UC-NRLF EXCHANGE Opening of the Elizabethan Club of Yale University Sixth of December, Nineteen Hundred and Eleven Opening of the Elizabethan Club of Yale University , * Sixth of December, Nineteen Hundred and Eleven Preprint from the Alumni Weekly of December 8,1911 The Elizabethan Club On Wednesday evening, December 6, the new home of the Elizabethan Club, which is pictured above, was opened for the use of its members. There were no formal ceremonies, but a large majority of those already elected, who live within reach of New Haven, were present to inspect the club house, No. 123 College Street, and to see the first exhibition of the rare volumes, prints and paintings contained in the club's library. A public exhibition of the first editions was held in the Chittenden Library on Thursday in connection with the New Haven meeting of the Connecticut Library Association. The general public and undergraduates were invited to this exhibition. It is not quite six months since the organization came into possession of the College Street property, and in that time extensive repairs have been made in the house so that it may properly serve as the home of the association, which differs in many important respects from any club or society heretofore known at Yale, or indeed at any American uni- versity. The Elizabethan Club, which was formed "to pro- mote in the community a wider appreciation of literature and of social intercourse founded upon such appreciation," is in no sense a part of the traditional Yale undergraduate secret society system. It is, rather, an open club for the use of its chosen undergraduate and graduate members, who may or may not belong to existing societies, together with a certain number of Faculty members, elected from the teaching force of Yale University, and a limited number of honorary mem- bers, among whom will be included scholars occupying places in the faculties of other institutions, as well as private col- lectors and bibliophiles of note in this country and abroad. 3 251883 While the membership of this unique Yale literary club will naturally be limited, as *n the case of any such social organization, it is of i merest to note that the members are at liberty to bring in guests at any time, and the students and alumni of both the College and the Scientific School are eligible for election. As a result of these two provisions in the regulations the Elizabethan Club will be in reality a University organization, and its collections, library and "work rooms" will be available for all members of the University who are interested in them. The club house, situated on College Street near the corner of Wall Street, is ideally located for the daily use of members and their friends, and it is the general expectation that it will be largely used, not only in the afternoon and evenings, but also in the intervals between recitations. The qualifications set for membership cannot be very easily defined, but in a general way are those which obtain in any club formed for the use of men of discriminating tastes and appreciations. It has been suggested by some observers that the Elizabethan Club will be a miniature combination of the Century, the Grolier and the Players' clubs of New York. Perhaps this will best indicate the desired character of its membership. Under the Elizabethan Club's standards the mere fact that a student has written for any of the under- graduate publications, or has become an editor of one of them, will not entitle him to membership unless, with literary ability, he possesses the rather undefinable qualities of originality and individuality which combine to make a medium of social intercourse of distinction. The selection of all members, honorary, Faculty, graduate, or undergraduate, is to be in the hands of a committee on admissions, and elections will be made from time to time, rather than at fixed intervals. Not more than twenty men may be chosen from any one Class (graduate or undergraduate) in the College or the Scientific School, but undergraduates may be elected to membership in Sophomore, Junior or Senior year. 4 While enough has been said perhaps in a general way to show the unique features of this Yale institution, any article dealing with the Elizabethan Club would be incomplete with- out some description at least of its wonderful collection of first editions and rare volumes of the Elizabethan and Stuart periods; for it is literally around these that the club has been built. When the idea of the organization was first broached by Alexander Smith Cochran, '96, who later became one of the incorporators of the association, he announced his desire to give to the University for the club's library certain first editions of Shakespeare and of other authors from his own collections. To these gifts were later added purchases made by him through the University at the Hoe sale in New York last spring, and he has now still further enriched the club's library by acquiring for it, in advance of the Huth sale in London, the noteworthy Shakespeare items which had aroused the interest and enthusiasm of collectors all over the world. As a result the collections of "The Elizabethan Club of Yale University" are already of the greatest inter- national importance, and occupy the first place in American collections on this subject. THE ELIZABETHAN CLUB^S RARE BOOKS Among the rare books and first editions now in the club's library or on their way thither, special mention may be made of the early English moralities and interludes, all of them extremely rare. The earliest is the Interlude manifesting the chief promises of God, 1538, written by Bishop John Bale to set forth the Reformed opinions and to attack the Roman party. There is no place of publication or printer's name, but it was probably issued at Basel by Nicholas of Bamberg. Then comes John Heywood, the epigrammatist, singer and player on the virginals under Henry VIII, with his Play called the Four P. In this interlude, produced between 1543 and 1547, a Peddler, a Pardoner, a Palmer, and a Potecary try to tell the greatest lie, and when the Palmer says he never saw a woman out of temper the victory is awarded to him. Of the History of Jacob and Esau, printed in 1568, only three other copies are known. On the title page are "The Partes and names of the Players, who are to be con- sidered to be Hebrews, and so should be apparailed with Attire." John Phillip's Patient and meek Grisell, taken from Boccaccio, is one of the very rarest pre- Shakespearean come- dies and is unknown to Halliwell, Hazlitt, Collier, and Lowndes. The book was printed by Colwell, whose press ran from 1562 to 1571. The one named Common Conditions (after the name of the Vice) was licensed in 1576, and its rarity may be seen from the statement of Carew Hazlitt in 1892, that "the only copy known to exist is now in the col- lection of the Duke of Devonshire, and wants the title-page." The Yale copy is complete. The club has the first edition (1551) of More's Utopia in English ; the first editions of Spenser's Fairy Queen, Com- plaints, and Colin Clout; the extraordinarily rare first edition of Bacon's Essays (sold at the Huth sale last month for 1,950) ; the first complete edition of the same work ; and the first of the Advancement of Learning. In the Return from Parnassus, acted by the students in St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1602, there are allusions to Shakespeare, and quotations from his works. The Elizabethan Club copy has a contemporary bookseller's advertising slip at the end of the prologue, and is probably unique in this respect. The Thomas Greene who wrote the Poefs Vision was a native of Stratford and an actor at the Red Bull Theater, and is supposed to have been a relative of Shakespeare and to have introduced him to the stage. The work is almost unknown. THE RICH SHAKESPEARE COLLECTION The collection of Shakespeare folios and quartos is a most extraordinary one, and is undoubtedly the finest in America. It includes the whole of the famous accumulation 6 of Henry Huth of London, bought for the club privately at a cost of nearly $200,000 after being announced for sale by auction. Of the first edition of Lucrece only four other per- fect copies are known ; the same is true of Henry V. Of the second quarto of Hamlet, the first edition of Richard III, and the second of Venus and Adonis, only two other copies are known. For the Venus and Adonis one must either go to the British Museum or the Bodleian, or come to Yale. Besides the genuine works of Shakespeare this superb col- lection includes rare editions of works formerly attributed to him, such as the Contention, Sir John Oldcastle, The London Prodigal, The Puritan, and The Yorkshire Tragedy. OTHER TUDOR AND STUART RARITIES Of Ben Jonson the club has the first editions of Volpone and the Entertainment of King James. It has also the first collected edition of his works, a presentation copy from the author with his autograph inscription. Of Jonsonus Virbius, a collection of verses in praise of Jonson issued by friends the year after his death, the club has a fine copy entirely uncut. The large woodcut on the title of Heywopd's // you know not me, 1605-06, representing Queen Elizabeth en- throned, was used in 1595 to portray "an upstart gentle- woman" in Gosson's Pleasant Quips. Middlemen's Your five Gallants, 1607, is probably the finest copy in existence; of his Game at chess, which was suppressed, only one other copy is known. Campion's Flowers, 1613, a very fine copy with edges entirely uncut, has the music to the songs in the masque, "set forth with words that they may be sung to the Lute or Violl." Barten Holyday's rare Technogamia, or The Mar- riage of the Arts, played before James I at Woodstock, gave rise to this epigram : "At the 'Marriage of the Arts' before the King, Lest those brave mates should want an offering, The King himself did offer what, I pray? He offer'd twice or thrice to go away. Of Swetnam the Woman hater, 1620, only five other copies are known. Of Massinger's celebrated New way to pay old debts the club has a beautiful copy of the first edition. Mabbe's Spanish Bawd, a translation of Calisto, is probably the longest play ever written in modern Europe; it has twenty-one acts. The collection ends for the present with Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, both in beau- tiful first editions. The Paradise Lost is an exquisite speci- men of Riviere's binding. The club has also a large number of translations from the classics, in most cases the earliest into English. There is the Xenophon of 1534, made by Gentian Hervet, tutor of Geffery Pole, Reginald's brother; Cicero on Old Age, Englished by Thomas Newton in 1569; Thomas Wilson's Demosthenes of 1570; Appian's History, 1578; Newton's Seneca of 1581; Phaer and Twyne's Vergil of 1583; Kyffin's Terence of 1588; Chapman's Homer of 1598; Holland's Livy of 1600, Pliny of 1601, and Plutarch of 1603; Greneway's Tacitus of 1604; Golding's Ovid of 1612; North's Plutarch of the same year; Lodge's Seneca of 1614; Ben Jonson's Horace of 1640; Appians History of 1679 ; and many others. Charles Blount's translation of Philostratus, 1680, was published with the design of invalidating the testimony of the evangelists concerning miracles, and only a few copies were dispersed before the work was suppressed. Some of the early editions in the club are in the original bindings, but most of them have been suitably rebound by famous binders. Many of the volumes have bookplates and annotations of interest to bibliophiles. A list of the rare books now in the possession of the Eliza- bethan Club follows: 8 FIRST AND OTHER RARE EDITIONS IN THE CLUB LIBRARY Appian. History of the Roman wars. 1578 History, tr. by J. Davies. 1679 Appius and Virginia, by R. B. 1575 Arrian. Alexander's expedition, tr. by John Rooke. 1729 Bacon, Francis. Advancement of learning. 1605 Essays. 1 597 Essays. First complete edition. 1625 Bale, J. Chief promises of God. 1538 Barnes, B. The devil's charter. 1607 Beaumont and Fletcher. Comedies & Tragedies. 1647 Campion, T. Flowers. 1614 Carew, E. Mariam. 1613 Carew, T. Coelum Britannicum. 1634 Carlell, L. Heraclius. 1664 Cartwright, W. The royal slave. Oxford. 1639 Chamberlain, R. The swaggering damsel. 1640 Chapman, G. Caesar and Pompey. 1631 Chabot, Admiral of France. 1639 The conspiracy and tragedy of Byron. 1608 Eastward Ho. 1605 The gentleman usher. 1606 May-day. 1611 " The widow's tears. 1612 Chettle, H. Hoffman. 1631 Cicero. Old Age, tr. by T. Newton. 1569 Common conditions. [?i576] Contention between the two famous houses, Lancaster and York. 1619 Courtier's calling. 1675 Davenant, Sir W. The cruel brother. 1630 The platonic lovers. 1636 Davenport, R. New trick to cheat the devil. 1639 Day, J. Blind beggar of Bednal Green. 1659 " " Isle of Gulls. 1633 Declaration of Lords & Commons, and ordinances for suppressing stage plays. 1642 Dekker, T. Westward Ho. 1607 Whore of Babylon, 1607 Demosthenes. Orations, tr. by T. Wilson. 1570 Fair Em. 1631 Fletcher, J. The bloody brother. 1639 The elder brother. 1637 Monsieur Thomas. 1639 The night walker. 1640 Rule a wife and have a wife. 1640 Thierry, king of France. 1621 Two noble kinsmen. 1634 " " The woman-hater. 1607 9 Fletcher, P. Sicelides a Piscatory. 1631 Ford, J. Fancies chaste and noble. 1638 The lover's melancholy, etc. 1629 Perkin Warbeck. 1634 The sun's darling. [1656?] 'Tis pity she's a whore. 1633 Fulwell, U. Like will to like. 1587 Gascoigne, G. The glass of government. 1575 Gellius, A. The Attic nights, tr. by W. Beloe. 3 v. 1795 Greene, T. A poet's vision. 1603 Harrington, Sir J. Epigrams. 1615 Herrick, R. Hesperides. 1648 Hey wood, J. Four P. [?i543] Hey wood, T. An apology for actors. 1612 The English traveller. 1633 The golden age. 1611 If you know not me, you know nobody. 1605-06 Pleasant dialogues and dramas. 1637 Holyday, B. Technogamia. 1618 Homer. Iliad, tr. by G. Chapman. 1598 Horace. Art of poetry, Englished by Ben Jonson. 1640 Ingelend, T. The disobedient child. [?is6o] Jacob and Esau. 1568 Jonson, B. Entertainment of King James. 1604 Volpone. 1607 " Works. 1616-40 Jonsonus Virbius, or the memory of Ben Jonson revived. 1638 King and Queen's entertainment at Richmond. 1636 Knave in grain new vamped. 1640 Livy. Roman history, tr. by P. Holland. 1600 London Prodigal. 1605 Longinus. The sublime, tr. by W. Smith. 1743 Lyly, J. Endimion. 1591 Sapho and Phao. 1591 Mabbe, J. The Spanish bawd. 1631 Marlowe, C. Hero and Leander. 1622 Marmion, S. The antiquary. 1641 Marston, J. What you will. 1607 Massinger, P. The emperor of the East. 1632 The fatal dowry. 1632 The great duke of Florence. 1636 The maid of honor. 1632 A new way to pay old debts. 1633 The picture. 1630 The renegado. 1630 The unnatural combat. 1639 Middleton, T. A game at chess. 1625 Michaelmas term. 1607 " No wit, no help, like a woman's. 1657 Middleton. T. Two new plays. 1657 Your five gallants. 1667 Milton, J. Paradise lost. 1667 Paradise regained & Samson Agonistes. 1671 More, Sir T. Utopia. 1551 Nabbes, T. Microcosmus. 1637 New custom. 1573 Ovid. Metamorphoses, tr. by A. Golding. 1612 Pathomachia. 1630 Paynell, T. The conspiracy of Catiline, 2 y. 1557 Peele, G. The love of King David and Fair Bethsabe. 1599 Phillip, J. Patient and meek Grisel. [?is65] Philostratus. Life of Apollonius, tr. by C. Blount. 1680 Plafcus. Comedies, tr. by B. Thornton. 5 v. 1769-74 Pliny. History of the world, tr. by P. Holland. 2 v. 1601 Pliny the younger. Letters, tr. by John, Earl of Orley. 2 v. 1751 Plutarch. Lives, tr. by T. North. 2 v. 1610-12 Morals, tr. by P. Holland. 1603 The Puritan. 1607 Queen's Majesty's passage through London. 1558 Randolph, T. Poems. Oxford. 1638 Return from Parnassus. 1606 Rowley, S. The noble soldier. 1634 Rowley, W. A new wonder, a woman never vexed. 1632 " The witch of Edmonton. 1658 Seneca. Tragedies, tr. by T. Newton. 1581 Works, tr. by T. Lodge. 1614 Shakespeare. Comedies, histories, and tragedies. First folio. 1623 2d folio. 1632 3d folio, ist issue. 1663 3d folio. 2d issue. 1664 4th folio. 1685 Hamlet. 2d ed. 1604 4th ed. 1611 [?i6 3 6-7] Henry IV. Part i. 2d ed. 1599 4th ed. 1613 " sth ed. 1613 Henry IV. Part 2. ist ed. 1600 Henry V. ist ed. 1600 3d ed. 1608 Julius Caesar, ist quarto. 1680 King Lear. 2d ed. 1608 Lucrece. ist ed. 1594 Merchant of Venice, ist ed. 1600 2d ed. 1600 Merry Wives of Windsor. 2d ed. 1619 Midsummer night's dream, ist ed. 1600 2d ed. 1600 II Shakespeare. Much ado about nothing, ist ed. 1608 Othello, ist ed. 1622 2d quarto. 1630 Pericles, ist ed. 1609 3d ed. 1619 Poems. 1640 Richard II. 3d ed. 1608 Richard III. ist ed. 1597 Romeo and Juliet. 2d ed. 1599 [?i63o] 1637 Sonnets, ist ed. 1609 Taming of the shrew, ist quarto. 1631 Titus Andronicus. 2d known ed. 1611 Troilus and Cressida. ist ed. 1609 Venus and Adonis. 2d ed. 1594 Shirley, J. The ball. 1639 The constant maid. 1640 The coronation. 1640 The duke's mistress. 1638 The gamester. 1637 The gentleman of Venice. 1655 The humorous courtier. 1640 The politician. 1655 The royal master. 1638 St. Patrick for Ireland. 1640 The triumph of peace. 1633 The witty fair one. 1633 Sir Giles Goosecap. 1606 Sir John Oldcastle. 1600. Spenser, E. Colin Clout's come home again. 1595 Complaints. 1591 " " Fairy Queen. 1590-96 Suckling, Sir J. The discontented colonel. [?i64o] Fragmenta aurea. 1646 Swetnam the woman-hater. 1620 Tacitus. Annals, tr. by R. Grenewey. 1604 Terence. Andria, tr. by M. Kyffin. 1588 Theocritus. Idylliums, tr. by F. Fawkes. 1767 Thomas, Lord Cromwell. 2d ed. 1613 Tourneur, C. The atheist's tragedy. 1611 Troublesome reign of King John. 3d ed. 1622 Tyrius Maximus. Dissertations, tr. by T. Taylor. 2 v. 1804 Valiant Scot. 1637 Vergil. yEneid, tr. by Phaer & Twyne. 1583 The Bucolics, tr. by A. F. 1589 Wapull, G. The tide tarrieth no man. 1576 Webster, J. Appius & Virginia. 1654 12 Webster, J. The devil's law -case. 1623 Woodes, N. The conflict of conscience. 1581 Xenophon. Treatise of Household, tr. by G. Hervet. 1534 Yorkshire Tragedy, ad ed. 1619 Youth. The Interlude of Youth. [?i555] THE ELIZABETHAN CLUB PICTURES The pictures in the club form a remarkable collection. There are two paintings, one a panel of Elizabeth, and the other the third and last of the known portraits of Yale's famous patron, a reproduction of which, as it hung in an English country house before it was purchased for the club, is given herewith. His son stands near him, and in the background is a view of Fort St. George, with a ship firing a salute in honor of the governor. Besides the paintings the club possesses thirty-one engravings, some of them executed at the earliest period of engraving on metal in England. Some of the prints are proofs, and all are brilliant impressions. Most of the line engravings are of course etchings on copper or steel, but one is from a silver plate, and there are several velvety mezzotints. A list of the pictures on the walls of the club follows : PAINTINGS Elihu Yale and his son. Third known portrait Queen Elizabeth. Panel ENGRAVINGS Boccaccio, after Titian by Cornelius Van Dalen Columbus, by de Passe Vespucci, by de Passe Erasmus, by Jerome Hopfer Erasmus, after Holbein by Cornelius Koning Henry VIII, by Cornelius Metsys. 1544 Edward VI, by Crispin de Passe. 1613 Mary I, by Franz Hogenberg. 1555 Elizabeth, by Crispin de Passe Elizabeth, after Isaac Oliver, by Crispin de Passe Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Silver plate Sir Walter Raleigh, by Simon de Passe Sir Francis Drake, c. 1583. Engraver unknown. 13 Thomas Cavendish, by de Passe Sir John Harrington, by Reginald Elstracke Sir Francis Bacon. After 1626. Sir Francis Bacon, by Jacobus Houbraken Robert, Earl of Essex, after Bromley by Robert Boissard Shakespeare, by Jacobus Houbraken. 1743 James I, by Pieter de Jode Ben Jonson, by Jacobus Houbraken Captain John Smith, by Simon de Passe Charles I, by Wenceslaus Hollar. 1649 Samuel Pepys, after Sir Godfrey Kneller by Robert White Cecil, Lord Baltimore, by Abraham Blooteling William Pitt, after S. de Doster by George Keating Edmund Burke, after Romney by John Jones George Washington, after Stuart, probably by Geo. Graham. 1801 Charles, Marquis Cornwallis, after Sir Wm. Beechey by James Ward Charles James Fox, after Opie by Samuel Wm. Reynolds Lord Nelson, after L. F. Abbot by Richard Earlom The collections of the club will be under the direct charge of Mr. Andrew Keogh, Reference Librarian of the University Library, who has been made Librarian of the Elizabethan Club. The other officers of the organization for this college year are: President, Prof. William Lyon Phelps, '87; Vice President, Prof. Frederick Wells Williams, '79; Secretary, Julian Cornell Biddle, '12; Treasurer, Hewette Elwell Joyce, '12. No public announcement of the membership of the club has as yet been made, as the list is, of necessity, incom- plete at this time. [Editorial in the Yale Alumni Weekly] THE The library of any club is of much importance, ELIZABETHAN and that of the new Elizabethan Club at Yale CLUB LIBRARY has received extraordinary attention from the founder. Just as Yale herself started as a collection of books, so this club is built around its books as a nucleus. The Elizabethan Club library is one of great richness, standing probably at the head of collections of its kind in this country. It includes the principal works, largely in priceless first editions, of the most important writers of the Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline periods, and is par- ticularly strong in drama and in translation. To enumerate the authors included would be to list all the great names in the magnificent literature of the late Tudor and early Stuart epoch. The collection of Shakespeare folios and quartos is undoubtedly the finest in America, as it includes the whole of the remarkable collection made by Henry Huth of London, and bought by private treaty after it had been announced for sale by auction. Most of these Huth books are extremely rare, for of some of them only two or three other copies are known, and these are already in public collections. To the scholar at Yale such a collection of first editions is a god- send, for no editorial work of value can be done without an examination of the earliest edition of a work. The higher criticism often depends upon the lower, and the determination of an author's meaning can at times be settled only by a scrutiny of the spelling, capitalization, or punctuation of the edition for which the author himself or his original repre- sentative was directly responsible. But this documentary value of the collection is not its chief interest; the letter is often far less than the spirit, and the members of this club 15 are not pedants or textual critics, interested mainly in the analysis and annotation of an early text, but, primarily, lovers of books, with a feeling for good literature and a taste for a fine book in a fine binding. To such a membership the library will make a strong appeal, for there is nothing worth- less or common in the collection, and nothing merely curious ; that is, the authors and works included possess the highest literary value and do not depend for their interest upon antiquarian value merely. Besides the collection of first editions the library contains a choice selection of standard reprints and translations, in keeping with the object of the club. A score of rare prints of Elizabethan worthies adorns the club walls, and the last of the contemporary portraits of Elihu Yale caps the climax of art rarities of this new and unique Yale organization. The best description of the library treasures of the club is a list of the books contained in the collection. This list appears on another page of this issue. 16 - t 1 251883 9/12