Trevisa; 390^b, blank.] _Fol. 391^a_: Jncipit Liber vltimus. _Fol. 449^a_: Ended the second day of Juyll the xxij yere of the regne of kynge Edward the fourth & of the Incarnacion of oure lord a thousand foure score and tweyne. Fynysshed per Caxton. _Fol. 449^b, 450, blank._

Folio. Sign. a-b^8, C^4, 1-28^8, [28*^2], 29-48^8, 49^4, 50^8, 52-55^8, 450 leaves, of which five (a, 1; 1, 1; 1, 5; 28*,2; 55, 8) are blank. The folios of sign. 1,2-55,7 are numbered 1-ccccxxviii (blanks 1, 5 and 28*,2 counted as iv and ccxxvi), with many errors which are mostly corrected on the following leaves, but in the case of fol. ccxli on the verso of the same leaf. There is, however, no clx, and ccccxiii is duplicated, errors which balance each other and do not disturb the final numeration. The omission of a signature 51 is accidental, the text continuing without a break. The purpose of the unsigned single sheet following sign. 28, consisting of one printed and one blank leaf, was evidently to carry the last remaining leaf of the fourth book and thereby make possible a division of the volume at this point into two nearly equal parts. Advantage has apparently been taken of this division to bind the Grenville copy (Brit. Mus. IB. 55060) in two volumes. Wynkyn de Worde, who reprinted the Polychronicon in 1495, followed in this particular Caxton's example and in order to begin the fifth book with a new signature left at the end of the fourth book nearly a whole leaf blank, though he separated the other books by a blank space of no more than three or four lines. Caxton's use of arabic figures for signatures was confined to the years 1481-1483; after that date he used letters only. The first few chapter-headings of each book have Latin ordinals (Capitulum primum, secundum, etc.) which are soon dropped for arabic figures. Gothic letter, Caxton's fourth font, forty lines to the page, with headline. Two- to seven-line spaces left for chapter and book initials, which are supplied in red. Chapter-headings underlined in red. Blades ii, 172. Ames-Dibdin i, 138. Seymour de Ricci p. 60.

Seventy-two leaves, including the five blanks, are wanting in this copy, viz.: sign. a-C; 1, 1, 4, 5, 8; 2, 1, 4, 5; 3, 2; 4, 1; 27, 3; [28*,2]; 44, 7; 50-55. The lacking parts comprise the first twenty leaves (Prohemye and alphabetical index), the last forty leaves (Caxton's eighth book), and twelve intermediate leaves. Of these the Proheyme is supplied in facsimile and sign. 4, 1 in manuscript. What is possibly an original impression of Caxton's large device is placed at the end of the volume. This was used by Caxton only during his last years, 1487-91, and by Wynkyn de Worde, into whose hands the original block passed, in his folios for thirty years longer. From one of the latter this may have been taken, possibly from the Polychronicon of 1495, where the other side of the leaf it occupied was blank, as is the case here also.

Trevisa's translation of Higden was completed, according to the best MSS., in 1387, not in 1357 as stated on fol. 389^b. (In 1357 the 18th of April fell on Tuesday, not Thursday, and Thomas Lord Berkeley was then in the fifth, not the thirty-fifth year of his age.) Caxton was himself the translator of twenty-two of the one hundred books which he printed and it was therefore not strange that Trevisa's English should have been in his hands, as the proem states, "a lytel embelysshed fro tholde makyng." In what these embellishments consisted is partially explained in the epilogue: "Therfore I William Caxton a symple persone haue endeuoyred me to wryte fyrst ouer all the sayd book of proloconycon, and somewhat haue chaunged the rude and old Englyssh, that is to wete certayn wordes, which in these dayes [1482] be neyther usyd ne understanden". He went however further than this and so changed the inflections and orthography that the language is no longer of the fourteenth but rather of the fifteenth century. But in no other way could it have been made to harmonize with his proposed continuation, concerning which he proceeds to say: "and also am auysed to make another booke after this sayd werke whiche shal be sett here after the same, And shal haue his chapytres and his table a parte. For I dar not presume to sette my book ne ioyne hit to his, for dyuerse causes". Accordingly he begins his "Liber ultimus" with a new signature, preceded by a blank page. His "table" nevertheless is combined with that of the preceding seven books in one alphabet. Wynkyn de Worde's edition has a more elaborate index of ninety pages in which each of the eight books is indexed in a separate alphabet.

Apart from the interest attaching to this "Liber ultimus" as the only original work of any length from Caxton's pen, the Polychronicon is next to the Golden Legend his largest book, and in the Prohemye they are grouped together as the "twoo bookes notable" which treat of history. It happens also, probably because of larger editions printed, that of these two books many more copies have survived than of any of his other books, about one-fourth of which are now represented only by single copies. Of the Polychronicon, Seymour de Ricci's "Census of Caxtons" (1909) enumerates forty known copies (very few of them entirely complete), evenly divided between public and private libraries. To this list he adds, under the heading "Present owners untraced," forty-eight copies (nos. 41-88) which appeared at sales between 1698 and 1901, some of them possibly identical with copies already described as "known." In this second division is found the present copy (no. 79), purchased by the donor of this collection at the Smets sale, New York, May, 1868, in calf binding, with the name of the owner "A.A. Smets, Savannah, May 28, 1836" on the fly-leaf. It was at once sent to Francis Bedford for binding, with instructions to have the "inlaying, repairing etc. done over in the very best manner, by the best restorer in France or England." Bound in brown morocco, richly blind-tooled, with Tudor rose, fleur-de-lis and acorn emblems. Leaf 10-1/4 × 7-1/2 in. The Smets fly-leaf and the original instructions sent to Mr. Bedford with the volume and returned by him with an added note over his own signature, laid in.

Other copies of the Polychronicon which have passed through Mr. Bedford's hands have been bound in the same style, among them the Menzies copy, sold New York, November, 1876, which de Ricci wrongly conjectured might be identical with the Smets.

25. ORDINARY OF CHRISTIAN MEN. London, Wynkyn de Worde, 1506.

_Fol. 1^a._ TITLE: Thordinary of Crysten men [woodcut below.] _Fol. 1^b-4^b, table of contents._ _Fol. 5^a_ [woodcut above]: Here begynneth a notable treatyse and ful necessarye to all crysten men for to knowe & it is named the Ordynary of Crystyens or of crysten men. _Fol. 217^b_: Here endeth the book named the ordynarye of crysten men newely hystoryed and translated out of Frensshe in to Englysshe. Enprynted in the cyte of London in the Fletestrete in the sygne of y^e sonne by Wnykyn de worde. y^e yere of our lorde .M.CCCCC.vi. _Fol. 218^a, title repeated over woodcut._ _Fol. 218^b_, [PRINTER'S DEVICE]

Quarto. Sign. Aa^4, A^6, B^4, C-X, AA-NN^{8, 4 (altern.)}, OO^6, PP^{5}+{1}. 218 leaves, gothic letter, 34 lines (marginal citations 60 lines) to the page, without foliation. Title cut in large lower-case letters on block 2 × 4 in. Five- and six-line initials at the head of the larger divisions of the text. Ten woodcuts, one repeated. The final blank PP. 6 has been replaced by an independent leaf having on the one side the title repeated with woodcut, and on the other the printer's device, either of which may in the binding be made the recto. The device is the first of his so-called "Sagittarius" forms, and the one most commonly used from 1506 to 1518. Ames-Dibdin, ii, p. 103. Morgan Cat. iii, p. 214, n. 743.

The present copy lacks the first four leaves, containing the title and the table of contents; but both the title and the woodcut accompanying it are repeated elsewhere in the volume, the title on fol. 218^a, the woodcut on fol. 87^a.

Of the French original, _L'ordinaire des chrestiens_, at least six editions were printed before 1500, the earliest apparently at Rouen, c. 1487. In them it is stated that the writing was commenced 22 May, 1467 and finished (_consommé_) 22 May, 1469. The corresponding dates in the prologue and epilogue of the translation are "fyrst begonne to be wryten" 14 Jan., 1467, "fyrst consumed" 14 Jan., 1500. The confusion, common to both the French and the English of the 15th century, in the derivatives of _consummare_ and _consumere_ relieves the translator, Andrew Chertsey, from the appearance of an over-literal translation, but the change in the date of the completed work can hardly be in the direction of accuracy.

The woodcuts which appeared in the first edition of the "Ordinary" printed in 1502 are in this second edition replaced by others of different design and better execution, borrowed mainly from "The crafte to lyve well and to dye well", printed by de Worde in 1505 and like the present work translated by Chertsey from a French original, _L'art de bien vivre et de bien mourir_. Two of these illustrations, "Temptation to Impatience" (fol. 73^b) and "Soul leaving the Body" (fol. 218^a), are copied from the early block-book _Ars moriendi_.

Bound by Alfred Matthews in blind-tooled crimson morocco, with inside gold borders and gilt edges. Leaf 8-1/4 × 5-3/4 in.

Wynkyn de Worde, Caxton's assistant, was a native of Wörth, Alsace. He came into possession of his master's printing materials on his death in 1491 and continued to occupy his house in Westminster until 1500 when he moved to Fleet Street within the city. In the number of his books, almost eight hundred, he surpassed all the early printers, but many of them were works of small size and consequence. Some of his largest and finest books were reprints of Caxton's folios. Mention has been made of his use of Caxton's original device without addition. In all of his own various devices also, the place of honor in the center is given to Caxton's initials and cipher, plainly as a mark of loyalty to the master, not an advertisement of himself as the successor.

26. INTRATIONES. London, Richard Pynson, 28 Feb. 1510.

_Fol. 1^a_, TITLE: INtrationu_m_ excellentissimus liber perq_uam_ necessarius o_mn_ibus leg_is_ hominib_us_: fere in se continens o_mn_em medullam diversa_rum_ materia_rum_ ac pl_ac_ito_rum_ tam realiu_m_, personalium, q_uam_ mixt_orum_. Necno_n_ multorum breuium tam executionu_m_ q_uam_ aliorum valde vtilium illis hunc librum inspecturis aut inscrutandis. Que quide_m_ supradicta facilit_er_ possunt inveniri p_er_ indice_m_ alphabeticu_m_ p_er_uigila_n_ti studio co_n_fectu_m_ & p_er_ ordine_m_ l_itte_raru_m_ redactu_m_... _Fol. 1^b_, [Full page woodcut of the king's arms crowned, supported by a dragon and a greyhound, with a portcullis on either side and a rose and two angels above.] _Fol. 2^a_: Intrationu_m_ libri Index Alphabetic_us_. _Fol. 10^b_: Finis tabule Intrationum. _Fol. 193^a_, COLOPHON: Explicit opus excellentissimu_m_ & perutile in se continens multas materias o_mn_ibus leg_is_ ho_min_ib_us_ p_er_q_uam_ necessarias nouiter Impressum, correctum, emendatum, & no_n_ minimo labore reuisum London_i_ in vico vulgariter nu_n_cupato Fletstrete in officina ere ac impensis honesti viri Ricardi Pynson Regis Impressoris moram suam trahentis sub signo diui Georgii Anno n_ost_re redemptionis .M.CCCCC.x. Die vero vltima Mensis Februarii. _Fol. 193^b_, [PRINTER'S DEVICE.] _Fol. 194, blank._

Folio. Sign. Aa^6, Bb^4, a-z, &, 9, A-E^6, F^4. 194 leaves, the last blank, 11-193 numbered i-clxxxv, but with the omission of li and liv and other irregularities. Gothic letter, 54 lines to the page, with marginal side-headings. The title, occupying seventeen lines of bold heavy-faced type, is printed in red and black and in the form of an inverted triangle. The _Index Alphabeticus_ is introduced by a ten-line initial A with a rose above and a portcullis below the middle bar, found also in the same printer's Sarum missal of 1520. The other divisions of the index have mostly four-line woodcut initials, some of grotesque pattern. Five-line space with guide-letter for the first initial of the text. Ornaments of four patterns, repeated singly or in combination, are used to lengthen out the frequent short end lines of paragraphs in order to give more solidity to the appearance of the page. Three of the same ornaments are found also on the title-page of Whitinton's _Vulgaria_, printed by W. de Worde in 1521. Ames-Dibdin ii, 441.

In the present copy the index (sign. Aa. 2-6, Bb. 1-4) is separated from the title (Aa. 1) and placed at the end of the volume. Name of _Johēs Coningesby_ written in a sixteenth century hand on the first page of both text and index. The device is the fourth of Pynson's seven devices and was in use 1496-1513. Allusion is made in the colophon to an earlier edition, no copy of which appears to be known. The work was reprinted by Henry Smythe, London, 1546.