JAMES K.MOFFITT 
 
 John E.Pritchard. 
 
 
 BRISTOL 
 
 PAULINE FORE MOFFITT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 GENERAL LIBRARY, BERKELEY 
 
£0 
 
H 
 
 <$ 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 Microsoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/briefmemoiroffraOOfrytrich 
 
JC 
 
 X 
 
& ftvitt Mtmoix 
 
 OF 
 
 FRANCIS FRY, F.S.A. 
 
 OF BRISTOL. 
 
 BY HIS SON 
 
 THEODORE FRY, M.P, 
 
 Not Published. 
 1887. 
 
To my beloved Mother, who for more than half a 
 century was the sharer with her husband in every 
 joy and sorrow, the participator in all his interests, 
 the helper in every-day life, a true and devoted 
 wife, are these few pages in memory of a beloved 
 Father affectionately dedicated. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 A desire having been expressed by many who 
 knew the subject of this Memoir, that some details 
 should be preserved of his literary labours, the 
 following pages have been compiled. The sketch 
 is very brief, and has been written in the midst of 
 many engagements. It may perhaps serve the 
 desired end, and sometimes bring to remembrance 
 the figure of one of Bristol's well-known citizens, 
 the last survivor of three brothers who, in various 
 ways, were so long connected with her interests, 
 and whose death has left a void in his own branch 
 of study which no one else can fill. 
 
 Woodburn, Darlington, 
 
 September, 1887. 
 
ten 
 
 MEMOIR. 
 
 The ancestors of the Fry family came originally L 
 from DoFonipJ i iit ei ■ ff'fafrQarli ' Ofri authenticated ' n otice W^Mdije^Ad 
 jjl nf Sir iPirrhnrfl Fry? Kniflhtu ftf X*&f* TOV>n 
 
 IBftBa prlii" ^ la \ fififinnfl wtfi ; T pnfciwfatfc pp****^ 
 r h i n~htnr nf T i fj rn nnd Bflft afortj fi^i l DiHu ' j miL 
 
 so *! 1 (Fuh ' H ' m ' M ' iiiiAJl Agneo, daughter and hcircoo of 
 Bigliordn^artyj in that ' count y .* The descendan ts. 
 o£» v a riou s brawohes of Lhu family arc new found 
 in "QflVfivauhir - L, WilLlTlliiii, Diist/ol ? London - " and- 
 
 In the early part of the 17th century another 
 John Fry was settled at Sutton Benger, in "Wilt- 
 shire. His father, Zephaniah Fry, who was born 
 in 1658 (thirty-four years after George Fox), joined 
 the Society of Friends, and in his youth may 
 very likely have heard the stirring sermons of the 
 founder of this section of the Christian Church. 
 
 * See "^ienealogical fifcstory of the KirW? of England," 
 p. 834, Lonely 1707 ; also\The Visitations laLDevonshire," 
 p. 115, published by the ]\rleian Society. ^ie present \ 
 family still bear t*e arms of SirVjft. Fry — Gules, fl» p horses 
 courant, argent. * V? ^, j t^JL ^r, 
 
10 
 
 Joseph Pry, born in 1728, son of the above- 
 named John Pry of Sutton Benger, was the first 
 member of this branch of the family who settled 
 in Bristol. He entered the medical profession, 
 and his affable courteous manner and sound 
 Christian principles soon secured to him a large 
 practice amongst the highest class of his fellow- 
 citizens. Possessing uncommon energy and activity 
 of mind, he was led to take a part in many scientific 
 undertakings^actuated more by the desire to be 
 useful to society and to advance the arts than by 
 any hope of individual profit. This motive induced 
 him to give Champion assistance in prosecuting 
 the porcelain manufacture. Soon after Dr. Fry 
 began to practice medicine he made chocolate, and 
 then purchased the patentright of Churchman. 
 The chocolate and cocoa manufactory was con- 
 ducted as a distinct business, and has been carried 
 on by the family to the present day. He was a 
 partner in the firm of Fry and Pine, type-founders, 
 of Bristol. About 1770 the business was removed 
 to London, under the firm of Isaac Moore and Co.; 
 it then passed to J. Fry angt Co., the other members 
 of the firm being his sons Edmund and Henry ; in 
 later times it ivas carried on by one of the sons, 
 
(From a Silhouette in the possession of the late Francis Fry.) 
 
Edmund Fry, M.D. 
 (From a Silhouette in the possession of the late Francis Fry.) 
 
11 
 
 Edmund Fry, M.D., who, in his turn, admitted 
 into partnership his son Windover, under the title 
 of Edmund Fry and Son. In 1786 specimen books 
 of types were issued by Joseph Fry and Sons, 
 letter-founders to the Prince of Wales. Owing 
 to the advanced age of Dr. Fry, the concern passed 
 into the hands of Thoroughgood and Co. in 1828. 
 Since that period the firm has been Thoroughgood 
 and Besley — then E. Besley and Co. — now Sir 
 Charles Keed and Sons — a long succession of 
 enterprising and eminent type-founders. 
 
 Many books were printed in Bristol by William 
 Pine, with type notably from the foundry of Fry 
 and Pine. The London firm were also printers, 
 and four editions of the Bible issued from their 
 press ; two in large folio and two in octavo ; these 
 last were in large type for the use of the aged. 
 The type was cut purposely for the Bibles, and 
 probably no handsomer and better proportioned 
 type was ever made. In 1788 the printing business 
 was separated from the foundry, and was placed 
 under the care of Henry Fry, in Worship Street, 
 under the style of the Cicero Press. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Fry was also, to the time of his 
 death, a partner with the late Alderman William 
 
12 
 
 Fripp, under the firm of " Fry, Fripp and Co., soap 
 boilers." Mr. Fry was a good chemist for his 
 day, and much improved the quality of the manu- 
 facture, and laid the foundation of the celebrity of 
 that soap house, which has continued to the 
 present time, now in the hands of Christopher 
 Thomas Brothers. He was admitted a Freeman of 
 the City, 24th March, 1753. Besides all this, 
 Mr. Joseph Fry had some chemical works at 
 Battersea, in which he was assisted by one of his 
 sons. He died the 29th March, 1787, after a few 
 days' illness, aged 59 years. He was buried in the 
 Friends' burial ground at the Friars. His funeral 
 was largely attended, not only by his personal 
 friends, but by his fellow-citizens — a proof of the 
 great respect in which he was universally held.* 
 
 On the death of Joseph Fry his widow changed 
 the name of the firm from Fry, Vaughan and Co., 
 which it had hitherto been, to Anna Fry and Son.f 
 In 1795 it was removed from Newgate Street to 
 Union Street, where a Watts' steam engine was 
 
 * " Two Centuries of Ceramic Art in Bristol," p. 218, Owen, 
 1873; and " History of the Old English Letter Foundries," 
 p. 298, T. B. Reed, 1887. 
 
 f Anna Fry was the daughter of Henry Portsmouth, M.D., 
 of Basingstoke, and died in 1803. 
 
ANNA FRY. 
 
13 
 
 soon erected, which is believed to have been the 
 first of the kind in the city. This son was Joseph 
 Storrs Fry, who succeeded to the business. He 
 took into partnership Mr. Henry Hunt, a member 
 of the Society of Friends, and a gentleman of 
 considerable business experience. During this 
 partnership the firm was Fry and Hunt. Mr. Hunt 
 retired in 1822, and Mr. Fry's three sons — Joseph, 
 Francis, and Kichard — were afterwards associated 
 with him, under the style of J. S. Fry and Sons, 
 the name which the firm has since borne. 
 
 Joseph Storrs Fry was a man of clear intellect 
 and of a genial disposition, devoted to his family, 
 and taking a deep interest in the welfare of his 
 poorer neighbours. Amongst other matters, he 
 paid some attention to the question of tolls on 
 turnpike roads, and to the relative advantages 
 of carriages and other vehicles with two and with 
 four wheels, on which subject he published an 
 essay in 1820. He also wrote an essay on 
 the means of employing the poor, for which he 
 was awarded a silver medal by the Board of 
 Agriculture in 1818. He devoted much time to 
 the study of the Holy Scriptures, and a little book 
 which he published, with the title " The Necessity 
 
14 
 
 of Freedom from Sin/' is an evidence of his aim 
 to live the Christian life. After a short illness he 
 died in 1835, in his 67th year. 
 
 His wife, whose maiden name was Ann Allen, 
 was a lady whose Christian influence was widely 
 felt in the circle in which she moved. She was a 
 minister in the Society of Friends, and spent much 
 time in visiting the homes of the poor around. In 
 the colliery village of Kingswood, not far from 
 Frenchay, she did much to promote the religious 
 welfare of the inhabitants. The state of the people 
 at that time often rendered these visits dangerous, 
 so little had civilising influences been brought to 
 bear upon them, and much good was effected 
 through her instrumentality. 
 
 Their second son, Francis, was born at Westbury- 
 on-Trym, near Bristol, on the 28th of October, 
 1803, but during most of his early life his father 
 lived at the quiet little village of Frenchay, about 
 five miles from Bristol, driving in almost daily 
 to his engagements in the city. 
 
 There were also four sisters, neither of whom 
 lived much beyond middle life. Possessing cul- 
 tured intellects and great refinement of character, 
 they added in no small degree to the development 
 
JOSEPH STORRS FRY. 
 
15 
 
 of literary taste in others and the happiness of the 
 family circle. One of them was an excellent 
 German scholar, and translated into English selec- 
 tions of Hymns by Luther, Melancthon and other 
 writers. 
 
 In the latter village lived for several years of 
 this period Michael Maurice and his family, and 
 we cannot describe it better than by the following 
 quotation from the memoirs of his son, the Eev. 
 Frederick Denison Maurice* : — 
 
 " The village is small as it well can be. It lies in a 
 beautiful country of rocky streams and park-land, hill and 
 dale, with perhaps some of the finest timber in England within 
 a short distance of it. A little hamlet, at that time chiefly of 
 Quaker houses, nestled together along one side of a tiny village 
 green, across which the houses look towards a deep ravine, 
 faced on the opposite hill-sides by graceful woods. In the very 
 middle of the village lies, as it were, as the epitome of its 
 characteristics, a little Quaker graveyard, shut out from all the 
 world on every side but that on which a narrow entrance 
 running under the tiny meeting-room gives a bare approach to 
 it, and seems to admit you to the very stillness of a Quaker 
 meeting of the dead. There was at that time no Church. This 
 little Quaker Meeting-house, Mr. Maurice's tiny Chapel, and 
 the graveyards belonging to them, were the only spots devoted 
 to sacred purposes within it." 
 
 At the neighbouring village of Fishponds was 
 a large school, kept by a Friend named Joel 
 
 * "The Life of F. D. Maurice," vol. i., page 10. 
 
16 
 
 Lean, an establishment quite as advanced in the 
 instruction given as most of that period, and there 
 Mr. Fry received his education. This was then 
 supposed to be completed at an early age, especially 
 in the case of young men about to enter into 
 commercial life. He commenced his business 
 training at Croydon, but from his twentieth year 
 until middle life, devoted most of his time to the 
 management of the ever-increasing business in 
 Bristol in which he was afterwards a partner. In 
 1833 Mr. Fry*married Matilda, only daughter of 
 Daniel and Anne Penrose of Brittas, Co. Wicklow. 
 After a short residence in the city he removed, in 
 1839, to Cotham, a wooded eminence between 
 Bristol and Kedland, which was then quite in the 
 country. He built a house close to the old Tower, 
 which he afterwards purchased, and it was his 
 home for nearly fifty years. In the garden he took 
 great pleasure, the Tower giving an added interest 
 to it, as from its height and position it commands 
 a magnificent view, and attracted many visitors.* 
 His family consisted of four sons and three 
 daughters, five of whom, with their mother, survive 
 him. 
 
 * For the History of the Tower see Appendix B. 
 
COTHAM TOWER. 
 

17 
 
 In October, 1831, occurred the Bristol riots, 
 during which he acted as a special constable, 
 and which he thus describes : — " This day 
 Sir Charles Wetherel, Eecorder of Bristol, made 
 his public entry into the city, as is usual for 
 the Judge of Assize. Owing to his great oppo- 
 sition to the Keform Bill, and his having said 
 that the people of Bristol did not wish reform in 
 Parliament, there was a determination on the part 
 of many to testify by visible and audible signs 
 their disapprobation of his conduct. Thousands 
 of persons would have met him, but he came in 
 earlier than was expected, which fact being known 
 a great mob surrounded the Mansion House in 
 Queen Square, and after some time began throwing 
 stones. Thus originated the riot, and before 
 night the parlour floor was ransacked by the mob. 
 On Sunday, Bristol was in a state of uncontrolled 
 rioting, like a city delivered up to an invading 
 army to be pillaged. The civil power was quite 
 inactive and powerless. About two o'clock, Bride- 
 well Prison was opened and burnt down by the 
 mob ; after this they attacked the new gaol and 
 fired the centre building, and let all the prisoners 
 out. Lawford's Gate was served in the same way, 
 
18 
 
 and many other buildings. On Monday the mob 
 set fire to two sides of Queen's Square, the whole 
 of which was destroyed, except two houses. My 
 brother Kichard and myself were in Bristol till 
 half-past twelve o'clock last night, and again this 
 morning soon after six o'clock. We went to the 
 Square, and found the warehouse in which our 
 cocoa was, on fire ; nearly the whole of it was 
 burnt. By daylight the mob was drunk with wine, 
 &c, out of the Mayor's and other houses. They 
 were quite worn out, so that a few soldiers dis- 
 persed them, and thus ended the rioting." 
 
 Mr. Fry took a great interest in the early 
 railways in the West of England. He was a 
 member of the board of the Bristol and Gloucester 
 Kailway, which held its first sitting on the 
 11th July, 1839, and consisted of the following 
 gentlemen: Messrs. George Jones, Winwood, 
 Morgan, Fison, F. Fry, Dibsdall, Bankin, Bicketts, 
 Alexander and Osborne. He retained this position 
 until the amalgamation of the Bristol and Glou- 
 cester Bailway with that from Gloucester to 
 Birmingham in 1845, and on that joint board 
 until its union very soon afterwards with the 
 Midland Bailway Company. In the arrangements 
 
19 
 
 for these amalgamations he took a leading part. 
 He was also one of the first subscribers to the 
 Bristol and Exeter Eailway, which was commenced 
 in the year 1836. He did not join the board until 
 1854, but from that time he remained a director 
 until the company was absorbed by the Great 
 Western in 1876. When the South Devon Eailway 
 was constructed he formed one of the Board of 
 Management, but as the late Mr. Brunei, who was 
 the engineer, decided to try the then new atmos- 
 pheric system, in which the majority of the board 
 supported him, Mr. Fry withdrew, feeling sure it 
 would not answer on such a length of railway, and 
 he declined to be a party to sanctioning it. His 
 fears proved too true, and it was very soon aban- 
 doned for the ordinary locomotive ; had his view 
 been taken a great loss to the shareholders would 
 have been prevented. At a later date he returned 
 to his old place in the South Devon Eailway 
 Company, and also joined the one still farther 
 west, called the Devon and Cornwall Eailway, as a 
 representative of the Bristol and Exeter Company, 
 which had a considerable amount of capital in 
 them. 
 
 No public work, however, gave him more 
 
20 
 
 pleasure and interest than the Bristol Water Works. 
 The supply of the city was very deficient in days 
 gone by, being chiefly obtained from wells, an evil 
 which it was not very easy to remedy, owing to the 
 great distance from any good and adequate source, 
 and the great expense involved by this, as well as 
 engineering difficulties. When the project was 
 brought before the public in 1845, recognizing 
 the boon it would be, he accepted a seat on the 
 directorate, which he held uninterruptedly until 
 his death, a period of upwards of forty years. 
 
 The original capital was £200,000. The Act 
 received the Eoyal Assent on 16th July, 1846. 
 Water was supplied by the Company in 1848. 
 Mr. Fry was one of the provisional committee. 
 The first directors (all of whom he survived) were 
 Messrs. John Bates, William Budd, M.D., Charles 
 Bowles Fripp, Francis Fry, Bichard Fry, John 
 Kerle Haberfield, William Hooper, Philip Jones, 
 Robert Leonard, George Eddie Sanders, George 
 Thomas, and Richard George Shum Tuckett. The 
 present capital is one million. 
 
 After the death of Mr. Abbot in 1874, Mr. Fry 
 occupied the post of Chairman. The directors had 
 to contend with many difficulties in its early years, 
 
21 
 
 but they were all surmounted, and the undertaking 
 has proved a success and a great blessing to his 
 native city. No detail was too small to be beneath 
 his notice : he made himself acquainted with every- 
 thing, both at the large works at Chewton Mendip 
 (where the first reservoirs were constructed) and 
 elsewhere, as well as with the office management. 
 
 In all these important positions his practical 
 knowledge and shrewd advice were much valued. 
 He was remarkable for his keen insight into future 
 contingencies. One of his colleagues remarked, 
 " That he never knew any one who could see so 
 far ahead or imagine so many possibilities." The 
 danger sometimes lay in seeing too far, so as to en- 
 danger the advantages of the present. This natural 
 tendency of mind often, however, proved of the 
 greatest value, and not a few instances are known 
 in which after events showed, sometimes when too 
 late, that it would have been better had his counsel 
 been followed. Practical instances of his fore- 
 sight may be given. It was his great desire to see 
 the establishment of a Parcel post by which parcels 
 might be carried at uniform rates throughout the 
 whole kingdom, "with punctuality and safety/' 
 As far back as 1852 he took pains to get this 
 
22 
 
 effected. The only difference between his plan 
 and the present Parcel post lay in the fact that 
 he wished it carried out by the united action of all 
 the railway companies instead of by Her Majesty's 
 Government. He urged that the " convenient 
 collection and exact delivery twice a day under 
 one management " would develop an enormous 
 trade which would soon be very profitable, espe- 
 cially if the rate (except for very long distances) 
 were practically the same. He argued " that no 
 class of traffic ffi so suppressed for the want of 
 greater convenience and reduced charges." No 
 one at that time could prepay a parcel from one 
 part of the kingdom to another with certainty. 
 In London there was always a break ; a sender 
 could not pay beyond, and in few towns was 
 there any receiving office nearer than the railway 
 station. It is remarkable that some of the fees he 
 suggested are the same as those now in force. The 
 scheme did not receive sufficient support from the 
 companies, but had they done so it is probable 
 that the profit now going to the Post Office on this 
 steadily increasing part of its business would have 
 been kept in their own hands. Mr. Fry lived to 
 see his views completely justified, and a far larger 
 
23 
 
 business carried on than he had ever ventured to 
 expect, though by a different agency. 
 
 In 1867 he proposed to the directors of the 
 leading railway companies that they should unite 
 in raising and guaranteeing a permanent stock to 
 pay off their existing mortgages, many of which 
 were then raised for definite periods only. He 
 estimated that with such a strong guarantee 
 £100,000,000 might be raised at 3J per cent., and 
 as the prevailing rate of interest was then at least 
 4 J per cent., a million a year might be saved to the 
 companies interested ; and that if this sum were 
 allowed to accumulate for ten years it would form 
 a reserve fund equal to every emergency possible. 
 This stock would, he believed, soon be made a 
 legal investment for trustees. The floating mort- 
 gages of nineteen railways at the period named 
 were over £77,000,000, and the total net revenues 
 were four times the amount required to pay the 
 interest on this sum, so that there is little doubt 
 the scheme was a safe and practicable one. The 
 details were carefully considered, and had it 
 received the support which it deserved would have 
 been a great saving to the ordinary shareholders. 
 
 Mr. Fry had a keen appreciation of the beautiful ? 
 
24 
 
 whether in nature or in art, but the bent of his 
 mind was in the direction of antiquarian pursuits. 
 He was ably assisted by his wife, whose tastes 
 were akin to his own, and whose wide reading and 
 accurate knowledge enabled her to render him, 
 during more than half a century, invaluable help, 
 which he always loved to acknowledge. 
 
 Before railways had made their appearance, and 
 when travelling was accomplished only by the old 
 diligence or by private carriage, they took, in 
 company with sorne intimate friends, two long 
 journeys on the continent; in 1852 they went to 
 Germany, and in 1857 visited, with some members 
 of their family, Northern Italy and Kome. This 
 latter tour, which included a drive along the Kiviera 
 from Marseilles to Genoa, was replete with interest 
 and rich in memories of classic and mediaeval 
 times. During these journeys several of the 
 capitals of Europe were visited, their art galleries 
 and museums proving always the chief objects of 
 attraction. 
 
 Mr. Fry had visited Northern Italy before in 
 1850. About that time the Society of Friends had 
 arranged to send deputations with a memorial to 
 every crowned Head in Europe, praying for the 
 
25 
 
 abolition of slavery in their respective dominions ; 
 or if they were free in this respect, to ask them to 
 use their influence with other States. 
 
 These visits were first suggested under a strong 
 sense of religious duty by William Forster (father 
 of the late Eight Hon. W. E. Forster, M.P.), who 
 afterwards died in Tenessee, U.S.A., when on a 
 visit to that country in connection with the 
 same movement. 
 
 Mr. Forster himself volunteered for the service 
 on every occasion, and for three months in the 
 above year was accompanied by Mr. Fry and the 
 late Mr. Eobert Alsop, of London. This was a 
 time of peculiar interest. The object of their 
 visit and the letters of introduction they carried 
 from the Foreign Office, obtained them interviews 
 seldom accorded to such visitors. They were 
 received by Cabinet Ministers and persons in 
 high stations in many of the States (being before 
 the days of Italian unity). They saw, amongst 
 others, King Victor Emanuel and Count Cavour in 
 Turin, the Grand Duke of Tuscany at Florence, and 
 the Grand Dukes of Parma and Modena. In Milan, 
 Verona, Venice, Pisa, Genoa, and other large 
 towns, they paid calls on all persons of influence, 
 
26 
 
 and were invariably, both in political and reli- 
 gious circles, most courteously received. Amongst 
 other names may be mentioned the Duke of 
 Bordeaux, grandson of Charles X., Marshal Mar- 
 mont, Duke de Eagusa, the Patriarch of Venice, 
 and Marshal Radetzky, Commander of the Austrian 
 Army of Occupation, then in his 84th year. The 
 Address was also circulated in French and German. 
 The letter accompanying it was as follows : — 
 
 " L'Indirizzo qui annesso della Societa Keligiosa degli Amici 
 
 della Gran Bretagna e*d'Irlanda ai Sovrani ed a coloro che 
 
 sono investiti di Autorita tra i popoli che fanno professione di 
 
 essere cristiani, ha per iscopo di chiamar l'attenzione di tutti 
 
 gli Amici dell'umanita sulla crudelta e Vingiustizia della Tratta 
 
 dei neri e sulla iniquita della schiavitu dei neri. E'caldamente 
 
 raccomandato alia lettura seria ed aU'esame coscienzioso delle 
 
 persone che hanno veramente a cuore il benessere del loro 
 
 prossimo. 
 
 " William Forster.* 
 
 "Francis Fry. 
 
 11 Robert Alsop. 
 " Genova, 17th 5th mo., 1850." 
 
 The time thus spent afforded many opportunities 
 for acquiring knowledge, and assisted largely in the 
 culture of his natural taste. The art galleries and 
 museums in Florence, Bologna, Venice, and many 
 
 * See "Memoirs of William Forster" (Bennett, 1865). 
 Vol. II., page 284. 
 
27 
 
 other places, gave him the greatest delight. The 
 beautiful forms of the Greek or Etruscan vases 
 and other vessels charmed his eye. His own 
 house, in many ways so simple and unostentatious, 
 testified to his appreciation of their exquisite 
 workmanship. 
 
 The study of coins afforded him great interest. 
 The historical knowledge which it strengthened 
 was one of its greatest charms, and in many 
 journeys an interested lookout was kept for 
 souvenirs of bygone days. His love of natural 
 science was also great, although the opportunities 
 of acquiring systematic knowledge were very 
 different from those of the present day. As a 
 young man, he formed a collection of minerals 
 and fossils from the chalk formatioDs; and at a 
 later period, recent shells occupied his attention, 
 especially those minute forms gathered in deep- 
 sea dredgings on our own coast. • 
 
 Mr. Fry was a member of the Managing Com- 
 mittee of the Bristol Philosophical Society for 
 many years, as well as of the large subscription 
 Library which existed long before the Free 
 Libraries Act came into operation. In the former 
 he met the most scientific men of the city. The 
 
28 
 
 geologists, George Stuchbury and Kobert Etheridge 
 (now head of the Geological Department at South 
 Kensington), were curators at the Bristol Museum 
 during the greater part of this period, and added 
 largely to its collections. Scientific men like Dr. 
 Pritchard and Dr. Estlin, of Bristol, it was always 
 a pleasure to him to meet, and lecturers from a 
 distance he was ever ready to welcome. He thus 
 became acquainted with James Silk Buckingham, 
 Dr. Wolff (both celebrated travellers), and with 
 many other men of note in their day who have 
 now all passed away. In the Museum, which is 
 one of the best in the provinces, Mr. Fry felt 
 some natural pride, especially in its collection of 
 minerals. It is rich in Palseontological remains ; 
 the Ichthyosaura and Plethiosaura from the coal 
 formations form a splendid series, and he was 
 never weary of explaining them to his family or 
 to visitors. 
 
 Mr. Fry's name will, however, be more associated 
 with books and china than with anything else. 
 His collection of the latter consisted principally 
 (though by no means exclusively) of specimens 
 produced at the Bristol factory between the years 
 1768-1781. His grandfather, as before mentioned, 
 
29 
 
 was a shareholder in these works, and some of the 
 well-known " Bristol Jars " have never been out of 
 the possession of the family.* Some of the pieces 
 have special interest, as, for instance, the richly- 
 ornamented cup and saucer which formed a part of 
 the service presented by B. and J. Championf as a 
 token of friendship to Mrs. Edmund Burke, " the 
 best of British wives," on the 3rd November, 1774, 
 after her husband's successful contest in Bristol. 
 Part of this service was in the possession of the 
 late Mr. W. K. Callender of Manchester. Mr. 
 Burke, on the same occasion, presented to Mrs. 
 Smith, the wife of a merchant with whom he 
 resided when in Bristol, a beautiful tea service, 
 with her initials " S. S." on the pieces, as a 
 souvenir of their kindness to him. Specimens 
 of this interesting set are also included in the Fry 
 Cabinet. 
 He was always fond of books, but collected 
 
 * Those who are interested in this subject will find in Mr. 
 Owen's most valuable work, " Two Centuries of Ceramic Art 
 in Bristol, 1873," a full description, with wood-cuts, of many 
 pieces in this collection, including the vases. Mr. Fry gave 
 much assistance to Mr. Owen in the production of this work, 
 which he therein gratefully acknowledges. 
 
 f The manufacturer and his wife. 
 
30 
 
 chiefly with reference to special objects. At one 
 time he endeavoured to procure all the literature 
 of the 17th and 18th centuries which in any way 
 illustrated the history of the Society of Friends. 
 The works and lives of its early members — 
 showing their sufferings for conscience sake, and 
 the way in which a firm allegiance to the simple 
 commands of Christ in reference to oaths and 
 other points led, in the end, to religious liberty 
 and privileges which, until recently, no other 
 sect enjoyed — were of the deepest interest to 
 him. Their adherence to peace principles during 
 the Irish Kebellion of 1792, and on other occasions, 
 and their wonderful preservation and escapes when 
 in great danger, because of their refusal to bear 
 arms either as soldiers or for personal defence, can 
 be clearly seen in some of these works. This col- 
 lection, which, though not of interest to the general 
 reader in the present day, is very complete — almost 
 unique of its kind, and which could scarcely be 
 gathered together again — may yet be of service to 
 any who want to refer to the various phases of 
 religious thought and controversial questions which 
 they illustrate. 
 
 The productions of the early printing presses, 
 
31 
 
 the "Incunabula," as they were called up to the 
 year 1500, were also greatly valued by Mr. Fry. 
 In the year 1860 he spent three months in 
 Germany with his wife and two members of his 
 family, the writer of these pages being one of 
 them. They visited many places connected with 
 the early history of printing — Worms, Mayence, 
 Spires, Stuttgard, &c, &c. At Mayence, its birth- 
 place, they saw the old cellar in which Gutenberg* 
 worked, and the original cross-bar of the first 
 press, marked " j. mcdxli. a." Of the owner of this 
 most interesting relic he purchased a beautiful early 
 printed book, which King Ludwig I. of Bavaria had 
 sent from the library at Munich in remembrance 
 of his visit to the same house. Worms, the birth- 
 place of the first English New Testament (to which 
 reference will be made later on), was especially 
 interesting to him. 
 
 Several weeks were spent at Munich, and many 
 hours were passed in the magnificent Library in that 
 city, where every facility was granted him by the 
 authorities; and here he unexpectedly discovered 
 the books printed at Worms by Peter Schoeffer, 
 the younger, which enabled him to decide that the 
 * See Appendix A. 
 
32 
 
 first Tyndale's Testament was from Schoeffer's 
 Press at Worms. The two works identical in 
 every respect with it were "Alle Propheten" and 
 a " Treatise on Bergwerck" (Mining), both in 
 German. 
 
 Mr. Fry's general library was small. He was 
 not a book buyer as many are. He bought with an 
 object : books about books, such as the early history 
 of printing, on writing, engraving, and on biblio- 
 graphy in general. Dibdin's celebrated works were 
 great favourites, and of these he had a complete 
 series. In the purchase of MSS. he did not indulge 
 to any extent, but a few Horae or Missals he 
 appreciated on account of their exquisite penman- 
 ship and illuminations. His name is more known 
 in connection with the English Bible than anything 
 else, not as a collector only, but by the works 
 he published. There have been many valuable 
 collections made before, such as Lea Wilson's, 
 George Offer's, and others ; but probably no one 
 endeavoured to make his studies so subservient to 
 a systematic and historical account of the various 
 editions of the different translators. The subject 
 first attracted his attention about the year 1850, 
 so that his knowledge was the growth of five and 
 
33 
 
 thirty years; and having once taken it up he 
 brought to bear upon it untiring industry, great 
 patience, practical business ability, and a most 
 retentive memory. He never forgot any book 
 which he had once seen or heard of, and could 
 always remember imperfections in any of his 
 collection without reference. At first it was only 
 in leisure hours or after the engagements of the 
 day that he began to study his Bibles and Tes- 
 taments. As years rolled by, and business cares 
 devolved on others, it became almost a life work, 
 and that of the deepest interest. As his name 
 became known, books were sent to him from all 
 parts of the country, and these were often collated 
 to see how far they were perfect. 
 
 The object which Mr. Fry had first in view was 
 to obtain information about all the various issues 
 which had been printed to the date of the Autho- 
 rized Version of 1611. The interest extending, he 
 did not stop at that year but continued to add 
 copies from various presses, even up to the New 
 Version of 1881-5. He devoted much attention to 
 the editions of the translations by William Tyndale, 
 Miles Coverdale, and Archbishop Cranmer; and 
 with this object he was in constant correspondence 
 
34 
 
 with a large number of persons who possessed 
 copies of any of them, sparing no trouble in 
 personally visiting public or private Libraries 
 where treasured volumes could be inspected or 
 compared. He always received the greatest kind- 
 ness from the fortunate possessors of rare copies, 
 and the Quaker gentleman in the old costume, now 
 almost obsolete, had the Mlest access granted him 
 to the Koyal Library at Windsor, to that at 
 Lambeth Palace, to the magnificent collection of 
 Earl Spencer at Althorpe, to that of the late Earl 
 of Ashburnham at Ashburnham Place, the Earl of 
 Leicester's at Holkham Hall, the Marquis of 
 Northampton's at Castle Ashby, the Earl of Pem- 
 broke's at Wilton, Lord Zouche's at Parham, and 
 many others. 
 
 At the Library of the British Museum he was a 
 constant visitor, being well-known to Mr. George 
 Bullen, the head of that department, as well as to 
 his predecessors, the late Mr. Winter Jones and 
 Mr. Panizzi. At the Bodleian at Oxford, Dr. 
 Bandinell, and subsequently Mr. Cox, offered him 
 all the assistance in their power, and his informa- 
 tion was often of great use to them. Not a few 
 foreign libraries were laid under contribution by 
 
35 
 
 him, especially when endeavouring to trace the 
 birthplace of the earliest editions, as he had often 
 to seek other books printed with the same type 
 and on paper with the same water-mark, to show 
 the origin of some testament printed without date 
 or printer's name. Of water-marks he had a con- 
 siderable variety. 
 
 Amongst private collectors he had a large 
 acquaintance, and it was one of his greatest 
 delights to meet with men of similar taste and 
 compare notes with them, or to be able to 
 assist others who needed information, which few 
 were so able to impart as himself upon critical 
 questions of precedence or variation in texts or 
 words. He was thus brought into connection 
 with collectors like the late Henry Stevens (who 
 assisted him in many ways), Henry Bohn, Samuel 
 Addington, and Henry Huth; with students like 
 Dr. Gotch of the Baptist College, Bristol, Dr. Gott, 
 then Vicar of Leeds, the late Dr. Hook, Dean of 
 Chichester, Dr. Burgon, the present Dean, Lord 
 Arthur Hervey, now Bishop of Bath and Wells, 
 the late Dr. Baylee of St. Aidans, Liverpool, the 
 late William Ewing of Glasgow, the late Arch- 
 deacon Cotton of Thurles, the late Rev. Eobert 
 
 c2 
 
36 
 
 Daly, Bishop of Cashel, the Kev. Nicholas Pocock 
 of Bristol, the late Bev. B. Demaus, Edward 
 Arber, F.S.A., London, and many other well- 
 known names. With the late James Lenox, 
 of New York, the founder of the great Library 
 which he bequeathed to that city, and with the 
 late George Livermore of Philadelphia, Mr. Fry 
 had epistolary intercourse which resulted in 
 practical benefit to the collection of Bibles in 
 New York. These friendships brought a large 
 correspondence, besides which it was no light work 
 to keep a constant look out for copies, in book- 
 sellers' catalogues or in auction sales, and to 
 answer enquiries from those who were constantly 
 writing to ask him the value of any old Bibles in 
 their possession; many hoping (like the owner of a 
 Queen Anne farthing) that his imperfect " Gene- 
 van," or his well-thumbed copy of a " Breeches 
 Bible," might prove, if not a Coverdale, at least of 
 great money value to its fortunate possessor. 
 
 In the year 1864 he was much gratified in receiv- 
 ing from the Emperor Alexander II. of Bussia a 
 copy of the facsimile of the " Codex Sinaiticus," 
 which had just been published by Boyal command 
 by Dr. Tischendorf of Leipsic. It was one of 
 
37 
 
 the first sent to this country, and was subse- 
 quently enriched by an autograph of the Imperial 
 donor and a letter from the Eussian Ambassador 
 in London, Baron Korf, couched in the politest 
 terms. This wonderful work in four folio volumes 
 was one of 325 (to which the edition was limited), 
 and the cost of which was £30,000. One hundred 
 were given to Dr. Tischendorf to sell, the rest 
 were presented by the Emperor to public or private 
 libraries. 
 
 The discovery of this ancient Codex at the 
 Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai in 
 1859 attracted great attention at the time, and the 
 discoverer offered to place some of his MSS. in 
 the hands of Mr. Pry, if they would be of any use 
 to him in his biblical researches. The Czar 
 graciously accepted copies of Mr. Fry's works for 
 the Imperial Library. 
 
 It was only natural that with the work of the 
 British and Foreign Bible Society, Mr. Fry would 
 take a deep interest. The small but choice 
 collection of early specimens in its library he 
 knew well and assisted to perfect. Many of the 
 " deputations " to the annual meetings at Bristol 
 spent pleasant hours amongst the old books, and 
 
38 
 
 have testified to the help which they obtained from 
 him on some question of interest, and to the 
 encouragement derived from a closer acquaintance 
 with the " ancestors of the volume without note or 
 comment" which they sought so diligently to 
 circulate. The differences which exist in some 
 passages were well-known and carefully pointed 
 out to the visitor. The text of William Tyndale, 
 which in some places sounds quaint and old- 
 fashioned, he much liked ; and a return to it in 
 sundry places in tEe Eevised Version was hailed 
 by him with much satisfaction, as in John x. 16, 
 the word "fold" is superseded by "flock," which 
 gives a much more comprehensive meaning to the 
 text. On the whole, he much preferred the 
 Authorised Version. His love for William Tyndale 
 amounted almost to veneration. He considered 
 him, and rightly so, as one of the greatest men 
 England ever produced. In order to make his 
 text more generally known, and to stimulate 
 interest in the great translator, Mr. Fry deter- 
 mined to give to the public an exact facsimile* 
 of the only known perfect copy of Tyndale's Testa- 
 ment (1525-6) in existence, if indeed it can be called 
 * See Appendix 0. 
 
39 
 
 perfect without a title page. It belongs to the 
 
 Library of the Baptist College in Bristol, having 
 
 been bequeathed to it with other books in 1784 by 
 
 Dr. Andrew Gifford, who purchased it for twenty 
 
 guineas of Mr. John White, who in his turn 
 
 obtained it at Mr. Langford's sale of Mr. Ames' 
 
 books on May 13th, 1760. Mr. Ames, it seems, 
 
 gave fifteen shillings for it. Before this it had 
 
 been in the possession of Lord Oxford, who was so 
 
 delighted with obtaining it that he settled J620 
 
 a year on Mr. John Murray, who procured it for 
 
 him.* The pleasure felt by Mr. Ames at obtaining 
 
 this volume is shown in the following letter, 
 
 addressed to Mr. George Ballard : — 
 
 " Wapping, June 30, 1743. 
 " I cannot forbear telling you of my good success in buying 
 at Lord Oxford's sale the phoenix of the whole library: I 
 mean the first English Testament that ever was printed in the 
 year 1526. It has been thought no perfect one was left from 
 the flames. My lord was so well pleased in being the 
 possessor of it, that he gave the person (Mr. John Murray) 
 he had it of, ten guineas, and settled an annuity of twenty 
 pounds a year during the person's life, which is yet paid to 
 him. The particulars are too many to commit to a letter ; 
 the old historians and Fox give a good account of it." f 
 
 * There is an imperfect copy in the Library of St. Paul's 
 Cathedral. 
 
 j- " Cotton Editions of the Bible in English," 2nd edition, 
 1852, page 2. 
 
 
 
40 
 
 The book was not in its original cover,* and had 
 Mr. Ames' name stamped on both sides; it is 
 5 J by 4 inches in size, and had evidently been in 
 the possession of some person of note, as all the 
 wood-cuts, capitals, and paragraph marks, 2606. in 
 number, were illuminated. It is not known if 
 ever there was a title ; and if so, it probably did 
 not bear the translator's name, as he says in 
 another place, " The cause why I set my name 
 before this little treatise, and have not rather done 
 it in the New Testament is, that when I folowed 
 the councel of Chryste, which exhort eth men 
 (Math, vi.) to do their good deades secretly, and to 
 be contente with the conscience of wel doynge, 
 and that God seeth us, and paeyentlye to abyde 
 the rewarde of the last day which Chryste hath 
 purchased for us ; and nowe wold faine have done 
 lykewise, but am compelled otherwise to do."f 
 
 This reproduction of perhaps the most interest- 
 ing book in our language was an exact facsimile, 
 taken on tracing paper and lithographed in the 
 usual way. To prove the correctness of the work, 
 Mr. Fry personally compared a proof copy with 
 
 * Mr. Fry's Introduction, p. 12. 
 f Preface to " The Wicked Mammon," ed. 1549. 
 
Facsimile of Page of 
 Tyndale's New Testament , 1525. 
 
 Cfce Bpffite off tfc>e 
 
 ^tpofffe pawl /totfce ?hy, 
 
 GhefyrffClfaptev. 
 
 Hultifefetvatinte 
 
 off 3*fi** Ctttift / CAlto 
 vnto tbe office off an Af>ofHe/ 
 putt a parte to pzeadK tfrecjo* 
 fpell of <&ob/i»\ytib bepzorny* 
 [ib afozt by bis pzop betf/iffa 
 bolvfcripturee t^at mafeme* 
 ftonofjjts (5nc/tbz wbicfc was 
 begotten of tfc« feeocofa> atho' 
 as pertaynyn& to tj* flcffbe? 
 
 a*i& ocdar^ to be tfcfottnc of 0oo tpitb power 
 of tt>e &o^gooft/(hatfancti|fTfett?/ferwetberrme 
 ttjAttfefue €b^(toureloil>ero(e a$aynefvom 
 t*efo/byco\)omxDc\>At>erxcM,veb %raceati&*', 
 pofUe(typpe/ t^AttAllcjenrile* fi?ulbeobe?e to 
 tbtf*?tf>tt>bfcbid tobw name/of tbetnbi&nof 
 umbteavev* dfo/ wbid)*ve 3tfua<^u'ftesbtf 
 vocadotu 
 
 Z£o All you of&ome belot>e£>of <Boo/ £b (ah* 
 ctco bv CAllyngc. <£tvice be aritb you Anb peace 
 froTO<5ob ourefat^er/anbfromtbeloic^^ 
 fueCtaift. 
 
 tfyrft vetxly StbmUmyQob tyotow'Jtfaa 
 €bzift\ot vou alUbecaufey oure fattty iapubli 
 ffbebr^iOttgl)OtttAUtbetooalc»e. £ot$ot>i6tny 
 
41 
 
 the original, line by line, and it may be depended 
 upon as being exact. The paper was made ex- 
 pressly for the purpose, to imitate that in the 
 original, and the same wire marks appear as in 
 that used by Tyndale's printer. Great pains were 
 taken to ascertain who this was, and where he 
 lived; and there is every probability that Mr. Fry 
 has settled this point. It was well known that 
 Tyndale "went over the sea," as he found "no 
 roume in my lorde of London's palace to trans- 
 late the New Testamente ; but also that there was 
 no place to do it in all Englande, as experience 
 doth now openly declare." The translator went 
 to Hamburg, Cologne, and Worms, at which latter 
 place the first New Testament in English saw the 
 light in 1525-6. Mr. Fry proved that the printer 
 was Peter Schoeffer, the second son of the great 
 Peter Schoeffer of Mayence, partner with John 
 Faust. Peter Schoeffer, jun., became a Lutheran, 
 and settled in Worms, where he printed a Pro- 
 testant Bible in German, and other works, and 
 was denounced as a printer of heretical books. In 
 the libraries of Stuttgard and Munich, books from 
 this press were found printed, of the same size, 
 from the same type, with similar woodcuts and 
 
42 
 
 capital letters, and the water-mark of the same 
 design as in the New Testament. This investiga- 
 tion occupied no small amount of time and 
 patience, but anything which tended to throw 
 light on the work of this great Martyr was always 
 a labour of love. 
 
 The following are selected from many letters 
 referring to this work : — 
 
 From the late J. Lenox, Esq., New York. 
 
 j 29th March, 1866. 
 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 . . . A few hours' leisure and a rainy day have 
 
 enabled me to look over your book, and I congratulate you 
 
 upon what you have effected. It is a labour which they only 
 
 who have tried the work can properly appreciate. It is not 
 
 only a wonderful, but a superb volume, especially the copy 
 
 upon vellum, for which I thank you especially. 
 
 I remain, Dear Sir, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 J. Lenox. 
 
 From Edward Peacock, Esq., Botherford Manor, Brigg. 
 
 15th January, 1865. 
 
 You have done a good work by reproducing Tyndale's 
 New Testament, such as will make men grateful to you 
 wherever and as long as our language is spoken. How very 
 faithful, on the whole, Tyndale's translation is. How much 
 superior, indeed, is his nervous English to what we should 
 have at the present time if the work had to be done now. 
 
43 
 
 No one can appreciate Tyndale and the Authorised Version as 
 they deserve who has not read some of the modern attempts 
 at translation. 
 
 Believe me, my dear Sir, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Edward Peacock. 
 
 One other work may be mentioned here in 
 connection with the Tyndale translation, though 
 it was the last he published (1878). This was 
 no less than a most careful and critical description 
 of all the New Testaments of Tyndale's Version 
 known to be in existence — forty in number. Nos. 
 1, 2 and 3 were published before his martyrdom. 
 There are very few which are exactly like the 
 others; some differ considerably from any other 
 edition. Nos. 39 and 40 are only known to 
 exist in the Lenox Library, New York ; and the 
 illustrations of these were obtained by photographs. 
 Two others are also described in order to prove 
 that they were not the Tyndale Version, as 
 generally supposed, but the Bishop's. 
 
 Of these forty Testaments, Mr. Fry had twenty- 
 eight in his own library. A year before his 
 death, a title-page of a Tyndale Testament was 
 sent to him for inspection, and was dated 1532. 
 No copy printed in this year is known to exist, 
 
44 
 
 and it is different from all others. As the title- 
 page only has been found, nothing can be said 
 about the book. It is possibly a proof of some 
 design for a Testament which was not printed till 
 a later date, and with another title-page. The 
 whole edition may have been destroyed.* 
 
 The plan pursued by the author was to examine 
 certain thirteen chapters and 475 other verses 
 in every edition, and note the smallest differences. 
 These are given in exact facsimile on seventy- 
 three plates, demytquarto, and include forty title- 
 pages and eighty-one whole pages, &c. There 
 are 220 pages of letter-press in the work. 
 
 The Testament printed in 1535 possesses a 
 different orthography from any of the others. It 
 has no printer's name or residence, and no light has 
 ever been thrown upon the cause of this, though 
 Mr. Fry published a long list of the words, and 
 an inquiry soliciting information. The letter " e " 
 is introduced wherever possible, as "aboede" for 
 abode, "aloene" for alone, "doeth" for doth, 
 " maede " for made, &c. It may have been through 
 the person who wrote it out or composed the 
 
 *It is in the possession of the Rev. Dr. Angus, Regent's Park. 
 A fo e aimft ila p a g e e f th i a Tootamont io pw in Appen e Un D . 
 
45 
 
 type being a foreigner, or that the Bible was 
 intended to be more in accordance with some 
 provincial dialect. A Preface gives interesting 
 information about Tyndale, a photograph of the 
 likeness at Hertford College, Oxford, and a fac- 
 simile of the only autograph letter of Tyndale's 
 known to exist. In reference to this Work, the 
 late Eev. Thomas Lathbury of Bristol wrote before 
 it was published : — 
 
 " The book, I see more and more, will be most important. 
 It will be unique. No other man could have done it. Every 
 man has some one thing which he can do better than anybody- 
 else ; I allude to literary matters. I shall look upon this 
 work of yours as one of the most important contributions to 
 the cause of sacred bibliography. You are doing with Bibles 
 what I have in some respects done with Prayer Books." 
 
 The following letters allude to the same book : — 
 
 From John Hirst, Esq., Ladcastle, Dobcross, Saddleworth. 
 
 ' 31st May, 1880. 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 . . . . I have, and highly value, your book on 
 Tyndale's New Testament. On reading it I was greatly 
 pleased with your treatment of the Martyr, William Tyndale. 
 We scarcely know how much we in England are indebted to 
 Tyndale ; perhaps it would only be an understatement if we 
 said that he did more for real civil and religious liberty than 
 any one else. I wish you would do for his Pentateuch as you 
 
46 
 
 have so nobly done for his Testament, and I am sorry I can 
 
 give no assistance ; but pray do what you can, as no living 
 
 man knows so much about him as you evidently do. 
 
 I am, yours faithfully, 
 
 John Hirst. 
 To Francis Fry, Esq., F.S.A. 
 
 From the Rev. Aubrey Townshend, Woodbine Farm, Heuish, 
 Bristol. 
 
 23rd September, 1880. 
 Dear Friend, 
 
 I am much gratified by your exceeding kindness, and 
 shall ever value your beautiful book as a gift, not only for its 
 very unusual worth, but for its donor's sake, and as a memento 
 of days which I cannot easily forget — that have been fraught 
 with singular happiness to myself — which have been spent in 
 your society among the wonderful Bibles which are the sacred 
 remains of the Reformation time. 
 
 Believe me ever 
 
 Your affectionately obliged, 
 
 Aubrey Townshend. 
 
 Before quite passing away from the name of 
 Tyndale, it should be mentioned that in the 
 erection of the monument to his memory on 
 Nibley Knoll, Gloucestershire, in November, 1866, 
 as well as in that of the statue on the Embank- 
 ment in 1885, Mr. Fry took a warm interest, 
 especially in the former, which was in the native 
 county of the Reformer. 
 
 The work published in 1865, describing the 
 
47 
 
 " Great Bible " and the six editions of Cranmer's 
 translation (with two variations), and the Autho- 
 rised Version of 1611, occupied many years. It 
 is a monument of untiring industry, and an 
 evidence of the care which the author bestowed 
 to make his descriptions accurate and reliable. It 
 is a folio volume, and was dedicated (by permis- 
 sion) to the late Eight Hon. the Earl of Ashburn- 
 ham, who took great interest in its progress. In 
 the limits of this sketch it is almost impossible to 
 give any idea of the labour it involved. 
 
 The Great Bible was printed under the auspices 
 of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, in 1539. It 
 was followed very closely by six editions of Arch- 
 bishop Cranmer's in 1540 and 1541 : all the same 
 size, with titles and other matter much the same, 
 but with an introduction or prologue of his own, 
 which ought not to be found in the Great Bible. 
 It is believed that twenty-one thousand copies 
 were printed in these three years, one being 
 placed in every church by order of King Henry 
 VIII. In the binding of these various editions, 
 leaves became intermixed. It was also found that 
 copies bearing the same date differed from each 
 other in various parts. Care had to be taken in 
 
48 
 
 these examinations only to notice leaves which 
 had evidently formed part of the original volumes. 
 Perfect copies of these noble folios without inter- 
 mixture are extremely rare. 
 
 The result of much patient investigation con- 
 vinced Mr. Fry that portions of different editions 
 were made use of to make one volume, when they 
 were severally first made up. This could be done, 
 because five editions have sixty-five lines on a 
 page, and read together. Two others (and the 
 
 frj/KT^ same two with reprints) have sixty-two lines on 
 a page. The great difficulty lay in obtaining 
 a standard of authority on which he could rely. 
 
 \(/i % There is no whole set of the nine books known 
 
 except in the British Museum and in his own 
 collection. He soon found that the former had 
 .incorrect leaves in them ; he therefore resolved 
 to collate as many of these Bibles as he could 
 find elsewhere, and did most carefully examine 
 no fewer than 146 copies from different parts of 
 the United Kingdom. Only thirty-one were found 
 correct, and 115 more or less intermixed. This 
 comparison could only be made by placing copies 
 side by side. As many as forty lay open on 
 a table at one time, of which some were lent. 
 
49 
 
 Other copies he had to see in the libraries of their 
 owners, taking some of his own for the sake of 
 comparison. He proved that every leaf of each 
 of the seven editions was different, with fourteen 
 exceptions, where a leaf or two was common to 
 two editions. So minute was the examination, 
 that he observed all such differences in spelling as 
 the following in the word " saying" in Matthew x., 
 second column, line 38 : — " sayige," " sayinge," 
 "saying," "sayenge," " sayig." 
 
 The set in the Fry collection may be now con- 
 sidered as the " standard of weight and measure " 
 of these Cranmer Bibles, such as exists nowhere 
 else ; the nearest approach to them is in the 
 Lenox Library, New York. Both savants had 
 launched upon the same voyage of discovery un- 
 known to each other at first ; their introduction by 
 the late Mr. Henry Stevens proved to their sub- 
 sequent mutual advantage. There is no evidence 
 to show that Archbishop Cranmer had anything to 
 do with the Great Bible of Cromwell; but as it is 
 the same size as his editions, and published nearly 
 at the same time, it has been called by Cranmer's 
 name. In the same volume are described the first 
 five folio editions of the Authorised Version, which 
 
50 
 
 were treated in the same way. There were two 
 issues printed in 1611, and one each in 1613, 1617, 
 1634, and 1640. These ponderous volumes were 
 examined in the same manner as the Cranmers, and 
 with equal care. The result proved that there had 
 been great intermixture at the time of binding. 
 The two issues of 1611, though very nearly 
 identical, differ sufficiently to show that there 
 were two, and that one was published before the 
 other.* A complete and perfect set of these six 
 Bibles is also in the library at Tower House, 
 Bristol. 
 
 In the work now referred to will be found all the 
 information which was gathered during years of 
 patient labour. Keference to it will enable the 
 owner of any leaf of a Cranmer Bible or an Autho- 
 rized Version to ascertain to which edition it 
 belongs. There are thirty-three plates of facsimile, 
 shewing the variations in certain places in the 
 Cranmer and eighteen of the Authorized Version, 
 besides two sets of tables shewing the result of his 
 comparisons. An original leaf is bound up of all 
 the various books described, which greatly adds to 
 the interest of the volume. 
 
 *See " Description of Great Bible, &c," pp. 21-28. 
 
51 
 
 The following selected letters will shew how this 
 work was appreciated by those who were well able 
 to judge of its merits : — 
 
 From the Right Hon. the (late) Earl of Ashburnham. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Your obliging letter reached me yesterday, and to-day 
 I have received the two copies of your work on the early 
 English Bibles. In point of beauty and as specimens of 
 typography they greatly exceed my expectations ; and I may 
 feel very proud of having such a volume dedicated to me, 
 however conscious I may be that I hardly deserve such an 
 honour. I will very gladly add to them the facsimile of the 
 Cambridge copy on vellum of the edition of 1539. 
 Believe me to be, 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 (Signed) Ashburnham. 
 
 Ashburnham Place, November 28, 1865. 
 
 From the (late) Earl of Crawford and Balcarres (then Lord 
 
 Ldndsay.J 
 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 On arriving here a few days ago, I found your very 
 kind present of a volume which is a chef d'ceuvre in its kind — 
 a miracle of labour, the result of love. I have read the 
 introduction with great interest, and nothing can be more 
 clear and satisfactory than the data for verification supplied 
 by the plates, as well as the other illustration matter. Your 
 idea of adding original leaves of the different Bibles will 
 facilitate comparison in a manner that nothing else could 
 equal. I cordially congratulate you on having achieved a 
 work which must always hold a place of high honour in 
 
 p2 
 
52 
 
 the library of bibliography, and which to the collector or 
 amateur of old English Bibles or old English literature is 
 invaluable. . . . 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 (Signed) Lindsay. 
 Haigh, 3rd January, 1866. 
 
 From J. H. Bohn, Esq., 13, Wellington Street, W.C. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I am exceedingly obliged by your very kind offer of 
 your truly invaluable work on the Bibles, and shall have the 
 greatest pleasure in referring to it as often as I can. I have 
 on various occasions had to borrow a copy, and can confidently 
 assert that for accurac^it is a most wonderful performance. 
 I have the honour to be, 
 
 Your obliged and obedient Servant, 
 
 John H. Bohn. 
 Francis Fry, Esq. 
 
 From Edward Arber, Esq., F.8.A., Southgate, London. 
 
 26th March, 1878. 
 My Dear Mr. Fry, 
 
 . . . I have been exceedingly pleased with the book 
 which your son was good enough to lend me — your folio on the 
 Cranmer Editions. I had no previous knowledge of it. It is 
 another splendid piece of work. Really you can rest from your 
 labours, and your works will remain to all time. Thanking 
 you again for your repeated kindnesses, and praying God 
 always to bless you, 
 
 I am, my dear Mr. Fry, 
 
 Ever faithfully yours, 
 
 Edwakd Arber. 
 
 F. Fry, Esq., Cotham House, Bristol. 
 
53 
 
 In 1867 Mr. Fry published a Treatise on the 
 First English Bible, translated by Myles Coverdale 
 in 1535, which was dedicated to King Henry VIII. 
 and his " dearest and just wyfe and most vertuous 
 Pryncesse Quene Anne." The book is of the 
 greatest rarity. It seems very doubtful if more 
 than one copy is in existence precisely as it left 
 the printer's hands (except the map). It is in the 
 library of the Marquis of Northampton at Castle 
 Ashby.* The date on the title-page is 1535. 
 There are title-pages in the copies of the Earl of 
 Leicester at Holkham Hall and in the British 
 Museum dated 1535, but they are not exactly the 
 same as the one named above. There are two 
 titles in existence the same as the last-mentioned, 
 only dated 1536, one of which was in the possession 
 of the Countess of Jersey, Osterley Park, Middlesex; 
 the other is in the Library of Gloucester Cathedral. 
 Those interested in the history of this book are 
 referred to Mr. Fry's account of the same. No 
 light has yet been thrown upon the printer 
 employed by Coverdale, nor the place where it was 
 printed; but the result of long investigation led 
 him to the conclusion that it was neither at 
 * " Fry on Coverdale," p. 23. 
 
54 
 
 Frankfort nor at Zurich, as generally supposed, 
 but that the honour very probably belongs to 
 Van Meteren of Antwerp. The following letter 
 refers to this volume : — 
 
 From the late Rev, J. C. Robertson, Precincts, Canterbury. 
 
 October 15, 1872. 
 My Dear Mr. Fry, 
 
 Through some unaccountable carelessness I omitted, 
 while writing to you this morning, to say anything about your 
 book on Coverdale's Bible. Allow me now to beg pardon for 
 the omission, and to thank you for the book, both in my own 
 name and in that of*- our Chapter. The amount of care, 
 labour, knowledge and skill which you have brought to bear 
 on the subject of the book is quite wonderful. 
 
 Believe me, very truly yours, 
 
 J. C. Robertson. 
 
 The only other books published by Mr. Fry 
 were reprints, and as they are described in the list 
 at the close of this volume, little need be said 
 about them here. Two of the originals are unique 
 — " The Prophete Jonas," by William Tyndale, and 
 11 The Proper Dyaloge," in reference to which we 
 quote from the Athenceum, November 21, 1863 : — 
 "In the same volume of tracts that contained 
 ' The Prophete Jonas ' there was found another 
 small work, likewise of the Eeformation period, 
 and unique, which Mr. Pry (with the permission 
 
55 
 
 of Lord Arthur Hervey) has also published in fac- 
 simile, with an introduction. This is ■ The Proper 
 Dyaloge betwene a Gentillman and a Husband- 
 man, ' &c. Both of these works are remarkably 
 curious and interesting, not only in a biblio- 
 graphical point of view, but in a literary and 
 historic sense as well; so that Mr. Fry has done 
 good service in reproducing them." 
 
 In reference to one other reprint, we quote 
 from The London Review, April 15, 1865 : — " Mr. 
 Fry not long ago issued a facsimile of 'The 
 Christian Soldiers' Pocket Bible, showing from the 
 Holy Scriptures the soldier's duty and encourage- 
 ment,' a small manual prepared for use in 
 Cromwell's army, and believed to have been very 
 generally read by the soldiers of the Roundhead 
 party. A copy of this facsimile having found 
 its way to America, it has been reprinted, and it is 
 stated that some hundreds of thousands have been 
 distributed among the Federal soldiers there, at 
 the cost of one or two earnest individuals who 
 desired to inspire the men with the feelings of 
 those Ironsides who were equally good at praying 
 and fighting. Although a great number, in all 
 probability, were distributed in Cromwell's time, 
 
56 
 
 only one original is at this moment preserved to 
 us, and that copy is in the British Museum. 
 
 We have now referred to all the works which 
 bear Mr. Pry's name. Some of them are of more 
 value to the collector than to any one else, but 
 they will always be standard authorities upon the 
 various versions they describe. No one before 
 him so critically examined them, or recorded 
 with such exactness the result of his labours. 
 No one in the future, it may be safely said, will 
 have the same opportunities which he had, or 
 the same taste for careful comparison. Any one 
 requiring information will rather make use of 
 that which will lie ready to hand through the 
 labours we have thus very briefly attempted to 
 describe. 
 
 No attempt has been made to enter into Mr. 
 Fry's private life. He took a deep interest in 
 many of the great social questions of the day. 
 When a young man he was one of four who 
 founded the earliest temperance society in Bristol, 
 which was then only an association to discourage 
 the use of ardent spirits, but which led up to a 
 much greater question. The British and Foreign 
 Bible Society received his support and interest 
 
57 
 
 long before he turned his attention to the history 
 of the English Bible as a distinct branch of biblio- 
 graphy. The Anti-slavery Society, which agitated 
 the public mind for many years of his life, and in 
 which the Society of Friends took so prominent a 
 part, found in him an earnest advocate. He was 
 a true Christian, a devoted husband (for over fifty- 
 three years), a kind and wise father, a firm friend, 
 and a helper of many in time of need. He was 
 warmly attached to the principles of the Society of 
 Friends, in which he had been educated. His 
 personal wants were of a simple character ; he was 
 self-denying and anxious to promote the happiness 
 of others. Home and family were his great attrac- 
 tions after business hours. He did not accept 
 positions of a public character, except as men- 
 tioned; he was often solicited to join the City 
 Council, but he did not feel he had time enough to 
 spare to warrant his doing so. It has been shown 
 that his chief pleasure, when he could take a holi- 
 day, was found in travelling. The Bible which he 
 loved was not merely viewed by him with an 
 antiquarian eye ; it was his daily companion from 
 early life in a far higher sense. His belief in it 
 as the revealed will and love of God to man in 
 
58 
 
 Christ Jesus was bright and strong. He lived 
 and died in the faith and hope of the Gospel, and 
 in perfect trust in the atoning sacrifice of his 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. His death took 
 place on the 12th of November 1886, soon after 
 the completion of his 83rd year. He was buried 
 in the Friends' grave-yard at King's Weston, near 
 Bristol. 
 
 * 
 
59 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 The following letters, &c, will be read with 
 interest, and are published with the permission of 
 the writers. 
 
 Extract from the proceedings of the Directors of the Bristol 
 Waterworks Company, at their Board Meeting held on Satur- 
 day, 20th November, 1886. 
 
 Resolved unanimously, that the Directors of the Bristol 
 Waterworks Company desire to record their sincere regret at 
 the great loss which the Company and they themselves have 
 sustained by the death of their esteemed colleague and Chair- 
 man, Francis Fry, Esquire, a member of their board from the 
 commencement of the Company, upwards of forty years since, 
 and one who was always ready to devote his time and excep- 
 tional ability to the interests of the proprietors, and whose 
 considerate and kindly disposition won him the loyal and 
 affectionate regard of every person connected with the Company. 
 
 The Directors, in offering, on behalf of the Company, to 
 Mrs. Fry and the members of the family this tribute to the 
 memory of their late friend, wish to assure them of their deep 
 and heartfelt sympathy. 
 
 (Signed) Alfred J. Alexander, 
 
 Secretary and General Manager. 
 
 Resolution passed by Bristol Wagon Works Company, Limited, 
 
 22nd November, 1886. 
 
 The Directors desire to express to Mrs. Fry and the family 
 
 of the late Mr. Francis Fry their heartfelt sympathy with 
 
 them in the great loss they have sustained by his death ; and 
 
60 
 
 they take this opportunity of placing on record their high 
 sense of his worth, and of the loss which they themselves 
 experience by his death, associated as he has been with the 
 Company from its first formation. 
 
 From the British and Foreign Bible Society. 
 
 146, Queen Victoria Street, E.C., 
 22nd November, 1886. 
 Mrs. Francis Fry, Cotham, Bristol. 
 
 My dear Mrs. Fry, 
 
 At the last meeting of the Committee, Mr. J. B. 
 Braithwaite communicated the intelligence of the death of 
 Mr. Francis Fry. It was received by the Committee with 
 deep regret, and I was instructed to convey to you the assur- 
 ance of the high regard in which they hold the memory of 
 your late husband, and also to express their sincere sympathy 
 with you and your family in your painful bereavement. We 
 are probably more indebted to the late Mr. Fry than to any 
 other man for our increased knowledge of the history of the 
 various versions of the English Bible — a service which the 
 Committee of this Society are able fully to appreciate. They 
 are at the same time happy to know that his literary interest 
 in the sacred Scriptures sprang from his conviction of their 
 Divine origin, and his personal faith in the Saviour whom 
 they reveal. 
 
 Believe me, with Christian regards, to remain, dear Mrs. 
 
 Fry, 
 
 Yours very faithfully, 
 
 (Signed) Wm. Major Paull, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 From John Angus, Esq., Kirkcudbright. 
 
 16th November, 1886. 
 Dear Miss Fry, 
 
 . . . Though I never had the pleasure of seeing 
 Mr. Fry, yet from correspondence I learned what manner of 
 
61 
 
 man he was — how kind, upright and good; ever ready to 
 impart his great and arduously- acquired stores of know- 
 ledge. . . . 
 
 In all his writings, too, there could be seen something far 
 deeper than the knowledge apparent in every sentence, a 
 reverence and love for everything good and noble, and especially 
 for Him who is the sum and substance of that Word whose 
 history he did so much to unravel. 
 
 I am, yours sincerely, 
 
 John Angus. 
 
 From G. Bullen, Esq. t British Museum. 
 
 15th November, 1886. 
 Dear Mrs. Fry, 
 
 . . . I have been exceedingly grieved to hear of the 
 
 death of my old and esteemed friend, Mr. Fry. A deal of 
 
 knowledge has died with him, especially in the particular 
 
 branch of research to which he chiefly devoted himself — the 
 
 bibliography of our English Bible. Only one man that I ever 
 
 knew at all approached him in that branch of knowledge, 
 
 namely, the late Henry Stevens, who had a great admiration 
 
 for your husband. . . . 
 
 I remain, dear Mrs. Fry, 
 
 Yours most truly, 
 
 George Bullen. 
 
 From the Rev. John Earle, M.A., Oxford. 
 
 23rd November, 1886. 
 Dear Mrs. Fry, 
 
 . . . My intercourse with him opened a new and 
 delightful field of observation ; also, it added a thread to the 
 strength to my interest in Holy Scripture, and it has left 
 results of knowledge and of grateful reminiscences towards 
 
 him. 
 
 I am, yours sincerely, 
 
 John Earle. 
 
62 
 
 From the Rev. Dr. Hooppell, M.A., LL.D., Bijefs Green, 
 Co. Durham. 
 
 23rd November, 1886. 
 Dear Mr. Fry, 
 
 . . . I shall never forget the pleasant hours I spent 
 
 at Cotham some few years ago, when your father showed me 
 
 his unrivalled collection of biblical treasures ; and I have not 
 
 unfrequently since recalled the scene spread before my eyes 
 
 then, when addressing meetings of the Bible Society. . . . 
 
 Very faithfully yours, 
 
 T. Fry, Esq., M.P. R. E. Hooppell. 
 
 From Edward Arber, Esq., F.S.A., 85, Wheeley's Road, 
 ^ Birmingham. 
 
 10th May, 1887. 
 Dear Mr. Fry, 
 
 . . . I was vexed to see the death of your dear 
 
 father in the papers. He was one of the pillars of English 
 
 bibliography. Our losses in that department of knowledge of 
 
 late have been enormous. Francis Fry, Henry Bradshaw, 
 
 Henry Stevens and Cornelius Walford all died within a short 
 
 time, and I never expect to meet with their equals. I have 
 
 many pleasant memories of your father, and I respected him 
 
 will all my heart. He has rendered noble service in the 
 
 bibliography of our printed English Scriptures, for which I 
 
 hope his name will be held through many years to come in 
 
 affectionate memory. 
 
 With the kindest regards, I am ever, 
 
 Most faithfully yours, 
 
 Theodore Fry, Esq., M.P. Edward Arber. 
 
63 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 Cotham Tower. 
 
 Fkom Felix Farley's " Bristol Journal," June 26th, 
 1779 :— 
 
 "There is now building on Cotham Hill, by 
 Mr. Partridge, a round tower, which, if carried to 
 about twice its present height, will be the grand 
 landmark of the City of Bristol in distant parts, 
 and command a prospect of Kingswood on one 
 side, and the town and its environs on the other. " 
 
 Memorandum by F. Fry. 
 
 The old windmill, mentioned in " Westbury's " 
 interesting communication, is depicted in Millerd's 
 bird's-eye view of " The Citty of Bristoll," published 
 about 1672, and in Bocque's plan of Bristol, pub- 
 lished in 1753. In the latter " Cotham's Lodge " 
 and " The Gallows," with the paths leading from 
 them to the mill, are clearly shown. 
 
 The lower part of the tower in the grounds of 
 Tower-house, Cotham, the highest part of Cotham, 
 was originally part of a windmill used for grinding 
 
64 
 
 snuff, as was also the old windmill since converted 
 into the observatory on Clifton-down. The wind- 
 mill at Cotham was raised many years ago to form 
 an observatory or " look-out." My information is 
 derived from having perused the ancient title deeds 
 of Cotham as it is now called. The earliest deed, 
 a very old one, describes the whole district as 
 " Codde Downes," and mentions the windmill on 
 the top of the Downes, and states it was in the 
 occupation of a " tobacco spinner " (as tobacco 
 manufacturers were then called), and used for 
 grinding snuff. 
 
 At one time it was in the occupation of John 
 Innys, tobacco spinner, who resided at Eedland 
 Court, and whose manufactory was on the site of 
 the Wool-hall in Thomas-street. In later deeds 
 Codde Downes became Codd or Cod Down, Coat 
 Down, Coat Ham and Cod Ham, and at last 
 Cotham, as it is now spelt. 
 
65 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 Gutenberg's Printing Press. 
 
 When at Mayence a few months since, I visited 
 the house in which Gutenberg first exercised his 
 newly-discovered art of printing. The present 
 occupier is a wine merchant, who obligingly showed 
 me everything which now remains connected with 
 the inventor ; and as it may not be known to many 
 that part of his first printing-press has been found 
 
 in that house, it may be interesting to give a short 
 account of this precious relic, and the situation in 
 which it has so long remained. 
 
 The house has been much altered since the time 
 of Gutenberg, and the level of the street has been 
 raised several feet, so that what is now the cellar 
 was then the ground floor of the building. In 
 1857 Mr. Borzner (the late proprietor), in excavat- 
 ing underneath his house, discovered the walls 
 
66 
 
 which had formed the original cellars, and on 
 removing some of these, he found a recess or 
 closet, in which were the remains of the press and 
 some other materials. I visited the place in which 
 it was discovered. The room had evidently been 
 whitewashed and furnished with windows. The 
 principal piece of the press was the top cross- 
 beam, in which worked the upright screw. It was 
 made of oak, and provided with the necessary hole 
 in the centre, in which the screw thread is still 
 visible. It is about 3 feet 4 inches long, and upon 
 one side is deeply cut the following inscription : 
 "j. mcdxli. g." This occupies the whole space, 
 and there is no doubt that the unusual mode of 
 expressing 400 by cd was adopted because there 
 was not sufficient room for the cccc. The j and g 
 are the initials of the printer. The above is a 
 representation of the relic, which is now resting on 
 a velvet cushion in a glass case. 
 
 With it were found some other pieces of wood, 
 supposed to have been parts of the press, a few 
 stone mulls, used no doubt for grinding the ink, 
 and four coins, one of each of the reigns of 
 Augustus, Trajan, and Marcus Aurelius, and one 
 illegible. 
 
67 
 
 Gutenberg, on his return from Strasburg about 
 the year 1445, settled in a portion of the house of 
 his paternal uncle, John Geinsflesh, the Hotel du 
 Jungen, where he erected his press ; and from the 
 date on the beam it must have been used in Stras- 
 burg, where Gutenberg resided in 1441, in the 
 production of prints from wood blocks, which he 
 is known to have executed in that town. The 
 locality in which the discovery was made confirms 
 the opinion generally held, that he worked in 
 secret, in order that the invention might not 
 become public. John Schoeffer, the eldest son of 
 Peter Schoeffer, at the end of a work which he 
 printed in 1515, after giving an account of the 
 invention of printing, says : — " That John Fust 
 and Peter Schoeffer kept the art secret, binding 
 with an oath all their assistants and servants on 
 no account to reveal it, which art was afterwards 
 spread abroad in different lands in the year 1462* 
 by the same assistants/' t 
 
 So many years having elapsed, from 1441 the 
 
 *In 1462 Mayence was taken by Adolphe of Nassau, and 
 Fust's printing-office destroyed, and during this commotion 
 the workmen went to Rome, Cologne, Basle, Strasburg, &c. 
 
 f Breviarum Historia Francorum t Mayence, 1515. 
 
date on the press, to the year 1450, when Guten- 
 berg began to print, without any result of his 
 labours being known to us, the following passage 
 from the Cologne Chronicle, printed in 1499, may, 
 to some extent serve as an explanation, and is 
 given on the authority of Zell, who is supposed to 
 have been one of the workmen either in the office 
 of Gutenberg or in that of Fust and Schceffer : — 
 " The most worthy art of printing was first dis- 
 covered in Germany, at Mayence on the Rhine, 
 and was a great honour for the German nation. 
 This took place from 1440 to 1450, during which 
 time the art was perfected and what belongs to it. 
 But in the year which is called 1450, a golden 
 year (i.e. a jubilee year) they began to print, and 
 the first book printed was the Bible, and it was 
 printed in a thick letter, which is the letter now 
 printed in missal books." . . . "The first 
 discoverer of printing was a citizen of Mayence, 
 and his name was John Gutenberg." . . " The 
 commencement and progress of the said art was 
 related to me by Master Ulrich Zell, printer at 
 Cologne, in 1499, through whom the art was first 
 brought to Cologne." ... "There are also 
 fanciful people who say that books were printed 
 
before, but this is not true, nor in no country are 
 books to be found printed before that time."* 
 
 The discovery of the press, and the situation in 
 which it was found, are additional proofs that 
 Mayence was the birth-place of the art of printing, 
 and that the honour of the invention belongs to 
 John Geinsfleish Gutenberg. 
 
 Francis Fry. 
 Cotham, Bristol, 1st Mo. 1861. 
 
 * Cologne Chronicle, Koelhoff, 1499, p. 311 
 
70 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 30 
 sro 
 
 Some readers may be interested in knowing some- 
 thing about the Bibles in Mr. Fry's collection. 
 These, with the Testaments and a few parts, num- 
 ber nearly 1,300. They are mostly in English, 
 but amongst them are a considerable number in 
 foreign languages, chiefly first editions. It would 
 be impossible to allude to more than a few in these 
 pages, but the following are of great interest : — 
 
 The first Bible in English, translated by Miles Coverdale. 
 
 1535. 
 The Reprints of the same, by Nycolson, in folio and 4to. 
 
 1537. 
 The three Reprints, in 4to., by Hester, Froschover and Jugge. 
 
 1550 and 1553. 
 The Pentateuch, by Tyndale. 1530. 
 Six Bibles of Tyndale's Version (including Matthew's). 1537 
 
 to 1551. Printed by John Day, Day and Seres, &c. 
 The Great Bible, Cromwell's Earl of Essex. 1539. 
 The Cranmer Bibles. Six Editions with the two variations, 
 
 1540 and 1541 (being the standard set of nine described 
 
 on pages 47-50), and fifteen other Editions, by Whitchurch, 
 
 Grafton, Carmarden, &c. &c. 1541 to 1569. 
 Four of Taverner's Version. 1539 to 1550. 
 
71 
 
 Seventy-five Editions of the Genevan Version. 1560 to 1663. 
 
 Printed at various places. 
 Nineteen Editions of the Bishops' Versions. 1568 to 1575. 
 The Bassandine (first printed in Scotland). 1579. 
 The Welsh Bible. 1588 to 1654. 
 
 The various Editions of the Authorised Version, 
 amounting to several hundred, it would be impos- 
 sible to specify in detail. 
 
 Amongst the New Testaments are — 
 
 Eight Editions of Coverdale's Version (two not dated). 1538 
 
 to 1549. 
 Twenty-eight Editions of Tyndale's Versions, all of which are 
 
 described in Mr. Fry's Book referring to them. 
 Three Editions of Cranmer's Version. 1547 to 1543. 
 The first in the Welsh (1567) and Irish languages (1602). 
 Twenty-eight Editions of the Genevan Version. 1557 to 1586. 
 Eighteen Editions of the Bishops' Versions. 1581 to 1595. 
 
 The Bibles, Testaments, &c. in foreign languages 
 number about one hundred and fifty. Amongst 
 them, many being First Editions in their respective 
 languages, are the — 
 
 Latin — Gunther Zainer, Augsburg ... no date. 
 
 Eggistein (noplace) ... ... 1468. 
 
 Koburger, Nuremburg ... ... 1475. 
 
 Peter Schoeffer, junr., Worms ... 1529. 
 Italian (Venice) ... ... ... 1487. 
 
 Dutch 1525. 
 
 1563. 
 
72 
 
 German (Wittenberg, Zurich, Dresden, &c), 
 
 1522 to 1584. 
 
 French ... ... ... 1526, 1580, 1531. 
 
 Luther's German 
 
 .. 1534. 
 
 Pagnini (first in Verses) 
 
 .. 1528. 
 
 Swedish 
 
 . 1541. 
 
 Danish 
 
 . 1550. 
 
 Spanish (Old Testament) ... 
 
 . 1558. 
 
 ,, ... 
 
 . 1569. 
 
 Polish 
 
 .. 1561. 
 
 Italian Protestant 
 
 . 1562. 
 
 Bohemian 
 
 . 1570. 
 
 Sclave ... % 
 
 .. 1581. 
 
 Icelandic 
 
 .. 1584. 
 
 Romansche Engadina Bassa 
 
 .. 1679. 
 
 Malagassy ... 
 
 .. 1835. 
 
 German New Testament (Strasburg) 
 
 . 1525. 
 
 (Worms) 
 
 . 1591. 
 
 French „ (Antwerp) 
 
 . 1529. 
 
 Italian „ (Diodati) 
 
 . 1608. 
 
 Also a great many Psalters, Prophets, and 
 other portions of the Sacred Volume in various 
 languages. 
 
73 
 
 APPENDIX E. 
 
 Works by the late Francis Fry, F.S.A. 
 
 THE FIRST NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 Printed in the English Language (Worms, 1525). Translated by 
 
 William Tyndale. 
 
 Keproduced in facsimile, with an introduction. 
 
 Printed for the Editor, 1862. 8vo. cloth, £8. A few copies on vellum 
 
 and some on large paper. 
 
 This is exact from the only copy known perfect, but without a Title, 
 
 in the Baptist College Library, Bristol. 
 
 A DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT BIBLE, 1539, 
 
 And the Six Editions of Cbanmer's Bible, 1540 and 1541 ; also of the 
 
 Five Editions, folio, of the A. V., dated 1611, 1613, 1617, 1634, 1640. 
 
 Illustrated with Titles, Passages from the Editions, the Genealogies, and 
 
 the Maps, copied in facsimile. Also with an identification of every leaf 
 
 of the Great Bible and the Six Cranmers, and of many leaves of the 
 
 other editions, on 51 plates. 
 
 Together with an original leaf of each of the Editions described. 
 
 Demy Folio, on thick toned paper ; tbe plates on imitation old paper, 
 
 made expressly. 
 
 Price £5. Half morocco. A few copies on fine selected vellum, £20. 
 
 THE BIBLE BY COVERDALE, 1535. 
 
 Eemarks on the Titles; the Year of Publication; the Preliminary: 
 
 the Water-marks, &c. With facsimiles. 
 
 8vo., 10/- Large paper, 21/- A few on vellum. 1867. 
 
 A Bibliographical Description of 
 
 TYNDALE'S NEW TESTAMENTS 
 
 AND OF 
 
 TWO EDITIONS OF THE BISHOPS' VEESION. 
 
 Handsomely printed on thick toned paper, red lines on every page. 
 
 Cloth, gilt tops, £3 3s. A few on large thicker paper, £6 6s. 
 
74 
 
 Reproductions in Facsimile, with Introductions by F. Fry. 
 THE PKOPHETE JONAS, 
 
 With an Introduction before Teachinge to Understonde Him 
 
 By William Tyndale, 
 
 To which is added a facsimile of Coverdale's Version of Jonah. 
 
 8vo. Price 10/- On old paper, £1. A few copies on vellum. 1862. 
 
 This work has been so long lost that no copy was known to exist. It 
 
 is not in the first or any other edition of the Bible, called Tyndale's, 
 
 or any other Bible. 
 
 A PROPER DIALOGE 
 
 Betwene a Gentillman and a Husbandman, eche Complaynynge to other 
 
 their Miserable Calamite through the Ambicion of Clergye with a 
 
 COMPENDIOUS OLDE TKEATYSE, 
 
 Shewynge howe that we ought to have the Scripture in Englysshe printed 
 
 bj^HANs Lupt. 1530. 
 8vo. Price 10/- On old paper, £1. A few copies on vellum. 1863. 
 These were written by some one who strongly advocated the new 
 learning. The dialogue is in rhyme. 
 
 THE SOULDIERS POCKET BIBLE. 
 Printed at London by G. B. and R. W. for G. C. 1643. 
 Small 8vo. Price 5/- A few copies on vellum. 1862. 
 This was the Pocket Bible, there can be no doubt, which was supplied 
 to Cromwell's army ; only one copy known in England. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS' PENNY BIBLE. 
 
 Showing from the Holy Scriptures the Soldier's Duty and Encouragement. 
 London : Printed by R. Smith for Sam. Wade, 1693. 
 Small 8vo. Price 5/- 1862. 
 This is also a rare tract. It is nearly a reprint of the Souldiers 
 Pocket Bible. 
 
 London : H. SOTHERAN & Co., 36, Piccadilly. 
 
 y 
 
London: 
 
 PRINTED BY BARCLAY & FRY, 
 
 63, Queen Street, E.C.