JOHN SIBERCH 
 
PUBLISHERS. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 LONDON: MACWILLAN .^ CO., F.td. 
 (ILASGOW: MACLEHOSE. lACKSON .S: CO. 
 
JOHN SIBERCH 
 
 The First Cambridge Printer 
 
 1521-1522 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE J. GRAY 
 
 Author of The Earlier Cambridge Stationers a?id Bookbinders, and the first 
 Cambridge Printer; John Siberch : Bibliographical Notes, 1886 — 1905 (unth 
 R. Bowes); Wills and Inventories of Printers, Binders, and Stationers of 
 Cambridge from 1504 to 1699 (luith Dr. W. M. Palmer); Index to the Cole 
 MSS. ; General Index to Hazlitfs Handbook and his Bibliographical Collec- 
 tions ; A Bibliography of the Works of Sir Isaac Nejuton ; Coopers' Athe?iae 
 Cantabrigienses, Vol. Ill, with additions, corrections, and a neiv Index, c^c. 
 
 In Commemoration of the Four-hundredth 
 Anniversary of Printing in Cambridge 
 
 CAMBRIDGE .■*.'*. *.'./, ] '"' 
 BOWES & BOW Ek"'^" ''"'■''-''' 
 
 1 92 I 
 
Border fust used by Siberch on the title-page of Lucian Trepl ciyj^dciLH'. 1521. 
 
JOHN SIBERCH 
 
 IT seems only right that this year we should in some way 
 celebrate the four-hundredth anniversary of the advent of 
 printing in Cambridge. Especially should we, as the present repre- 
 sentatives of the book-trade, keep in remembrance those of our 
 predecessors who undertook the risks and responsibilities connected 
 with the introduction of the art of printing in our land. Amidst the 
 hurry and turmoil of the present day we are liable to forget the 
 originators of the immense wealth of books with which we are now 
 surrounded. 
 
 Unlike our sister University, we have no uncertainty about the 
 commencement of printing in this town. 1521 is the date of the first 
 work printed here. The date of the commencement of printing in 
 Oxford is still a matter of doubt, owing to a probable error in the 
 printed date of the first work. But it is sufficient here to state that 
 Oxford preceded Cambridge in the art of printing, and that the 
 Cambridge press was the fifth established in the provinces. 
 
 If I may say so, it is fitting that such an attempt at commemora- 
 tion should be made by one who has helped to gather together a few 
 unconsidered trifles which have thrown light upon the mystery 
 enveloping the life and work of John Siberch, the first printer in 
 Cambridge. 
 
 In saying this I do not intend for one moment to belittle the 
 work of predecessors. To Mr. Robert Bowes, with whom it has 
 been my privilege to work, is due the beginning ci pui present ^ay 
 interest in the subject. By the fortunate purchase, .of a ^ copy' of 
 Linacre's Latin translation of Galen, Be' TcM/^sramgnHf.^ p:]nts'3 
 in Cambridge, 1521, he was drawn to the question of the origin 
 of Cambridge printing, and by his enthusiasm warmed others, 
 
 B759GG 
 
and succeeded in interesting the late Henry Bradshaw to such an 
 extent that Bradshaw took the matter in hand and worked at the 
 printer and his printing, with the result that we have from his pen a 
 masterpiece of bibliography in the Bibliographical Introduction, left 
 unfinished, but completed and printed after his death under the 
 editorship of his successor, Mr. F. J. H. Jenkinson. This was 
 the last work on which Mr. Bradshaw was engaged when his health 
 gave way in August, 1885. On the 31st of that month he wrote to 
 Mr. Bowes, " I managed to go to London on Friday, and worked 
 hard at all their Cambridge Siberch books, with satisfactory results." 
 
 Sir G. W. Prothero, in his Memoir of Henry Bradshaw (p. 309), 
 says : " Another bibliographical problem, smaller and more capable of 
 complete solution, occupied Bradshaw for a short time this summer. 
 This was an investigation of the work of the first Cambridge printer, 
 John Siberch, who printed several books at Cambridge in 1521-22. 
 Mr. Robert Bowes had issued, in 1878, a facsimile of one of these 
 books, Linacre's translation of Galen, and was anxious to publish the 
 other productions of Siberch's press. At his suggestion, Bradshaw 
 set to work on the books, and succeeded in discovering, from internal 
 evidence alone, the exact order in which Siberch's eight volumes were 
 published. The different copies of one of these, however, an edition 
 of Papyrius Gemiims, displayed certain variations which could not 
 easily be explained. The publication was therefore delayed, in order 
 to give Bradshaw time to examine all the known copies. This he 
 was able to do in 1885, and by putting the books side by side, and 
 patiently comparing them, he made out a complete history of this, 
 the first Cambridge press." 
 
 But Sir G. VV. Prothero's statement that Bradshaw had made out 
 a cqmpletp history Df the first Cambridge press was only partially 
 true, for siri.cc':tiitin-at fragment of another work has been discovered, 
 . and. tb^ i . mention."! atc"r. 
 
 ■\\\^'y(.i} ^xi^'A\^W^ 'Bibliographical Introduction is an extremely 
 interesting and valuable piece of work, and it " has added an import- 
 ant chapter to the history of printing in England." It shows the 
 
gradual process by which he obtained the definite order in which the 
 books were printed, and if he had been spared longer to us he might 
 possibly have carried on his researches further. But those who knew 
 him know how difficult it was to get him to publish any special 
 piece of work — he aimed at completeness. Yet, in opposition to this 
 remark, we have those valuable notes of his to the fragments of the 
 Day-book of John Dome, an Oxford bookseller, dated 1520, edited 
 by Mr. F. Madan. The notes were written in a few days, and sent to 
 Mr. Madan with a covering letter dated 30th of January 1886, just 
 twelve days before his death. These he called " A Half-Century of 
 Notes on the Day-Book of John Dome as edited by F. Madan." 
 They cover about thirty folios of foolscap. He made an Index 
 and drew ont a title-page, and had the sheets bound as a book, 
 writing a title-label on the upper cover, sending the work off at once 
 to Mr. Madan at the Bodleian. Round the title-page is written the 
 text, " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might ; for 
 there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave 
 whither thou goest, Ecclesiastes 9, 10." Note this quotation, and 
 remember that the hand which wrote it was stilled for ever within the 
 short space of twelve days. 
 
 This manuscript has been completely reproduced in facsimile for 
 friends, and no one can look at the notes without noticing the 
 ingenuity shewn in finding the real title of a book from the very vague 
 entries in the Day-Book and Bradshaw's knowledge of bookselling at 
 that early time. 
 
 In regard to this ingenuity connected with the identification of 
 books, I would mention the inventory attached to the will of Nicholas 
 Pilgrim, a Cambridge bookbinder, who was with Garrett Godfrey 
 and succeeded to his business, and died in 1545. It is printed in the 
 Wills and Inventories of Cambridge Booksellers, by Dr. W. M. Palmer 
 and myself. This Inventory of only twenty-five years after Dome 
 gives valuable and probably unique information concerning books kept 
 for sale in our University town a little over twenty years after 
 Siberch's time. I had to exercise all my powers of ingenuity to 
 
8 
 
 recognise the books mentioned as written in the manuscript, and Mr. 
 Bradshaw's successor, Mr. Jenkinson, solved one which entirely baffled 
 me. I wish I could give it here, but although I know the book I have 
 not a copy of the manuscript version. 
 
 Between the fragments of Dome's Day-Book of 1520 and 
 Nicholas Clifton of 1570, information concerning an Oxford book- 
 seller's stock is lacking, but we in Cambridge have the very full list 
 of Nicholas Pilgrim of 1545 and others to fill that period of time. 
 
 Mr. Bradshaw's Bibliographical Introduction, printed in 1886, is 
 the starting point for information concerning books printed by 
 Siberch. Since then the fragment of another work printed by him 
 has been discovered, which, added to the eight described by Bradshaw, 
 raises the production of Siberch's press to nine books, to which we 
 have to add another issue of the Galen, De Temperamentis, both of 
 which will be mentioned later. 
 
 I have also re-examined most of the available copies of Siberch's 
 press, and collected many additional notes, which I gathered together 
 and presented to Mr. Bowes, who printed them in a little volume in 
 1906, along with facsimiles of the title-pages of the eight works, and a 
 facsimile of the page of the newly-discovered work, etc. I mention 
 this work here, as I refer to it later. 
 
 Three years after the printing of Bradshaw's notes, Mr. Jenkinson 
 read a paper to the Cambridge Antiquarian Society (18 Nov. 1889) 
 " On a unique fragment of a book printed at Cambridge early in the XVlth 
 century." This paper concerned "a discovery made in the Chapter 
 Library at Westminster by Mr. E. Gordon Duff. Among the frag- 
 ments which formed the covers of a book in that library he found 
 parts of the first sheet of the Cambridge (printed) Papyrius Geminns 
 (of 1522), and he at once noticed two other leaves, part of a Latin 
 Grammar, printed in the same type. None of the leaves had been 
 folded, which made their a.ssociation still more suggestive. There 
 could be little doubt that all came from the same press. We soon 
 found that we had before us part of the little Syntax {De octo orationis 
 partium constrnctione) written for use in St. Paul's School." From a 
 
letter of Erasmus, dated July 30, 15 15, "prefixed to the later editions, 
 we learn that by Colet's direction William Lily had composed a 
 syntax, which Colet had insisted upon Erasmus revising. This he 
 did so effectually that Lily would not hear of its being called his 
 work. Erasmus did not feel that he could own it as his, and so it 
 came out anonymously ; the second edition contained Erasmus's 
 disclaimer. 
 
 " The work is a likely one to have been printed at Cambridge at 
 that time. When Cambridge booksellers were importing Antwerp 
 editions of Holt's Lac Pueroruni, we may be sure they would be 
 ready to save money by selling a grammar printed in their own town. 
 Perhaps the whole book exists somewhere unrecognized." 
 
 Thus far Mr. Jenkinson on the addition of one more book to the 
 already known productions of Siberch's press. The page is given in 
 facsimile in my little work of 1906. But a further examination of the 
 other fragments led to most interesting discoveries which were de- 
 scribed, also by Mr. Jenkinson, in another paper read to the Cambridge 
 Antiquarian Society the following year (20 Oct. 1890), which he 
 entitled, "On a Letter from P. Kaetz to J. Siborch, Printer at Cam- 
 bridged This letter was also in the same binding of the book De vita 
 et moribus sacerdotum, by Clichtoveus, printed at Paris by H. Stephanus 
 in 1 5 19, and is bound by Siberch, being one of the seven known to 
 me as being bound by him. 
 
 Quoting Mr. Jenkinson : " The pads consisted partly of printed 
 leaves, including the first sheet of the 1522 Papyriiis Geminus, and 
 sheet D of the hitherto unknown Cambridge edition of Lily and 
 iirasmus, De octo partiiun orationis constructione /ibellus" (the subject 
 of Mr. Jenkinson's previous communication), " and partly of scraps of 
 manuscript. The most interesting of these is the letter." The letter 
 is in Dutch, and is addressed : Dem ersame;^ ^nde vrome« Jan van 
 Siborch boeckdrucker in cambritz. He 17 {^). The translation by 
 Mr. Hessels is as follows : 
 
 " ' Know, Jan Siborch, that I have received your letter, as (?) [well as speci- 
 mens] (?) of your letter [type], and it is very good ; if you can otherwise... (?) and 
 
10 
 
 conduct yourself well, then you will get enough to print. So I remain still in 
 London because my master comes ; I expect him from day to day ; therefore I 
 cannot even know when I cross, but so soon as I cross I shall do the best that is 
 in my power. Item I have told Peter Rinck three or four times of the pater noster, 
 but he tells me that he cannot find it, and Gibkerken (?) has not yet given Jacob 
 pastor the ring but he carries it every day on his hand and he will not give it to 
 Jacob Pastor. Item I send you 25 pronostication[s] and 3 New Testaments 
 small [size]. The pronostications cost one sh. sterling the 25 and the 3 New 
 Testaments cost 2sh. and 6d sterling, so there is still 6d due to you, which I 
 remain in your debt. I have no more New Testaments, otherwise I should have 
 sent you more, I know nothing else to write except [to ask you to] deliver the 
 accompanying packet to Niclas and greet Baetzken for me with your whole family, 
 and do not forget yourself.' 
 
 " There can be no doubt about the identity either of the writer of 
 this letter or of the person to whom it is addressed. Jan Siborch, or 
 Jan van Siborch, as we here for the first time find him called in the 
 vernacular, is the " Joannes Siberch " who introduced printing into 
 Cambridge in the year 1521. In the form now before us the name 
 seems to confirm the identification of the Cambridge printer with the 
 "providus vir Joannes Lair de Siborch," at whose expense Eucharius 
 Cervicornis (Hirschhorn) printed at Cologne in 1520 Richard Croke's 
 Introdiictioncs in rudime7ita graeca, of which a copy at Lincoln has the 
 initials L S. on the binding. Mr. Bradshaw believed that Siborch's 
 residence in Cambridge was connected with the appointment of Croke 
 as Professor of Greek and Public Orator. Curiously enough one of 
 the scraps of writing now before us is part of a paradigm of the Greek 
 verbs in -/it beautifully written. Is Croke's Greek handwriting known } 
 
 " At the time when he wrote this letter, P. Kaetz was not yet 
 doing business on his own account ; he is known to us as the pub- 
 lisher of more than one Sarum service-book in the year 1524. It may 
 still be possible to discover who was his ' master.' The fragment of 
 Papyrius, being in what Mr. Bradshaw calls the tJiird state, points to 
 the end of 1522 or beginning of 1523 as the time when these pieces of 
 paper were put together in the form of paste-board. John Siborch 
 may very probably have remained in Cambridge as a bookbinder 
 
II 
 
 and bookseller, although as a printer we know nothing of him after 
 December, 1522." 
 
 These were most valuable discoveries. By the letter we get into 
 personal contact with Siberch, and gain some information concerning 
 him. I was allowed to produce a facsimile of both the letter and 
 Croke's manuscript in my work on The Earlier Cambridge Stationers 
 and Bookbinders and the First Cambridge P7'inter, printed 1904. 
 
 In 1894 Mr. IJowes, being with the Library Association in 
 Dublin, took the opportunity of visiting Trinity College to see their 
 cop)' of the Cambridge edition of Galen, and soon saw that it had 
 features which did not belong to any other copies he knew of or had 
 examined, and he described the copy in a paper read to the Cam- 
 bridge Antiquarian Society, 22 Oct. 1894. 
 
 The edition was evidently earlier than the other copies, in which 
 what Bradshaw took for cancel leaves are simply the original 
 centre leaves of the sheet. In this newly-discovered issue is a wood- 
 cut of the " Adoration of the Shepherds," which appears in no other 
 work printed by Siberch, nor in the edition of Galen already known. 
 The cancelled pages in the Dublin copy are produced in facsimile, 
 along with a reprint of Mr. Bowes' paper, in my Bibliographical Notes 
 of 1906. 
 
 It is only just to say that Mr. Bradshaw had not seen this copy, 
 and knew nothing of its interesting character ; but working on his 
 lines, Mr. Bowes concluded that his discovery did not alter the order 
 of Bradshaw's list. 
 
 I have now come to a point when scattered bits of information, 
 printed and unprinted, were first gathered together and printed in my 
 work on The Earlier Cambridge Stationers and the First Cambridge 
 Printer, issued by the Bibliographical Society in 1904, which I had the 
 privilege to dedicate to Mr. Robert Bowes " as an acknowledgement of 
 many encouragements." Here will be found all biographical informa- 
 tion, particulars of the books printed, and, for the first time, a detailed 
 description of the books bound by Siberch. 
 
 After this publication I re-examined the available copies of 
 
12 
 
 Siberch's printing, making discoveries, which, added to other informa- 
 tion, were printed in 1906 under the title of Bibliographical Notes, 
 1886 — 1905, by Robert Bowes and G. J. Gray. 
 
 Ten years ago (191 1) Mr, E. Gordon Duff devoted one of his 
 Sandars lectures in the University to John Siberch, and all interested 
 should read that lecture, which is included in his English Provincial 
 Printers, Stationers, and Bookbinders to 1557, printed 19 12, 
 
 Now for a brief summary of the man and his work. 
 
 John Siberch, or John Laer of Siborch, or Siegburg, a tow n a few 
 miles south-west of Cologne, like most of the foreign printers settled 
 in England, made little use of his proper surname, but used the place- 
 name instead, and called himself John Siberch. He is first met with^ 
 in connection with Richard Croke's Introdnctiones m r7idimenta graeca, 
 printed at Cologne by Eucharius Cervicornus, May 1520, at the 
 expense of John Lair de Siborch — " expensis providi viri domini 
 Joannis Lair de Siborch." The copy of this work in Lincoln Cathe- 
 dral Library is bound by Siberch. I have mentioned Mr. Gordon 
 Duff's discovery of a manuscript fragment of the printer's "copy" of 
 this work, identified by the pencil mark for a new sheet and a new 
 page, both agreeing with the printed book. The presence of this 
 sheet in the boards of a book printed by Cervicornus, 15 19, bound by 
 Siberch, seems to show that Siberch was already in Cambridge when 
 Croke's work was publi.shed. It has been pointed out by Mr. Gordon 
 Duff that Siberch was compelled to have the work printed abroad 
 since no English printer of the time possessed a fount of Greek type, 
 and he also points out that if Croke had acted on his own behalf, 
 he would have had the work printed in Paris, w here he had studied, 
 or Leipzig, where he had recently been a professor, both of which 
 towns had excellent presses. But Siberch, who evidently had the 
 arrangement of the printing, no doubt entrusted the work to a printer 
 of the town from which he himself came, and not improbably to the 
 master with whom he had himself worked. 
 
 ^ Mr. S. C. Roberts supplies an earlier reference in his forthcoming History of Printing 
 at Cambridge. Erasmus, writing to John Caesarius from Louvain, 5 April 15 18, writes: 
 "I was surprised that John Siberch came here without your letter." 
 
13 
 
 Siberch himself, in the fourth book printed by him in 1521 
 (Baldwin), claimed to be the first printer of Greek in England, and 
 uses Greek letters in six of the nine books he printed. 
 
 That John Siberch and John Laer de Siborch are the same 
 person is confirmed by entries in the University Audit and Grace 
 Books, where he is called variously Law, laer, leer, Siberch, etc. 
 
 The reasonable suggestion that Siberch was in Cambridge during 
 1520, when Croke's work was being printed, is partly helped by an 
 entry in the University Grace Book T amongst the Graces for the 
 academical year 1520-21, where there is an entry of a sum of money 
 advanced to Siberch, an amount which we afterwards find to be £20. 
 
 Now that he is in the town his residence must be pointed out. 
 This we know through an entry made by Dr. Caius in his Annals of 
 Gonville and Cains College. The entry was discovered by Prof R. L. 
 Bensly. Dr. Caius made the entry in 1569, after some property, 
 including that house, had been purchased by him from Trinity Col- 
 lege, the deed of conveyance being dated June i, 1563. The entry, 
 which is in Latin, is here given in English : 
 
 " The space between the gate of Humility and the gate of Vertue 
 was formerly occupied by a tenement called the King's Arms. This 
 was once the residence of John Sibert, alias Siberch, the University 
 Printer, who printed some books of Lydgate and others, and of 
 Erasmus when he was residing at Cambridge and publicly lectured 
 on St. Jerome." 
 
 The property consisted of : 
 
 " fower mesuages ... in the parishe of S. Michael . . . over agaynst 
 the churche and churchyerd of the same parishe betwene the lane 
 called Michael Lane of the northe and the tenemente of Robert Lane 
 baker of the south, and abuttinge upon the Kings highway or high 
 streate there on the easte, and the gardeynes and ortesyerdes belong- 
 ing to Gonevill and Caius College ... on the west." 
 
 The four tenements were Ansel's, Houghton's, Talbot's, and 
 Smythe's, alias the 'King's Arms.' 
 
14 
 
 More concisely in plain language, Siberch lived and printed in a 
 tenement called the King's Arms, which stood on the space between 
 the Gate of Humility and the Gate of Vertue, in fact, on part of the 
 ground now traversed by the avenue in Tree Court. This house can 
 be seen in the accurately-drawn plan of Cambridge, 1574, by John 
 Hamond, from which I am allowed to reproduce the section showing it. 
 
 Section from Ilamond's Flan of Cambridge, 1574, showing Siberchs house. 
 (Reproduced by permission of Messrs. Bowe-; ^ Bowes from their forth- 
 coming Old Plans of Cambridge). 
 
 This plan is especially interesting" to me, for in addition to 
 Siberch's house, it shows what are now the premises of Messrs. Bowes 
 and Bowes, booksellers. These premises, I find, have been con- 
 tinuously occupied by booksellers since William Scarlett, who died 
 
15 
 
 i6iy. It is worth noting that whilst Siberch was living in this house, 
 Segar Nicholson, afterwards one of the three official booksellers of the 
 University, was living as a pensioner in the College itself from 
 1520 to 1523. 
 
 No one has, and I certainly have not, before noted a few words 
 in Peter Kaetz's letter to Siborch, ' deliver the accompanying packet 
 to Niclas, and greet Baetzken for me with your whole family." This 
 seems to imply that Siberch had a family. And who was Niclas ? 
 This must be Nicholas Spierinck, the well-known Cambridge binder, 
 who had certainly already been resident in Cambridge for twenty 
 years. Was he working with Siberch .-' It is a plausible question, 
 for he it was who possessed one of Siberch's rolls and used it along 
 with his own roll about 1524, the year after Siberch's disappearance. 
 
 The first book printed was Henry Bullock's Oratio, with the im- 
 print dated February 1521. Only four copies are known (no copy at 
 Cambridge), and a slight variation in two of them. This Oration was 
 made on the visit of Cardinal VVolsey in the autumn of 1520. 
 
 The second book, Augustine's Sermo, etc., Mr. Bradshaw says 
 has all the appearance of having been issued in the spring (say the 
 month of April) of the year 1521. Only one copy is known, and that 
 is in the Bodleian. On the title-page are two upright woodcuts. No 
 woodcut initial letters are used, but 3-line spaces are left as if they were 
 expected to be filled in by hand. Greek type is used for the first time. 
 
 The third book, Lucian's irepl BiyjrdScov Henrico BuUoco inter- 
 prete. Probably issued during June 1521. It contained also the 
 Oratio printed earlier the same year. On the title-page appears for 
 the first time the well-known border with the " Arma Regia" (France 
 and England quarterly) at the foot. Still no woodcut initial letters, 
 but the 3-line spaces have the letters printed in the ordinary capital 
 letters as used in the text. Four copies are known, one in the library 
 of St. John's College. 
 
 The fourth book, Baldwin, Sermo de altaris sacramento. Prob- 
 ably issued in the summer (say August) of 1521. It has the woodcut 
 
i6 
 
 border as used in the previous work, a 6-line S woodcut initial letter 
 and 3-linc spaces elsewhere are left, with the initial letters printed in 
 the ordinary capital type as in the previous work. Two sentences are 
 printed in Greek type, and the woodcut " Arma Regia " appears for the 
 
 First used by Siberch on Baldwin. Sertno. 1521. 
 
 first time. Mr. Bradshaw said that " the border round the title-page 
 shows in some copies a second state." I have further discovered that 
 State A has the words Reverendissimi and Cantuarien wrongly spelt 
 on the title-page, which were corrected in State B, and whilst these 
 corrections were made another mistake remained uncorrected — the 
 catchword at the bottom of folio i''. 
 
 Two copies of State A and six of State B and some leaves are 
 known. Both states are in Cambridge Libraries. The copy of 
 State A in the University Library came to them with the library of 
 
17 
 
 John Moore, bishop of El)\ which George I presented to the Univer- 
 sity. The book was dedicated to Nicholas West, bishop of Ely, and 
 I think that it is the copy sent to him. Unfortunately it was re-bound 
 at the end of the eighteenth century. 
 
 In this work Siberch claimed to be the first printer of Greek in 
 England. 
 
 The copy of State B in Peterborougli Cathedral Library is bound 
 by Nicholas Spierinck, who, as previously mentioned, used Siberch's 
 roll along- with his own on bindings of books dated but a few years after. 
 
 The fifth Avork is Erasmus de conscribendis episiolis. Siberch's 
 dedication is dated " decimo Calendas Novembris (Oct. 22)," and as 
 the imprint says " Mense Octobri " we must conclude that the book 
 was issued at the end of October 1521. Siberch now had command 
 of 6-line woodcut initials — one the C with figure of St. George and 
 the Dragon, but still was without the 3-line initial letters — the space 
 for these having the letters printed there in the capital type as in the 
 two previous books — Lucian and Baldwin. Greek type is used on 
 two pages. And the title-page has the familiar border as used also 
 on the two previous works. On the title-page he uses the "cum 
 gratia et privilegio " for the first time. The work was dedicated to 
 Bishop Fisher, and Mr. Bradshaw remarks "it must have been on this 
 occasion, and through Bishop Fisher's influence, that he obtained 
 leave to place ' Cum gratia et privilegio ' on his title-pages." 
 
 Four copies are known, two being in Cambridge. In addition to 
 these Mr. Bowes possessed fragments of four sheets, in which occur 
 small errors of the press, which are corrected in the printed copies. 
 These sheets had never been folded, and are probably proof sheets. 
 Mr. Bowes had them suitably bound, and presented them to the 
 University Library as representing a work not in the Library. 
 
 The copy of the work in Corpus Christi College was bound by 
 Nicholas Spierinck. 
 
 I have a recollection of reading somewhere that Erasmus had 
 stated in a letter that this edition was printed without his consent or 
 knowledge, but I cannot find my notes. 
 
i8 
 
 The sixth work is the largest printed l^y Siberch — Galeni Pcrga- 
 mensis de Temper amentis, et de inaeqttali in temper ie libri Ires Thoma 
 Linacro Anglo interprete. Linacre's dedication to Pope Leo X is 
 dated " Londini, 1521, Nonis Septembris (Sept. 5)," but as the state 
 of Device 2 shows that the printing was necessarily subsequent to the 
 previously-mentioned book (Fisher), we may safely conclude that the 
 book was issued late in the autumn (say December) of 15 21. Leo X 
 died 2 Dec. 1521. 
 
 Mr. Bowes's discovery of the cop)' of this book in Trinity College, 
 Dublin, varj'ing from the known copies, made it necessary for Mr. 
 Bradshaw's description to be partly rc-written. Briefly, it is as 
 follows : 
 
 At first it was onlj'- the De Teniperamentis printed, the text 
 ending on O 5 and 6, with the end of the text arranged in hour-glass 
 pattern, and Siberch's imprint at the foot. On the reverse is a wood- 
 cut of the Adoration of the Shepherds, also with Siberch's imprint at 
 foot. The opposite folio is blank, with the woodcut " Arma Regia " 
 on the reverse. Then it was decided to add the De inaequali intem- 
 perie. These last leaves (Q 5 and 6) were cancelled and the ending 
 text of the De Teniperamentis reprinted across the page, so occupying 
 half the page, whilst the other half contained the commencement of 
 the De inaequali intemperie. This alteration substituted ten leaves 
 in the place of the two. It is interesting to note that this addition 
 was printed in a different form, having many side notes, an arrange- 
 ment different from the first treatise, where there are none. Also the 
 pages were numbered " Fo. Ixv" to "Ixxiii" (74 not folio'd), the 
 previous folios being unnumbered. Yet in the Contents of the work 
 the references are to folios, though the first sixty-four are not 
 folio'd, the Index of Errors on fo. 74 also refers to the non-existing 
 numbered folios, and it is worth noting that no errors are corrected 
 in the " Index Erratorum " after fo. 64, that is, no errors noted for the 
 added treatise. 
 
 These editions I have called State A and State B. Yet both of 
 them have the same title-page, dedication, and contents, which, I 
 
19 
 
 think, clearly proves that the second treatise was an afterthought, and 
 added before the title-sheet was printed. An examination of the 
 wire marks on the printed paper supports this supposition. 
 
 A most interesting copy was purchased by Dr. J. F. Payne, who 
 wrote the Introduction to the reproduction of the work published by 
 Mr. Bowes in 1881. It was purchased after Mr. Bowes's discovery, 
 and contains both states of the book. This copy is now in the Library 
 of the Royal College of Physicians, and was presented by Dr. Payne. 
 Mr. Bowes described the Dublin copy in a paper read to the Cam- 
 bridge Antiquarian Society, 22 Oct. 1894, and it is reprinted with my 
 Bibliographical Notes of 1906, wherein is given a facsimile of the can- 
 celled page of State A. 
 
 The work has the familiar woodcut border. 6-line initial letters 
 are used, the C (with figures of St. George and the Dragon) of a 
 different character to the others, and a 4-line A, which does not range 
 accurately with this type. The woodcut of the Adoration of the 
 Shepherds is used at the end of the text of State A only, the Arma 
 Regia at the end of both states. 
 
 There are two known copies of State B printed on vellum, and 
 these are at Oxford, in the Bodleian and All Souls College. In 
 printing these copies the 6-line initial letters were left out, evidently 
 for the letters to be artistically filled in by hand. This is done in the 
 All Souls' copy, but that in the Bodleian is not so done ; also, the 
 Bodleian copy has sheet S wrongly printed, through one side of a 
 sheet being laid on the printing press the wrong way. 
 
 There are more copies known of this work than of other produc- 
 tions of Siberch's press : One copy of State A at Dublin ; one copy 
 of States A and B in the Royal College of Physicians. Of State B 
 eight copies (three at Cambridge) and some fragments which Mr. Bowes 
 presented to the University Library, not forgetting also the two copies 
 printed on vellum which I have just spoken about. 
 
 The seventh work was JoJiannis Roffensis episcopi contio .... in 
 latinmn per Richardum Pacaeum. The preface of Nicholas Wilson is 
 dated " Kalend. lanuarii 1521," which must clearly stand for Jan. i. 
 
20 
 
 1521-22, SO that the book may be considered to have been issued 
 during the month of January in what we call 1522. 
 
 There are two issues — one with the word 'virum,' the other with 
 the same word printed ' verum ' on the title-page. Only five copies 
 in all are known, one in Cambridge being in a volume of tracts in 
 Magdalene College Library, discovered in 1909. Mr. Bowes and I 
 were told of its discovery, but when we went by appointment to see 
 it we were told the volume had disappeared. Happily it turned up 
 afterwards, having been taken away with other books by mistake- 
 Another copy has recently been presented to the University Library 
 by a few friends in memory of Mr. H. G. Aldis, Secretary of the 
 Library, who died 191 9. The woodcut border with the royal arms is 
 used no more ; in its place appears the trademark and initials of the 
 printer used for the first time. 
 
 During 1913 I came across some letters written on behalf of 
 Bishop Fisher by his chaplain, Richard Sharpe, to Dr. Nicholas 
 Metcalfe, Master of St. John's College, contributed to the Eagle in 
 1893 by the present Master of the College (Mr. R. F, Scott), who 
 very kindly allowed me to do what I liked with the Fisher letters ; 
 and as some gave references to booksellers and books, I pulled them 
 to pieces and rearranged those interesting to me, and wrote an article 
 which was printed in The Library, April, 191 3. They were of the 
 interesting period of 1521-23. Two of them refer to this edition of 
 Pace's Latin translation of the sermon preached by Bishop Fisher at 
 St. Paul's, 1 2th May, 1521. In the conveyance of the sermon from 
 one person to another the last part was lost, and the Bishop had to 
 re-write it. In a letter from Sharpe to Metcalfe (London }) he says : 
 " My lord desyreth your maistershipe to . . . send his sermon as shortly 
 as can be that Mr secretary hath. My lorde is very sory that the last 
 part of his sermon is lost it will cost hym sum labour for I thynke he 
 have not the copye." Later, in another letter to Metcalfe, " I send to 
 you by this berer now my lordes lettre which is to Mr Secretary. I 
 had it red and therefore ye shall know somewhat of the tenor thereof 
 Fyrst there is thankes for his last lettres, then he signifyes to him the 
 
21 
 
 popes grete thankes for the sermon whiche thanks my lord rekennetli 
 Mr Secretary most worthy of all by cause he hath taken such paynes 
 in Fourming it in to latyn . . . Moreouer syr ye shall receyve of this 
 berer my lordes sermon in ynglyshe which he prayethe you to put to 
 Wynkyn to print and he prayethe you to speke to Jhon Gowghe to 
 see it diligently done & trewly printed. He signifyethe to Mr 
 Secretary that he puttes this to Wynkyn & desyreth of hym one in 
 latyn." 
 
 Mr. Secretary is Richard Pace, Secretary of State. Pope Leo X 
 thanks Bishop Fisher for the Latin translation of the sermon, which, 
 evidently, was sent to him in manuscript. Leo X died 2 Dec. 1521, 
 and Pace was immediately sent to Rome to advocate Cardinal 
 Wolsey's candidature for the papacy, remaining abroad for more than 
 a year, certainly until 14 Sept. 1523, when Adrian VI died, and 
 Clement VII was elected. The last letter must then have been 
 written before December 1 521, and before either the English or the 
 Latin translation of the sermon was printed. Nicholas Wilson, M.A. 
 of Christ's College, wrote a long preface in praise of Richard Pace, 
 which is printed with the Cojitio, and he was evidently responsible for 
 its printing, and in his preface speaks of the bishop as not having 
 cared to make the translation. 
 
 It is a curious question why Pace's Latin translation of the 
 Sermon was not printed by Wynkyn de Worde, but by Siberch at 
 Cambridge. It may have been by the interest of Nicholas Wilson, 
 who resided in Cambridge, and being responsible for its production, 
 could more easily attend to the matter in his own town than to have 
 it done so far away as London was in those days. We know that 
 about 1522 Wynkyn de Worde was employing other presses, so there 
 is a possibility that he got Siberch to print the sermon. But I prefer 
 the first suggestion. 
 
 The English Sermon was printed by Wynkyn de Worde without 
 a date, and I can tell a story how a copy of Bishop Fisher's 1526 
 Sermon was confused with one of the 152 1 Sermon. A copy of both were 
 found together in the binding of a book, and were afterwards bound 
 
22 
 
 separately alike by Bedford, the London binder, lettered exactly the 
 same as being both printed by Wynkyn de Worde, which led to the 
 confusion ; and on working the matter out, the 1521 Sermon was found 
 to be printed by Wynkyn de Worde and the 1526 by Berthelet. The 
 1 521 copy had for years found a resting place in the University Library, 
 and the 1526 followed, after I had printed an account of the work in 
 The Library of January 191 2, and now the two are once again brought 
 together. 
 
 The eighth work is Papyrii Gemini Eleatis Hermathena. The 
 colophon says it was printed 8th December 1522. The author's 
 dedication to Richard Pace is dated February 1522, whilst that at the 
 end is dated Sept. 1522. Again the woodcut border is not used, and 
 experiments were made for a new kind of title-page. We find three 
 states of the title-page, the final one with two narrow border slips at 
 the top and bottom, connected together at the sides by a single line or 
 rule, which encloses the title. Both the printer's trademark and the 
 block of the royal arms are used at the end of the work. 
 
 Four copies are known : One of the first state, which belonged to 
 Henry Bradshaw, and is now in the University Library. Three of 
 the second state at Dublin, Lincoln, and St. John's College. Then 
 there are two copies printed on vellum, and these belong to the third 
 state, one in the British Museum, wanting the last leaf (26), contain- 
 ing the imprint, with the printer's mark and the block of the royal 
 arms ; the other belonged to the Duke of Devonshire, and is now in 
 the John Rylands Library. Mr. Bowes had some fragments, which 
 he bound and presented to the University Library. And we must not 
 forget the copy of the first sheet in the third state, found in West- 
 minster Chapter Library along with the work next mentioned. 
 
 The ninth work, Lily and Erasmus, de octo partium orationis con- 
 strucHone libellus, is represented, at present, by a single leaf of Sheet D 
 which I have previously mentioned as being discovered by Mr. E. 
 Gordon Duff in 1889, with other most interesting documents, in the 
 binding of a work dated 15 19, the binding by Nicholas Spierinck. 
 A facsimile of this sheet is given in my little work of 1906. 
 
23 
 
 This concludes a description of the books printed by Siberch 
 during 1521-22. 
 
 Leaving out the fragments, forty-two copies are known of the 
 first eight books, of which twelve are in Cambridge libraries. Three 
 (i, 2, and 7) are not represented in Cambridge. The three vellum 
 copies are in London and Oxford. The ninth book, of which only a 
 fragment exists, is at Westminster. 
 
 Where Siberch obtained his type is uncertain. It was thought 
 that he brought the type along with him ; it is now more readily 
 believed that he procured it from Pynson, or from the same source as 
 Pynson. Peter Kaetz's letter to him leads to a confirmation of this 
 statement, for he says that the specimens of type are very good, 
 proving, I think, that the type was new to him. Certainly most of 
 the 6-linc initials were used by Pynson, whilst Wynkyn de VVorde 
 had two which we know he used in 15 30. The two upright woodcuts, 
 each containing three scenes connected with the Last Judgement in 
 canopied compartments, used on the title-page of the Augustine, 
 Mr, Jenkinson identifies as closely resembling with a set of fourteen 
 used to illustrate the Vigile Mortiiorum in an octavo Horae, with the 
 mark of Mark Re}'nhardt, who printed at Lyons in 1477-82, 
 probably printed by Johann Reynhard at Strasbourg or Kirchheim. 
 
 The bindings of Siberch are treated fully in my work on The 
 Earlier Cambridge Stationers and Bookbinders and the First Cam- 
 bridge Printer, printed for the Bibliographical Society, October 1904. 
 I there gave a list of six works, three of which are in Cambridge, and 
 I have only added one more since. It is only right that I should 
 state that Mr. Gordon Duff helped me to collect these, and I may 
 mention that on two occasions I had the benefit of his elaborate notes, 
 or good memory (I know not which), and that, though the officials at 
 these libraries said the books were not there, he gave minute direc- 
 tions as to their place, so that when I went again to these libraries 
 armed with his directions, the works were found ! One of these 
 instances occurred in our University Library, where the book — a 
 
24 
 
 splendid and unique example too — had remained for some time in its 
 carefully-padded box, not catalogued. The other was at the Chapter 
 Library at Westminster, but I forget if that was catalogued or not ; 
 but I was told it was not in the Library. All students of early 
 English printing owe a deep debt of gratitude to Mr. Gordon Dufif, 
 who has devoted so many years to travelling round and examining 
 our old libraries, and who generously helps fellow-workers. 
 
 Siberch's rolls and stamps are fully illustrated in my work. But 
 there are two examples to which I would draw special attention. The 
 folio 'La.u.Va\\a,comfneHtatwnes, printed at Venice, 1522 (in Clare College 
 Library), has the colophon dated November 10, 1522. I don't think 
 this could have reached this country and been bound before 1523, 
 and I put this as the date of the binding. The Clichtoveus, De vita 
 et moribiis sacerdotum, printed at Paris, 15 19 (in Westminster Chapter 
 Library), in whose binding was found Peter Kaetz's letter and frag- 
 ments, including an earlier fragment of the Papyrius Geminus 
 Hermathena, which, according to the colophon, was printed 8 Decem- 
 ber 1522, and the fragment of Lily and Erasmus. This I also 
 consider as bound in 1523. 
 
 This leads up to the supposed fact that Siberch was in Cam- 
 bridge early in 1523. His name does not appear in the Subsidy Roll 
 covering the period 22 April 1523 to 21 April 1524, though Nicholas 
 Speryng does. I have suggested that possibly Speryng worked for 
 Siberch. Whether he did, or not, he certainly lived in Great St. Mary's 
 parish, and as early as 15 17 was a churchwarden of the parish. 
 
 It is therefore presumed that Siberch was in Cambridge certainly 
 in 1520, the year previous to his first printed book, with the date 
 February 1521, and was living here until early in 1523, and that by 
 April of that year had either left the town or died. Certainly the 
 debt of ;^20 appears annually in the University Grace Books long 
 after this, and curiously enough the entry in the year 1538-39 calls 
 him "Dominum Johannem Lair presbiterum alienigenam." In the 
 year 1540-41 it is changed to 'laer.' The record appears in various 
 forms up to 1546. 
 
25 
 
 We also know that Erasmus, who had previously lived in Siberch's 
 house (the " Arma Regia ") for a while, writing on Christmas Day, 
 1525, to Dr. Richard Aldrich of King's College, sends greetings to his 
 old friends " Gerardum, Nicolaum, et Joannem Siburgum bibliopolis." 
 But it is not surprising that Erasmus knew not of Siberch's departure. 
 A thought has struck me that perhaps the date 1525 should really 
 be 1523. 
 
 I have tried to bring together all the particulars of the man who 
 introduced printing into this University town. Whether he really 
 was appointed University Printer we do not know for certain, but by 
 his use of the words '* cum gracia et privilegio," I should conclude 
 that he was under the protection of the University like other later 
 booksellers and printers of that time. 
 
 I cannot help thinking that when the early records of the various 
 Colleges are overhauled and possibly printed, additional references to 
 him will be found. 
 
 In the meantime we are enforced to rest content w ith the small 
 amount of information gathered together by various persons from 
 many sources. It now remains for me to say in conclusion that after 
 the cessation of Siberch's press no printing was done in this town 
 until Thomas Thomas started in 1584 to revive printing here, cer- 
 tainly as official printer to the University. 
 
First used by Siberch in Johannis Roffensis 
 episcopi coittio, 1521. 
 
CAMHRIDGK 
 
 PRINTIiD BY JONATHAN PALMER 
 
 ALEXANDRA STREET 
 
^