THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
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 UIBART
 
 
 
 
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 . 

 
 
 A GUIDE TO THE EXHIBITION IN THE 
 KING'S LIBRARY
 
 British Museum 
 
 A GUIDE TO 
 THE EXHIBITION IN 
 THE KING'S LIBRARY 
 
 ILLUSTRATING THE HISTORY OF 
 
 PRINTING, MUSIC-PRINTING 
 
 AND BOOKBINDING 
 
 PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES 
 1901
 
 Music 
 Library 
 
 Z 
 TO 
 
 Hot 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 THE Library of Printed Books consists of over 
 two million volumes, acquired partly under the 
 provisions of the Copyright Act, which give the 
 Trustees of the British Museum a right to a 
 copy of every book published in the United 
 Kingdom, partly by purchase, and partly by 
 donation or bequest. Among the most important 
 collections which have been presented or be- 
 queathed are : the printed books of Sir Hans 
 Sloane, forming part of his private museum, the 
 offer of which to the nation at about one fourth 
 of its value, brought about the Act of Parliament 
 of 1753, constituting the British Museum; the 
 printed books in the Old Royal Library presented 
 by George n. in 1757, containing books collected 
 by English Sovereigns from the time of Henry 
 vn. ; the Thomason Civil War Tracts purchased 
 by George HI. and presented in 1762 ; the rare 
 books, including many fine specimens of binding, 
 bequeathed by the Rev. C. M. Cracherode in 
 1799; the library of Sir Joseph Banks, consisting 
 principally of works on natural history, received 
 
 1801834
 
 6 INTRODUCTION 
 
 in 1820; the magnificent library formed by King 
 George HI., and presented to the Museum by his 
 successor, in accordance with an arrangement with 
 the Treasury, in 1823; and the choice collection 
 bequeathed by the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville, 
 received in 1847. 
 
 The Gallery in which the library of George HI. 
 was placed, and to which it gives its name, the 
 ' King's Library,' was specially built for the recep- 
 tion of this collection in 1828, and was the first 
 portion of the present building to be erected. 
 Here, together with some specimens from the 
 Department of Oriental Printed Books and Manu- 
 scripts, is arranged an exhibition, drawn from the 
 several collections of the Department of Printed 
 Books, illustrating the history of printing and 
 bookbinding, and including also some examples 
 of first editions of famous English books. The 
 first half of the exhibition is intended to illustrate 
 the introduction and development of printing in 
 Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Spain, 
 and England, the order of the countries as here 
 given being that in which the art of printing with 
 movable types is known to have been first used 
 in them. The history of English Printing is 
 continued down to the end of the Nineteenth 
 Century, and examples are also shown of books 
 printed abroad for the English market, and of 
 early printing in Scotland, Ireland, and the
 
 INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 Colonies. In cases xv. and xvi. are shown some 
 famous English books, and the exhibition is con- 
 tinued with examples of early printing in Greek 
 and Hebrew (xvii.) of illuminated printed books 
 and printing in colours (xviii.), and of printed 
 music (xxi., xxii.). Case xix. is at present reserved 
 for books recently acquired ; Case xx. for specimens 
 of the Tapling Collection of Postage Stamps ; 
 Cases xxiii., xxiv. for examples of printing and 
 book-illustration in China and Japan ; Cases xxv.- 
 xxviii. for various temporary exhibitions. In 
 Cases xxix., xxx., are shown some English Royal 
 Bindings, and in Cases xxxi.-xxxiv., a collection 
 of Bindings of printed books, illustrating the 
 history of book-binding in England, France, Italy, 
 Germany, and Holland.
 
 
 I. I. FROM THE 'ARS MORIENDl' 
 THE TEMPTATION TO IMPATIENCE (REDUCED)
 
 Case i. BLOCK-BOOKS 
 
 IN this case are shown some representative examples of 
 books in which not only the illustrations but the letter- 
 press has been cut in relief in wood, and printed from 
 the solid block without any use of movable types. The 
 earliest dated example of a picture printed from a wood- 
 block is the 'Saint Christopher' of 1423, now in the 
 John Rylands Library at Manchester. At what date 
 the difficult task of cutting letterpress as well as pictures 
 was first attempted is not known. No block-book exists 
 with a date earlier than 1470, and the long-accepted 
 belief that letter-printing from the solid block was neces- 
 sarily prior to that from movable types, and must there- 
 fore have been introduced by about 1440, is now seriously 
 challenged. Only works of the most popular character 
 were printed in this way from blocks, which thus served 
 the purpose of stereotype plates, and the advantage of 
 being able to print fresh copies, as required, without 
 resetting, caused block-books to be produced as late as 
 about 1530, the approximate date of the last example 
 here shown. The block-books for which the earliest 
 dates have been claimed appear to have been produced 
 in the Netherlands and the district of the lower Rhine. 
 The dates now generally assigned to them are some 
 twenty years later than those formerly proposed, starting 
 from about 1450 or 1460, i.e. about the same time as the 
 earliest printing with movable types. The early block- 
 books were printed only on one side of the leaf, the 
 impression being taken by rubbing, with a dabber or 
 burnisher, the back of a sheet of paper laid on the thinly- 
 inked wood-block. The later ones were printed in a 
 press on both sides of the paper. 
 
 i. The Netherlands, printer unknown, date 
 about 1460. Ars Moriendi. 
 
 Block-book consisting of two preliminary pages of 
 text, followed by eleven pictures, each faced by a page 
 
 9
 
 io SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 of text, showing the temptations to Unbelief, Despair, 
 Impatience (shown in the illustration), Vain-glory, and 
 Avarice, which beset the dying, the angelic inspirations 
 by which they may be resisted, and lastly, the final agony. 
 The pictures agree closely with a series of small engrav- 
 ings on copper by the 'Master E. S.', whose latest work, 
 judging from its artistic development, is dated 1467. 
 The balance of probability is in favour of the woodcuts 
 having been copied from the engravings rather than the 
 engravings from the woodcuts, though the latter have 
 perhaps the greater artistic merit. This is generally 
 recognised as the first edition of this block-book, which 
 was frequently copied throughout the fifteenth century. 
 (Bought at the Weigel Sale in 1871.) 
 
 2. The Netherlands, printer and date un- 
 
 known. Biblia Pauperum. 
 
 Block-book of scenes from the life of Christ, each 
 illustrated by two prefigurements from the Old Testa- 
 ment, with rhyming verses and texts. A series of 
 pictures from the Old and New Testaments on the same 
 plan was executed at Klosterneuburg in Austria as early 
 as 1181, and at the beginning of the fourteenth century 
 we find manuscript versions of this ' Bible of the Poor.' 
 In its block-printed form in the fifteenth century it went 
 through several issues and editions, of which this and 
 the uncoloured copy shown next to it are among the 
 earliest. The two issues have twenty-six leaves in com- 
 mon, differing only in fourteen. This copy corresponds 
 with that described by Schreiber (Manuel de Famateur 
 de la gravure) in connexion with his Plate 74, but has 
 twenty-six leaves agreeing with the issue illustrated in his 
 Plate 40, instead of only twenty-four. 
 
 3. The Netherlands, printer and date un- 
 
 known. Biblia Pauperum. 
 
 Another issue of the block-book of scenes from the 
 life of Christ with their Old Testament prefigurements. 
 This copy corresponds throughout with that illustrated 
 by Schreiber in his Plate 40. An earlier issue exists in 
 which the leaves do not bear the number-letter between
 
 BLOCK-BOOKS u 
 
 the two scrolls beneath the upper compartment. (King's 
 Library.) 
 
 A small section of text from this block-book is given 
 as an example of the letter-cutting of the early period. 
 It reads, with the contractions expanded : ' Legitur in 
 3 libro regum x capitulo quod regina Saba audita fama 
 Salomonis venit in Iherusalem cum magnis muneribus 
 eum adorando, quae regina gentilis erat. Quod bene 
 figurabat gentes quae dominum de longinquo muneribus 
 veniebant adorare.' 
 
 flloiuuuflj iJfttuu 
 
 I. 3. SECTION OF WOODCUT TEXT FROM 
 THE BIBLIA PAUPERUM 
 
 4. Germany, printer unknown, about 1465. 
 
 Apocalypse in Latin. 
 
 Pictures illustrating the Apocalypse, with explanatory 
 texts. Three editions of this block-book were issued in 
 the Netherlands, and three in Germany. This is the 
 first German edition. (King's Library.) 
 
 5. Netherlands, printer and date unknown. 
 
 ' Historia beatae virginis ex Cantico 
 Canticorum.' 
 
 An interpretation, by pictures and texts, of the Song 
 of Songs with reference to the Blessed Virgin. This 
 issue is unique in having above the first picture a title 
 in Dutch : ' Dit is die voersienicheit van marien der 
 moder godes Ende is geheten in latijn cantic.'
 
 12 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 6. Germany, signed F. W., 1470. ' Defen- 
 
 sorium inuiolatae castitatis beatae vir- 
 ginis.' 
 
 Pictures of marvels tending to promote a belief in the 
 miraculous birth of Christ, with explanatory text. The 
 initials have been doubtfully interpreted as those of 
 Friedrich Walther of Nordlingen. 
 
 7. Nuremberg, Johann Miiller, not later than 
 
 1474. German Almanack by the astro- 
 nomer-printer, Johann Miiller of Konigs- 
 berg (Joannes Regiomontanus). 
 
 Printed on both sides of the leaf in a press. This 
 issue ends with the author's name, given as ' Magister 
 Johann van Kunsperck.' 
 
 8. Germany, printer unknown, about 1475. 
 
 Planetenbuch. 
 
 Block-book representing Saturn, Jupiter, the Sun, 
 Venus, and the Moon, and their influences on human 
 life according to the old astrology, with German metrical 
 descriptions. 
 
 9. Rome, printer unknown, about 1475. 
 
 Mirabilia Romae. 
 
 A guide-book to Rome for the use of German pilgrims, 
 remarkable among block-books as having only five 
 pictures or borders in its 184 pages of wood-cut text. 
 It bears the arms of Pope Sixtus iv., and must therefore 
 have been printed during his Pontificate (1471-1484), 
 probably in connection with the Jubilee of 1475. A 
 piece of this edition was subsequently incorporated in 
 a type-printed edition issued by Stephen Plannck. It 
 may, therefore, have been printed by Ulrich Han, a 
 German printer at Rome, to whose business Plannck 
 succeeded. Printed on both sides of the leaf in a press. 
 
 10. Venice, Giovanni Andrea Vavassore, 
 about 1530. ' Opera noua contemplatiua
 
 BLOCK-BOOKS 
 
 1. g. PAGE FROM THE 'MIRABILIA ROMAE'
 
 I 4 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 . . . laqual tratta de le figure del testa- 
 mento vecchio : le quale figure sonno 
 verificate nel testamento nuouo, con le 
 sue exposition!. ' 
 
 The last known block-book. An adaption of the 
 ' Biblia Pauperum.' Printed on both sides of the leaf in 
 a press. 
 
 Case ii. GERMANY 
 
 EARLIEST EXAMPLES OF PRINTING WITH 
 MOVABLE TYPES. ABOUT 1455. 
 
 IT has been proved from contemporary documents that 
 experiments with some kind of printing (not necessarily 
 book-printing) with separate letters were being made 
 at Avignon in 1444, and there are references to the 
 results of other experiments at about the same date in 
 Holland, which have been connected by a very confused 
 tradition with the name of Lourens Janszoon Coster of 
 Haarlem. But the first printed documents which can be 
 assigned a place or date are the earliest issues of the two 
 Indulgences shown in the central compartment of this 
 case (Nos. i, 2). These were printed at Mainz in the 
 autumn of 1454, and before August 1456 the splendid 
 Latin Bible with forty-two lines to a column (3) was also 
 in existence, the other large Bible shown (4), that with 
 thirty-six lines to a column, being completed subsequently, 
 but not later than 1461. One Indulgence is connected 
 with one of the Bibles by the identity of its large type ; 
 the other Indulgence with the other Bible. It is thus 
 generally supposed that there were in 1454 two printing- 
 offices at Mainz, each of which issued a Bible and an 
 Indulgence. One of these printing-offices must reason- 
 ably be assigned to Johann Gutenberg, to whom nearly 
 contemporary evidence ascribes the invention of the art 
 of printing with movable types. But in 1455 a gold-
 
 GERMANY 15 
 
 smith, Johann Fust, brought and won an action against 
 Gutenberg for the balance of two loans advanced in 1450 
 and 1452, and in 1457 Fust is found printing in con- 
 junction with his son-in-law, Peter Schoffer. Much 
 controversy has arisen as to whether Fust and Schoffer 
 had from the first an independent printing-office, or 
 whether they succeeded to Gutenberg's, as a result of 
 the lawsuit of 1455, and (in the latter case) as to who 
 was the owner of the second printing-office. No sufficient 
 materials for settling these problems have as yet been 
 discovered. It seems probable that Gutenberg (against 
 whom a similar action had been brought at Strassburg 
 as early as 1439) was ruined at the very moment of 
 success. His name is not found as the printer of any 
 extant book, and there are rival claimants to every piece 
 of printing which has been attributed to him. But 
 whether or no he brought any single book to the point 
 of publication, he has no serious rival for the honour of 
 having brought printing into existence as a practical art. 
 In the manuscript books which preceded those in 
 printed letters, it was usual for the large initials at the 
 beginnings of chapters, and often for chapter-headings, 
 or any part of the book which required decorative treat- 
 ment to be added by a ' rubricator ' after the writing of 
 the text. The use of a separate page for the title of a 
 book was practically unknown. The earliest printed 
 books, being closely modelled on manuscripts in every 
 respect, imitated them in these points. 
 
 i. Mainz, printer uncertain, 1455. Indul- 
 gence granted by Pope Nicholas v. 
 through Paulinus Chappe, proctor- 
 general of the King of Cyprus, con- 
 ferring privileges on all Christians 
 contributing to the cost of the war 
 against the Turks. Printed in 31 lines. 
 
 An earlier edition of this 3i-line Indulgence was pub- 
 lished, and twice reprinted, in 1454. The first manuscript 
 date on any known copy of it is i5th November of that 
 year. It represents the earliest dated printed document.
 
 16 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 2. Mainz, printer uncertain, 1455. Indul- 
 
 gence granted by Pope Nicholas v. 
 through Paulinus Chappe, proctor- 
 general of the King of Cyprus, con- 
 ferring privileges on all Christians 
 contributing to the cost of the war 
 against the Turks. Printed in 30 lines. 
 
 An earlier edition of this 30-line Indulgence was pub- 
 lished in 1454. The first manuscript date on any known 
 copy of it is 27 February 1455. 
 
 3. Mainz, generally attributed to the press 
 
 of Gutenberg, about 1455. Latin Bible, 
 with 42 lines to a column. 
 
 This Bible is printed throughout in the larger of the 
 two types used in the 30-line Indulgence shown next 
 to it. It gives no information as to the place or date 
 at which it was printed, or the printer who produced it. 
 It must have been finished some time before August 
 1456, as a copy in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris 
 contains a note of the completion of the rubrication 
 (i.e. the filling in of the headlines and initials by hand, 
 as explained above) at that date. It used at one time 
 to be generally referred to as the Mazarine Bible from 
 the accident of the copy in the Mazarine Library at 
 Paris being the first to attract attention. It is now 
 known either as the 'Gutenberg' or the '42-line' Bible. 
 Although this Bible is generally attributed to the press 
 of Gutenberg, it is contended by some writers that it was 
 finished and published by the goldsmith, Fust, and his 
 son-in-law, Schoffer; by others, that Fust and Schoffer 
 were responsible for it throughout. This is one of the 
 copies which at the beginning, and again at fol. 1 29 sy., 
 have some columns printed with only 40 or 41 lines. 
 (King's Library). 
 
 4. Place and printer uncertain, not after 1461. 
 
 Latin Bible, with 36 lines to a column. 
 
 This Bible is printed throughout in the larger of the 
 two types used in the 3i-line Indulgence shown next to
 
 GERMANY 17 
 
 it. It gives no information as to the place or date at 
 which it was printed, or the printer who produced it. 
 The type is also found in the Manung widder die Durcke 
 (a 'prognostication' for the year 1455), and in about 
 
 Bptnn tirbua tt frpttm nortjbtie : ft 
 nr mo loipttfatur ti imtolliJHttbant 
 
 :* totutua rft. 
 pttcat Dies in qua nat? fum : ft no* 
 in qua inttu tft to tcptf r ft ijorao . $>i 
 E0 ilia umetut in tcntbras. jfio requt^ 
 tat Eum owe o jfupr c ct turn illufttet 
 Iumim.0nfium m taifba u umbra 
 mottia. ttauptt tu mligo inuolua^ 
 tut amarfflfttm. 
 
 brofue turbo polfiixat. jHon rorapu^ 
 tout in Dixints anni ntc ntmmour f 
 mmTibu0.&it no? tUa folitariantf c 
 
 II. 3. MAINZ, NOT LATER THAN 1456 
 PART OF A COLUMN OF THE 42-LINE BIBLE 
 
 twelve other books, some of which were printed by 
 Albrecht Pfister at Bamberg in 1461, 1462. A copy 
 of the Bible in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, has 
 the date 1461 written in it. It has been variously con- 
 tended (a) that this Bible was printed by Gutenberg at 
 B
 
 i8 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 Mainz before 1455, and the type subsequently sold to 
 Pfister; (&) that Pfister printed it at Mainz in partner- 
 ship with Gutenberg, or by the aid of his instruction ; 
 (t) that Pfister printed it at Bamberg. It appears to be 
 
 * ttfofbat rra tolotf iffr 
 urfjt mnttetn & m 
 apftuitiobosftt 
 
 tutus MDfteat trite in qua na - 
 t us Dim : i noje in qua imh? rft 
 ronreptiio tli ijo mo fcif ilia 
 utctttuc in mifbras* Jto rrqnt - 
 rat mm mis irfup ft non illiif * 
 tcec luminr ^lObfiumit ru m* 
 b2f ft ombra m o 2tia iDrcu ptt 
 mm taligo ft inuoluaf amari* 
 
 II. 4. MAINZ, NOT AFTER 1461 
 PART OF A COLUMN OF THE 36-LINE BIBLE 
 
 established that, with the exception of the first few pages, 
 this Bible was set up from the text of the 42-line Bible, 
 errors in which it repeats. (King's Library).
 
 GERMANY 19 
 
 Cases in.-v. THE SPREAD OF 
 PRINTING IN GERMANY, 
 
 HS7-I532 
 
 IN 1457 appeared the earliest book bearing the name of 
 its printer and date of publication. This was the first of the 
 two liturgical Psalters shown in Case III., its last paragraph 
 or colophon stating that it was produced by Johann Fust, 
 a citizen of Mainz, and Peter Schoffer of Gernsheim, on 
 the Vigil of the Assumption (14 August) 1457. Peter 
 Schoffer had been an illuminator, and to his influence 
 may be ascribed the initials printed in blue and red, 
 by which an attempt was made to rival the beauty of 
 illuminated manuscripts. A second Psalter was printed 
 in 1459, and after some other books a fine Bible, in 1462. 
 But in that year Mainz was captured and sacked, and the 
 progress of printing there was temporarily checked. 
 Meanwhile, not only had Albrecht Pfister been printing 
 some popular books in the type of the 36-line Bible at Bam- 
 berg, but without any obvious connexion with the Mainz 
 printers another great Latin Bible had been produced 
 in or before 1460 by Johann Mentelin at Strassburg, a city 
 where Gutenberg appears to have made experiments as 
 early as 1439. In 1466 Ulrich Zel, a clerk (or scribe) of 
 Mainz, issued his first dated book at Cologne, and among 
 other printers soon afterwards found at work there was 
 Arnold ther Hoernen, who is distinguished for his early 
 use of a separate page for a title, of leaf-numeration and 
 head-lines. 
 
 At Augsburg the first dated book was issued by Giinther 
 Zainer in 1468, and to this and the neighbouring city of 
 Ulm the skill already acquired in the production of wood- 
 cuts for devotional pictures and playing-cards soon gave 
 great importance in the history of printing. Book- 
 illustration, indeed, quickly became popular throughout 
 Germany, and early examples of it are shown in Case IV., 
 and in the famous Nuremberg Chronicle in Case V. The 
 'Virgil' of 1502, and the German version of Petrarch's 
 De Remediis utriusque Fortunae> published, after many
 
 20 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 delays, in 1532, are examples of the later period, in which 
 much more delicate and ambitious illustrations were, 
 accompanied by a steady deterioration in print and paper, 
 which gradually brought woodcuts into disrepute. On 
 the other hand, the vellum Prayerbook and the romance 
 of Theuerdanck, produced for the Emperor Maximilian 
 show the excellent work which could be produced in the 
 sixteenth century by German printers, when working 
 under favourable circumstances. 
 
 Case in. GERMANY, 1457-1471 
 
 1. Mainz, Fust and Schoffer, 1457. Latin 
 
 Psalter, arranged in the order in which 
 the Psalms were sung in Church, with 
 music notes added by hand. 
 
 There has been much controversy as to the manner 
 in which the large initial letters in this Psalter were 
 printed, but they are now generally regarded as having 
 been stamped in, after the rest of the page had been 
 printed, a separate stamp being used for each colour. On 
 vellum. (Grenville Library). 
 
 2. Mainz, Fust and Schoffer, 1459. Latin 
 
 Psalter, arranged in the order in which 
 the Psalms were sung by the Benedic- 
 tines, with music notes added by hand. 
 
 A copy of this Psalter, belonging to Sir John Thorold, 
 was sold in 1884 for ^4950, the highest price ever paid at 
 auction for a printed book. On vellum. (King's Library.) 
 
 3. Mainz, Fust and Schoffer, 1462. Latin 
 
 Bible. 
 
 This is the first dated edition of the Bible, and the 
 first instance of a book formally divided into two volumes, 
 the colophon to vol. i. being dated ' anno M.CCCC.LXII.' that 
 to vol. ii. (here shown), on the Vigil of the Assumption
 
 GERMANY 21 
 
 (August 14). Some of the small initials in this volume 
 were printed, others were added by hand, and after this 
 the use of printed initials was discontinued for some years. 
 On vellum. (King's Library.) 
 
 s hoc opufoititf finitii ac c6piemct ad 
 cufcbiaj tottiduftric in aiutatr Q)aguntj) 
 pafjobannc fiift eiuc*cr ^ctriircboifflxr te 
 gcmflxpm clcneu fciotep ciufdcj eft- confix 
 matu. Anno hicarnacois t>nicc* AV*cccolxj) 
 *]n vj gilia aHumpcois gK>fc virg-ima m an c, 
 
 III. 3. MAINZ, FUST AND SCHOFFER, 1462 
 COLOPHON FROM LATIN BIBLE 
 
 4. Strassburg, Johann Mentelin, about 1460. 
 
 Latin Bible. 
 
 A copy of this Bible in the library of Freiburg gives 
 
 1460 as the date of rubrication of the first volume and 
 
 1461 as that of the second. At the end of the second 
 volume of the present copy are some contemporary verses 
 in honour of Mentelin. According to the Chronicle of 
 Joannes Philippus de Lignamine (Rome, 1474) in 1458 
 Mentelin was printing as many sheets as Gutenberg, i.e. 
 300 a day. (King's Library.) 
 
 5. Cologne, Ulrich Zel, 1466. S. John 
 
 Chrysostom. Expositio super Psalmum 
 miserere. 
 
 The earliest dated book known to have been printed
 
 22 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 at Cologne. Zel was a scribe of the diocese of Mainz. 
 (King's Library.) 
 
 6. Cologne, Arnold ther Hoernen, 1471. 
 Adrianus Carthusiensis. Liber de 
 Remediis utriusque Fortunae.' 
 
 The numeration of the leaves, one of the improvements 
 ther Hoernen introduced, is placed in the middle of the 
 outer margin of each right-hand page. (King's Library). 
 
 Case iv. GERMANY, 1473-1484 
 
 1. Augsburg, Gunther Zainer in the monas- 
 
 tery of SS. Ulric and Afra, not after 
 1473. Speculum Humanae Saluationis. 
 
 The information that this book was printed in the 
 monastery of SS. Ulric and Afra is given in a manuscript 
 note, dated 1473, in a copy in a private library. The 
 Abbot of the Monastery in 1471 had arbitrated in a 
 dispute in which the Augsburg woodcutters objected to 
 Zainer printing illustrated books, and had decided that 
 he might do so if guild woodcutters were employed. 
 Zainer was a native of Reutlingen and had introduced 
 printing into Augsburg, completing his first dated book 
 12 March 1468. 
 
 2. Ulm, Johann Zainer, 1473. Boccaccio. 
 
 De claris mulieribus. 
 
 Johann Zainer, a relative of the Gunther Zainer, who 
 worked at Augsburg, introduced printing into Ulm, com- 
 pleting his first dated book n January 1473. In the 
 excellence of its illustrated books Ulm competed with 
 Augsburg, though it was far less important as a centre of 
 printing. 
 
 3. Nuremberg, Anton Koberger, 1483. 
 
 German Bible.' 
 
 Printing was introduced into Nuremberg by Johann
 
 GERMANY 23 
 
 Sensenschmidt in 1470. Koberger began work there the 
 next year, and quickly proved himself one of the most 
 prolific and important of German printers. In this Bible 
 he imitated the pictures of an edition in Low German 
 
 Balaam ttpteta pftgurauit: return matic pec ftcilam 
 U "menu/ 0aiaam etc jpte baut ^rche&eiitet an 
 "Idling mane outcb oaiftecen. 
 
 ;?^^^^ 
 
 iecquam oztubabuitnolte capttuitatis hheratio 
 _>2nc&ida8fit 2 patec qut tenobis ccfhnauit.6e 
 n cDiduo fit wi films qut te I m attcm aa>ptauit*c< 
 n e&idus fit fpulfandus qui te in vteco fan dri ft cauic 
 dno fit vtcccp patcno quite mua> gencrauit. 
 
 IV. I. AUGSBURG, G. ZAINER, ABOUT 1471 
 PART OF PAGE FROM 'SPECULUM HUMAN AE SALVATIONIS' (REDUCED) 
 
 printed by Heinrich Quentell at Cologne about 1480, 
 uniting them with a handsomer type. The first German 
 Bible had been printed by Mentelin at Strassburg about 
 1466. Sixteen editions (including two in Low German) 
 were published during the fifteenth century, of which this 
 is the eleventh. (King's Library.)
 
 24 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 ^De lopo et efco 
 
 Qpia cibum quetett8*efcuni corwmittit cnili* 
 Dune itii foliba feraat cuite fera* 
 fiatu caut a pared mnmtu pjcmurat amico / 
 V t tateattne fit fn fua 5atnna pagus 
 Die latet*ecce lupus mouet fcoftia^oce rapfna 
 6?p2imit pt patear<t f?ofiia claufa fiiif 
 $ ta p2ocui e5uB ait/capsifao gutturc f alfo 
 Cn bsne cap^ifes/te paocul cffc uolo* 
 (SJuob mea fta parena wentitnr pmago (oquendi / 
 Minima qua vi'ceo tc bocct : eflc lupum 
 ifr<fitatiato2um cc2bi bodrina patctitotn 
 Qzpz parit fru^am/fpieta nocete folet* 
 
 IV. 4. STRASSBURG, KNOBLOCHTZER, ABOUT 1483 
 PART OF PAGE FROM AESOP (REDUCED)
 
 GERMANY 25 
 
 4. Strassburg, Heinrich Knoblochtzer, about 
 
 1483. Vita Aesopi cum fabulis. 
 
 About 1477, Johann Zainer printed at Ulm an illus- 
 trated edition of Aesop's Fables, and editions with 
 woodcuts more or less closely copied from this were 
 speedily printed in other towns of Germany, in the 
 Netherlands, Italy, France, and England. 
 
 Knoblochtzer's is probably the second German imita- 
 tion, that by Anton Sorg of Augsburg being the first. 
 Knoblochtzer began printing at Strassburg in 1477, and 
 was a publisher of popular books, mostly illustrated. 
 
 5. Strassburg, Johann Priiss, 1484. 
 
 ' Johannes von Montevilla Ritter.' 
 
 The second dated book printed by Priiss. After 
 producing several illustrated romances, he became a 
 printer chiefly of theological and scholastic works. This 
 German translation of ' Mandeville ' was made by Otto 
 von Demeringen. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 Case v. GERMANY, 1493-1532 
 
 i. Nuremberg, Anton Koberger, 1493. 
 Hartmann Schedel. ' Liber cronicarum 
 cum figuris et ymaginibus ab inicio 
 mundi.' 
 
 This famous chronicle contains 1809 woodcuts, of 
 which 645 are separate designs, and 1164 applications 
 of these to different scenes and persons. Thus 44 
 different cuts serve for 224 Kings, and 28 cuts for 198 
 Popes. Many of the pictures of cities, on the other hand, 
 have some real topographical value. In that of Cologne 
 the crane used for the unfinished cathedral is a con- 
 spicuous object. The best of the woodcuts are the work 
 of Wilhelm Pleydenwurff and Michael Wohlgemuth, the 
 master of Durer.
 
 26 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 2. Strassburg, Johann Gruninger, 1502. 
 
 Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera. 
 
 The first illustrated edition of Virgil, produced under 
 the supervision of Sebastian Brant, the author of The 
 Ship of Fools, who took a special interest in the woodcuts, 
 so that they are spoken of as his work (expolitissimis 
 figuris atque imaginibus nuper per Sebastianum Brant 
 superadditis). In a preface in Latin verse, he boasts that 
 by the help of these pictures the ignorant will be able to 
 read Virgil as well as the learned (Hie legere historias 
 commentaque plurima doctus, Nee minus indoctus per- 
 legere ilia potest). 
 
 3. Augsburg, Heinrich Steyner, 1532. 
 
 Petrarch. 'Von der Artzney beyder 
 Gliick, des guten und widerwertigen.' 
 
 The illustrations to this book were executed by Hans 
 Burgkmair, under the supervision of Brant, in 1520; but 
 owing to the death first of the original translator Peter 
 Stahel, and then of the publisher, Grimm, its issue, as 
 completed by Georg Spalatinus, was delayed till 1532. 
 
 4. Augsburg, Johann Schonsperger, 1514. 
 
 Horae intemeratae virginis Mariae 
 secundum usum Romanae curiae. 
 
 This Prayerbook, of which it is believed only ten copies 
 were printed, was intended for the private use of the 
 Emperor Maximilian, by whom it was probably arranged. 
 The elder Schonsperger to whom its execution was 
 entrusted, had begun work at Augsburg in 1481, and was 
 now a veteran among German printers. A copy of the 
 Prayerbook in the Royal Library, Munich, has marginal 
 designs by Diirer. On vellum. 
 
 5. Nuremberg, Johann Schonsperger, 1517. 
 
 Melchior Pfmtzing. Theuerdanck. 
 
 An allegorical poem written by Pfintzing, perhaps with 
 the help of Maximilian himself, on the occasion of the 
 Emperor's marriage with Mary of Burgundy. A special
 
 ITALY 27 
 
 fount of type, distinguished by its flourishes, was cut by 
 Jost Dienecker of Antwerp, and the printing entrusted 
 to Schonsperger of Augsburg. The one hundred and 
 eighteen woodcuts were designed by Hans Schaufelein. 
 On vellum. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 Cases vi. and vn. ITALY 
 
 GERMAN printers soon carried the new art into other 
 countries, and Italy, then the home of scholarship, was 
 the first to receive it. The earliest printers here were 
 Conrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz, who after 
 printing four books in 1465-67 at the Benedictine monas- 
 tery at Subiaco, where many of the monks were Germans, 
 at the end of 1467 removed to Rome, where a compatriot, 
 Ulrich Han, was also just beginning to work. In August 
 1470 a Sicilian physician, Joannes Philippus de Ligna- 
 mine, who had set up a third printing-office at Rome, 
 completed his first book. The specimens of the work 
 of these printers, exhibited in Case VI., show that they 
 adopted the restored book-hand, imitated from the fine 
 manuscripts of the time of Charlemagne, which had come 
 into use in Italy at the end of the previous century. But 
 it was at Venice, where John of Speier began to work 
 in 1469, and a French printer, Nicolas Jenson in 1470, 
 that this Roman type attained its greatest beauty, and 
 that of Jenson has never been surpassed. Within the 
 next five years printing was introduced into most of the 
 chief cities of Italy, and before the end of the century 
 presses had been set up in more than seventy different 
 towns, though the output of the Venice printers fell but 
 little short of the total of all the other Italian towns. 
 For the first few years the presses were mainly occupied 
 in producing editions of the Latin classics, appealing to 
 wealthy scholars who despised any form of printed 
 decoration in their books. But woodcuts are found 
 almost from the first in the more popular books in the 
 vernacular, and from a little before 1490 illustrations 
 become very common. Specimens of these, exemplifying 
 the different schools of illustration which grew up in
 
 28 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 different towns, are exhibited in Case VIL, together with 
 a book printed in the italic type introduced by the 
 scholar-printer Aldo Manuzio in 1501, and one of the 
 earliest imitations of it. 
 
 Case vi. ITALY, 1465-1472 
 
 1. Subiaco, Sweynheym and Pannartz, 1465. 
 
 Lactantius. Opera. 
 
 Cardinal Turrecremata, the Abbot of the Monastery of 
 Saint Scholastica at Subiaco, was an author and patron 
 of learning, and many of the inmates of the monastery 
 were Germans; it was natural, therefore, that the first 
 German printers should stop there on their way to Rome. 
 Of the four books printed at Subiaco (one of which has 
 perished) the ' Lactantius ' is the first bearing a precise 
 date : it is also the first book in which a real Greek type 
 was used, though some Greek characters mixed with 
 Roman appear in the ' Paradoxa ' of Cicero printed at 
 Mainz in the same year. For many years after this most 
 printers left blank spaces for the Greek quotations in 
 Latin books to be filled in by hand. 
 
 2. Rome, Sweynheym and Pannartz, 1469. 
 
 Apuleius. Opera. 
 
 On removing to Rome Sweynheym and Pannartz 
 adopted a new fount, remarkable for its use of the long 
 s at the end of words. They now printed so many 
 books, almost exclusively Latin classics and the works of 
 the Fathers, that in 1472 they appealed to Pope Sixtus iv. 
 for pecuniary help, mentioning in their letter twenty- 
 eight works which they had issued at Subiaco or at 
 Rome, sometimes in more than one edition, the total 
 number of printed volumes amounting to 11,475. 
 
 3. Rome, Joannes Philippus de Lignamine, 
 
 1470. Suetonius. Vitae Caesarum. 
 
 De Lignamine, who was born in Messina, was a 
 physician and an officer of the papal household, and the 
 first native printer in Italy. His types, both Roman 
 and Greek, are peculiarly bold and striking.
 
 ITALY 
 
 29 
 
 JfSS* 
 
 t 
 
 * 
 
 %> 
 
 uxT 
 w> 
 
 vA ^ t* * 
 
 2 J i b ^ ^ 
 
 t W X P i* KO 
 
 S J ^ b ^ -2 
 
 O \ O 
 
 e b 
 
 j tft ul 
 " S % rf 
 
 S 2 3 
 
 3 u IS 
 
 B c es
 
 30 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 io in aloma cofTa haueffe p ignoratia 
 o per maduertentia manchato traffor/ 
 mato : ouer incompofitamentejpferto 
 ueramente rechicdo perdono fempre 
 fopponendoui ad ogmfpirituale & 
 temporale corredtione de qualunque 
 diuotiffima perfona di fcafchaduno 
 perito maeftro 6d fapienciffio dodlore 
 delauoflrafadliffimamadre ecclefia 
 cacholicadiroma* 
 
 ANNO A CHRISTI INCARNA / 
 TIONE.MCCCCLXLPER MAGI/ 
 STRVM NICOLAVM IENSON 
 HOC OPVS QVOD PVELLA/ 
 RVM DECOR DICITVRFELICI' 
 TER IMPRESS VM EST. 
 
 LAVS DEO, 
 
 VI. 6. VENICE, JENSON, 1471 
 COLOPHON OF 'DECOR PUELLARUM,' MISDATED 1461 
 
 4. Venice, Joannes de Spira, 1469. Cicero. 
 Epistolae ad Familiares. 
 
 The first book printed at Venice. John of Speier 
 obtained a monopoly of printing there for five years, but 
 died early in 1470, being succeeded by his brother 
 Wendelin, to whom the privilege did not apply. Only
 
 ITALY 31 
 
 one hundred copies were printed of this edition. Of these 
 the British Museum possesses four. The copy shown is 
 on vellum. (King's Library.) 
 
 5. Venice, Nicolas Jenson, 1470. Cicero. 
 
 Epistolae ad Atticum, Brutum, et Quin- 
 tum fratrem. 
 
 Jenson was a native of Sommevoire, near Bar-sur-Aube, 
 and was for some time master of the mint at Tours. He 
 is said to have been sent to Mainz in 1458 by Charles vn. 
 to learn the art of printing; but this mission, if it ever 
 took place, appears to have had no results in France. 
 Jenson's Roman type is considered the finest of all the 
 Italian founts ; it should be compared with the writing in 
 the Italian manuscript 109 of the Exhibition of Latin and 
 other MSS. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 6. Venice, Nicolas Jenson, 1471. Decor 
 
 Puellarum. 
 
 Much disputation has arisen over this book, owing to 
 the date in the colophon being given as MCCCCLXI., leading 
 to the assertion that Jenson introduced printing into Italy. 
 It is now recognised as one of a number of cases in which 
 dates have been put ten years too early through the 
 accidental omission of an x. (King's Library.) 
 
 7. Verona, Joannes de Verona, 1472. 
 
 Robertus Valturius. De re militari. 
 
 Previously to the appearance of this work a single book 
 had been printed at Verona in 1470. John of Verona 
 may be the same as the Giovanni Alvise who printed an 
 illustrated Aesop in that city in 1479. The 'De Re 
 Militari ' had been written some years before its publica- 
 tion, being dedicated to Sigismondo Malatesta who 
 died in 1464. The woodcuts in the printed edition were 
 probably copied from drawings in the original manu- 
 script, and the designs have been attributed to the 
 medallist Matteo de' Fasti, who lived at the court of 
 Malatesta.
 
 32 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 Case vii. ITALY, 1477-1503 
 
 1. Florence, Nicolaus Laurentii, of the 
 
 diocese of Breslau, 1477. Antonio 
 Bettini. Monte Santo di Dio. 
 
 In 1471, the goldsmith Bernardo Cennini, printed a 
 single book at Florence, and in the following year two 
 others were printed there by Johann Petri of Mainz, but 
 it was not till 1477 that printing took root in the city. 
 This book, by Bettini, printed there in that year, is remark- 
 able as containing the earliest engraved book-illustra- 
 tions. When a second edition was issued, in 1491, 
 woodcuts were substituted for the engravings. (Grenville 
 Library.) 
 
 2. Naples, printed by certain ' Germani fide- 
 
 lissimi,' for Francesco de Tuppo, a jurist, 
 1485. Aesop's Fables, in Latin and 
 Italian. 
 
 The ' most faithful Germans ' may have been Matthias 
 of Olmiitz, called Moravus, and his workmen, or perhaps 
 Johann Tresser and Martin of Amsterdam, the term 
 ' German ' being very loosely used in the fifteenth century. 
 The illustrations in this ' Aesop,' more especially in the 
 'Life,' show the modification of the Ulm designs by 
 Italian influence. The decorative borders appear to be 
 original. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 3. Venice, Giovanni Ragazzo for Lucantonio 
 
 Giunta, 1490. Biblia vulgare istoriata. 
 
 The first illustrated edition of the Italian version of the 
 Bible by Niccolo Malermi. It contains upwards of four 
 hundred little woodcuts, some of them adapted from the 
 pictures in the Cologne Low German Bible of about 1480, 
 but the majority original. The letter b. with which some 
 of the woodcuts are signed, is now generally regarded as 
 the mark of the workshop where the wood blocks were 
 cut, not as the initial of a designer.
 
 ITALY 
 
 33 
 
 Incomencia el libro nominate baruch. Gu I 
 
 Tqfte fono le parole del libro 
 lequale fcrifle Baruch filiolo de 
 neria figliolo de maafaiafiglKv 
 lo de fcdechia figliolo de iedei 
 figliolo de elchia eflendo in ba 
 bylonianelquintoanonel fe^ 
 ptimo di del mefenel tepo che 
 li caldei pigiiorono iheiulale & abruforon Ja col fo 
 coJkhe Baruch legette le parole de qflo libro a le 
 orechic de lechoniasfiliolo de loachim re de iuda : 
 & a le orechie del uniuerfo populo che uenia al li / 
 bro&aleorechiedepotctifigliolidi rej&ale ore*- 
 chie di preri:& ale orechie del populo dal minimo 
 jfino al magiore:de tuti habitati i babylonia:^ egli 
 fedette al fiume liql udedo piageuano: & ieiunaua-* 
 no &orauano nel cofpeflo del fignore,Et lor tcco 
 
 VII. 3. VENICE, G. RAGAZZO FOR L. A. GIUNTA, 1490 
 PART OF COLUMN FROM MALERMI BIBLE 
 
 4. Venice, Aldus Manutius for Lionardo 
 Crasso, 1499. Hypnerotomachia Poli- 
 phili. 
 
 This is the most famous of Venetian illustrated books, 
 a romance, the authorship of which is revealed by a 
 C
 
 cumreligiofbtripudio plaudendo &mbilando,QiiaIeerano le Nym- 
 phc Atnadryade.& agli redolcnti fieri leHymcnide , riuircntc , faliendo 
 iociuidedmanti&da qualiicjj lato delflorco Vertunno ftrifto ncllafrou 
 tedcpurpurantc8cmeimerofe,cumclgrcmiopienodcodoriferi &c fpc' 
 tfatiffimi fiori.amanti la ftagione del knofo Arietc, Scdcndo ouantc fo- 
 pra una ueterrima Vcha,da quatro cornigeri Fan ni tirata,! n uin culati de 
 (trophic dcnoucllcfrondc, Cum la fuaamata Sc bcllifTima tnoglie Po- 
 tnonacoronatadefructi cum ornatodcfluodcgli biodiflhnicapigli.pa 
 rea ello fedetc,& a gli pedi dcllaqualc una coft ilia Clepfydria iaceua.ncl 
 IcmaiicraiciitcunaftipatacopiadcfionSi maturad fradicuni Imixta 
 fogliatura-Prarccdctcla Vchaaglitrahenti Fauni propincj; duefbrmofe 
 Nympheanfignane.Vnacuunohaftile T rophaeogerula,deLigoni.Bi 
 dcnri,farculi.& falcionetti , cu una ppcndete tabella abaca cu tale timkr* 
 
 INTEGEKRIM AM COKPOR. VALIT VDJNEM.ET 
 STABILEROBVR. CASTASQYE MEMS AR, DELI 
 TIAS, ET BEATAM ANIMI SECVRITA 
 TEMCVLTORIB,M,OFFERO, 
 
 VII. 4. VENICE, ALDUS 1499 
 PAGE FROM THE ' HYPNEROTOMACHIA 1 (REDUCED)
 
 ITALY 35 
 
 sentence formed by the initial letters of successive 
 chapters, ' Poliam frater Franciscus Columna peramavit,' 
 Francesco Colonna being a Dominican friar and Polia a 
 certain Lucretia Lelio of Treviso, where Colonna had 
 taught. Some of the woodcuts are signed b., the reference 
 here also being doubtless to the workshop in which they 
 were cut. 
 
 5. Venice, Aldus Manutius, 1501. Virgilius. 
 
 The first book printed in italic type, the characters being 
 cut, in imitation, it is said, of the handwriting of Petrarch, 
 by a certain Francesco da Bologna, who has been identi- 
 fied with the painter Francesco Raibolini, better known 
 as Francia. The new type quickly became popular 
 because of its compactness. The scholar-publisher 
 Aldus Manutius, who introduced it, was born in 1450, 
 and began to print at Venice in 1494, at first applying 
 himself chiefly to printing Greek. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 6. Fano, Hieronymo Soncino, 1503. 
 
 Petrarch. Opere Volgari. 
 
 One of the imitations of the italics of Aldus, and note- 
 worthy for the unjust suggestion in the preface that he 
 had taken to himself the credit of having designed the 
 type. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 7. Ferrara, Lorenzo Rossi, 1497. Jacobus 
 
 Philippus Bergomensis. De Claris 
 mulieribus. 
 
 Printing had been begun at Ferrara as early as 1471, 
 but throughout the fifteenth century the city seems to 
 have been unable to support more than one press at 
 a time. Some of the later illustrations in the De clans 
 mulieribuS) notably one of the Damisella Trivulzia, are 
 said to be authentic portraits. In the same year Rossi 
 printed a handsome edition of S. Jerome's Letters, with 
 little woodcuts in the Venetian style. 
 
 8. Florence, Francesco Buonaccorsi, 1490. 
 
 Giacopone da Todi. Laude. 
 
 Books with woodcut illustrations suddenly became
 
 36 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 P.O.1MNPRTMVMGEORGICORVM, 
 ARGVMENTVKfc 
 
 A 
 
 S emnd cpio iddendd modo,cnltui<]; loanim 
 E doaiit,mejfs nutgno olm fenore reddi. 
 
 P.Y-M'GEORC 1C ORVMXIBER 
 AD MOECEN ATXM* 
 
 greuifes, 
 C onueni<tt,qu<e Mr A b 
 
 S it pecorl,at<[; dpibus (jtotntx exferientid pdfcif, 
 Hincatmnvtid^idm. Vosocldrifliinamtindi 
 
 L umina,Uyentem carlo qua ducitis annum 
 ' telltts 
 
 P toilfti iwentis Xcbdoid mfaiit wis t 
 
 M unerd ueftrd atnojnfy 6 CHI prinut fremntent 
 r it Jit cqttvm magno tellusperotfjii tridentt 
 K eptttne,et mltornernorim,ciii pinguid C<e& 
 T ercentwn nluei tondent dumeto iwtenci, 
 I pfenewsli<lttenspdtnm,filtuf'qilici 
 
 c 
 
 VII. 5. VENICE, ALDUS, 150! 
 PAGE FROM THE VIRGIL PRINTED IN ITALICS
 
 ITALY 
 
 37 
 
 popular in Florence in 1490, and for the next few years 
 were produced in great numbers. The illustration in 
 this book of Giacopone in ecstasy before a vision of the 
 
 VII. 9. FLORENCE, LIBRI, ABOUT 1495 
 
 WOODCUT FROM TITLE-PAGE OF 'LA FESTA DI 
 
 SAN GIOVANNI 
 
 Blessed Virgin (in whose honour he wrote the Stabat 
 Mater) is a fine example of the larger outline woodcuts. 
 
 9. Florence, Bartolommeo di Libri, about 
 1495. Feo Belcari. La festa di San
 
 38 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 Giovanni quando fu uisitato da Christo 
 nel diserto. 
 
 Libri, though he seldom put his name to a book, was 
 one of the most prolific of Florentine printers. This 
 book from his press is one of the numerous editions of 
 Rappresentazioni, or Florentine miracle-plays, most of 
 which at this period bear on their title-page a woodcut 
 of the Angel who always spoke the prologue, and beneath 
 this a picture illustrating the play. 
 
 Case viii. FRANCE 
 
 PRINTING was introduced in 1470 into France by two 
 professors of the Sorbonne, Guillaume Fichet and Jean 
 Heynlyn, who invited three Germans, Ulrich Gering of 
 Constance, Martin Kranz, and Michael Friburger of 
 Colmar to set up a press within the precincts of the 
 college. Heynlyn himself acted as corrector to the 
 press, while Fichet with the help of his patrons found 
 the funds and decided the books to be printed. These 
 were mostly of a scholastic nature, including several 
 classical texts, and they were printed, therefore, in 
 ' roman ' characters, in imitation of the revived book- 
 hand which had spread from Italy to France. In 1472 
 Fichet and Heynlyn gave up their connexion with the 
 Sorbonne press, and the printers, after issuing a few 
 books on their own account, removed in 1473 * other 
 quarters, where they soon found competitors. Among 
 these were Peter Wagener, nicknamed ' Caesaris ' or 
 ' Caesar,' and Johann Stoll, who used an exceptionally 
 graceful semi-Gothic type. In 1473 also printing was 
 introduced into Lyons, where the more popular character 
 of the books published was marked by the use of black- 
 letter types akin to the handwriting in vernacular 
 manuscripts. In 1481 Jean du Pre", began work at Paris 
 and proved himself the finest of the early French printers, 
 paying special attention to the illustration of his books, 
 of which a fine example is shown in the edition of 
 S. Augustine's Citt de Dieu, which he helped to print 
 at Abbeville. In 1485 the great popular publisher, 
 Antoine Ve'rard, began his long career at Paris, printing
 
 FRANCE 39 
 
 almost exclusively in French, and producing specially 
 illuminated vellum copies of most of his books, for the 
 kings of France and England and other patrons. Both 
 he and Jean du Pre" made many experiments in illus- 
 trating editions of the Hours of the Blessed Virgin, and 
 these were brought to their perfection in the last years 
 of the century by Philippe Pigouchet. Before 1500 
 presses had been set up in about forty French cities, 
 but in quite half of these only temporarily, or to print 
 some special books. Next to Paris and Lyons the chief 
 printing centre was at Rouen, where many service-books 
 were printed, for use in England as well as in France. 
 
 1. Paris, Gering, Friburger and Krantz at the 
 
 Sorbonne, 1470. Gasparinus Barzizius. 
 Epistolae. 
 
 The first book printed in France. The author, who 
 died in 1431, was an Italian scholar of the Renaissance, 
 and his letters were used as models of Latin prose. 
 
 2. Paris, Petrus Caesaris and Johannes Stoll, 
 
 about 1474. Franciscus Florius. De 
 amore Camilli et Emiliae. 
 
 When the Sorbonne printers started on their own 
 account, they printed at the sign of the Soleil d'Or in the 
 rue S. Jacques. Csesaris and Stoll fixed their press two 
 doors higher up at the sign of Le Chevalier au Cygne, 
 and a little further on, at the sign of Le Soufflet vert, was 
 a third printing office owned by the first native French 
 printers in Paris, Louis Symonel, Richard Blandin, and 
 Jean Simon, who used at first a type almost identical with 
 this of Caesaris and Stoll, gradually introducing into it 
 some new letters. The competition between the three 
 firms was keen and even unscrupulous. 
 
 3. Lyons, Guillaume Le Roy for Barthe'lemy 
 
 Buyer, about 1478. The New Testa- 
 ment in French, translated by Guyard 
 des Moulins. 
 
 Le Roy was a native of Lie"ge ; he introduced printing
 
 40 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 te intelltga amati* nullu ego modu offi// 
 eiif meif yaut amort meo in illu faciaSed 
 tie ab onibus te defertu effe iudices/ ego 
 (quern forte in numeto amicoy no babe/ 
 bas)polliceor tibi opera mc3* d(qd illi 
 non fine fcelere neglexerut)ego paratus 
 f um defenftone tuam fufcipere * Til uero 
 admonebis/qulbus adiumentis opus tibt 
 ftt*d ego ne<^ pecunla'ne^ confilio ttbt 
 deeto Vale ; 
 
 Foelix Epta^z Gafpatlnl finis* 
 
 Vt fol lumen 'f ic doftctnam fundit in orbem 
 
 Mufarum nutrix^regta parifiuf 7 
 Hinc ptope diuinam/tu qiia*germania nouit 
 
 Artem fcribendi/fufcipe promerita* 
 Prlmos ecce Ubrof quos baec induftria flnxit 
 
 Francorum in temf *axhbuf at^ tuif ; 
 Mtcbael VdalricufjMarttnufc| magifta 
 
 Hof imprefferuntac factent aliot* 
 
 VIII. I. PARIS, THE SORBONNE PRESS, 1470 
 COLOPHON OF THE EPISTOLAE GASPARINI
 
 FRANCE 41 
 
 into Lyons in 1473, an( ^ seems at first to have been 
 employed by Buyer, a merchant of Lyons, to print books 
 in his house. 
 
 4. Paris, for Antoine Verard, 1492. L'Art 
 
 de bien vivre et de bien mourir. 
 
 Antoine Verard carried on business as a publisher at 
 Paris from 1485 to 1512. In a career just twice as long 
 as Caxton's, he published about three times as many 
 books, upwards of three hundred in all, of the same 
 popular character, bestowing on their illustration the 
 care which Caxton devoted to editing and translating. 
 Verard may very probably have had a printing-house 
 of his own, but he also employed several printers 
 to work for him. Thus the first section of this book 
 contains the name of Pierre Le Rouge as its printer, the 
 second those of Gillet Cousteau and Jean Menard. 
 
 5. Rouen, Martin Morin, 1492. Missale 
 
 secundum usum Ecclesiae Sarisburi- 
 ensis. 
 
 Printing was introduced into Rouen, not later than 
 1487, by Guillaume Le Talleur, who printed three law- 
 books for Richard Pynson, himself a Norman by birth. 
 Martin Morin began work in 1491, and may have taken 
 over Le Talleur's business, since he is found in 1492 in 
 possession of some of his type. This is the second 
 edition of the Sarum Missal, and the first of many 
 service-books printed at Rouen for English use. 
 
 6. Abbeville, Jean du Prd and Pierre Ge'rard, 
 
 1486. S. Augustine. La Cite* de Dieu. 
 
 Only three books were- printed at Abbeville during the 
 fifteenth century, La Somme ruraU of Boutillier, this fine 
 edition of La Cite de\Dieu and Lc Triomphe des Neuf 
 Preux, the last remarkable for a genuine portrait of 
 Du Guesclin, amid the conventional representations of 
 the other Worthies. In the first and third of these books 
 Gerard's name stands alone, and Du Pre, who continued 
 printing at Paris during 1486-87, probably only helped 
 him with type and wood-blocks.
 
 42 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 VIII. 8. PARIS, P. PIGOUCHET, 1501 
 PAGE FROM A ' HORAE AD USUM SARUM ' (REDUCED)
 
 FRANCE 43 
 
 7. Paris, Jean du Prd, 1489. Heures a 
 
 lusaige de Rome. 
 
 Most of the border pieces in this edition are of the 
 nature of the Biblia Pauperum, and a list of them at the 
 beginning of the book is headed ' Cest le repertoire des 
 histoires et figures de la Bible, tant du vieilz testament 
 que du nouueau, contenues dedens les vignettes de ces 
 presentes heures imprimees en cuyure,' from which we 
 learn that the illustrations were cut in relief on copper, 
 instead of wood. This early edition by Jean du Pre 
 influenced the arrangement of Books of Hours for many 
 years. 
 
 8. Paris, Philippe Pigouchet, 1501. Horae 
 
 ad usum Sarum. 
 
 Pigouchet finished printing his first Book of Hours 
 ist December 1491, and throughout his career devoted 
 himself almost exclusively to the production of these 
 Prayerbooks, most of the editions from his press being 
 published by Simon Vostre. After using his first set of 
 illustrations in several editions, Pigouchet introduced a 
 second in 1496, and gradually made individual changes 
 in this, till it reached its highest excellence in editions of 
 about the date of that here shown. In his later editions 
 the illustrations are very inferior. 
 
 Case ix. 
 THE NETHERLANDS 
 
 IN the Netherlands, about fifty books, mostly for use in 
 schools, are so connected, although in eight different 
 types, as to form a single group, and from their technical 
 defects can hardly be the work of a printer trained in 
 Germany after the art had been fully developed. The 
 sight of books printed in Germany, or even the report of 
 experiments there (those of Gutenberg seem to have 
 begun at Strassburg as early as 1439) may have sufficed 
 to give some unknown workman in the Netherlands the
 
 44 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 necessary suggestions; or there may have been an alto- 
 gether separate invention, according to the legends which 
 have been connected with the name of Lourens Janszoon 
 Coster, who lived at Haarlem from 1436 to 1483. These 
 legends are first mentioned in the Batavia of Junius, 
 written in 1568, and are in part at least quite incredible ; 
 but in the Cologne Chronicle of 1499 there are re- 
 ferences to editions of Donatus printed in the Netherlands 
 before the discovery of the art in its perfected form at 
 Mainz, and in the diary of Jean de Robert, Abbot of 
 Saint Aubert, Cambrai, entries have been found of the 
 purchase in 1446 and again in 1451 of a Doctrinale 
 (see exhibit 3) jeti en moule, a phrase which cannot 
 reasonably be interpreted to refer to block-books. The 
 extant books and fragments for which an early date is 
 claimed offer no clue to the time at which they appeared, 
 save that some of them cannot be earlier than 1458 nor 
 others later than 1474. As to the place of printing there 
 is no evidence save the fact that the wood-cuts used in four 
 editions of the Speculum Humanae Saluationis, which form 
 part of this group, appear in the possession of a wandering 
 printer during the time that he was working at Utrecht. 
 In 1473 books with printed dates were issued by Nicolaus 
 Ketelaer and Gerard Leempt at Utrecht, and by John 
 of Paderborn (better known as John of Westphalia) and 
 Thierry Martens at Alost. After this, printing in the 
 Netherlands proceeded on normal lines, and an interesting 
 school of book-illustration soon developed. During the 
 fifteenth century printing was introduced into twenty-one 
 towns in the Netherlands, the presses of Antwerp and 
 Louvain being the most important, while those of 
 Deventer were very prolific. Among individual printers 
 John of Westphalia, who worked for over twenty years at 
 Louvain, and Gerard Leeu, who worked for seven years 
 at Gouda and for nine at Antwerp, were the most im- 
 portant. At Antwerp Leeu printed several books for the 
 English market (see Case xill. &), and it was in the 
 Netherlands, at Bruges, that William Caxton, our earliest 
 English printer, printed his first books. Specimens of 
 these are shown in Case XL, but in this case is exhibited 
 a book from the press of Colard Mansion, who was for 
 some time his partner.
 
 THE NETHERLANDS 45 
 
 1. Printer, place and date uncertain. 
 
 Speculum Humanae Saluationis. 
 
 This edition of the Speculum is distinguished by having 
 the text of twenty of its pages entirely cut in wood, as in 
 the block-books. Like three other editions with the 
 same woodcuts it is brought by its type among the group 
 of books for which a date is claimed earlier than that of 
 the earliest books printed by Ketelaer and Leempt, the 
 first Dutch printers whose names we know. (Grenville 
 Library.) 
 
 2. Kuilenburg, Jan Veldener, 1483. 'Die 
 
 Spieghel onser Behoudenisse,' a Dutch 
 translation of the ' Speculum Humanae 
 Saluationis.' 
 
 Veldener, who appears to have been trained as a 
 printer at Cologne, printed successively at Louvain (1474), 
 Utrecht (1478), Kuilenburg (1483), and again at Louvain 
 (1484). While at Utrecht in 1481 he issued an edition 
 of the Episteln ende Euangelien in which he used two 
 halves of the old Speculum woodcuts. In this Dutch 
 edition of the Speculum printed at Kuilenburg in 1483 he 
 used all the old blocks of the woodcuts, similarly sawn in 
 two, so that each picture stands by itself. He also had 
 twelve new woodcuts made in the same style. (Old Royal 
 Library.) 
 
 3. Printer, place and date uncertain. 
 
 Alexander Gallus. Doctrinale. 
 
 A fragment of four leaves in the main type of the 
 editions of the Speculum (No. i). Although from such 
 fragments, all of them on vellum, found inside the covers 
 of contemporary bindings, fifteen or more editions of the 
 Doctrinale are known to have been produced in this and 
 similar types, only one complete copy of a single edition 
 has yet been found. The book is a grammar and prosody 
 written in verse. 
 
 4. Printer and place uncertain, date not 
 
 earlier than 1458. Ludovicus Pontanus
 
 balaamjJuuaaiuttaitiuuavieiRtiia 
 
 IX. 2. KUILENBURG, VELDENER, 1483 
 PAGE FROM 'DIE SPIEGHEL ONSER BEHOUDENISSE'
 
 THE NETHERLANDS 47 
 
 de Roma. Singularia in causis 
 criminalibus. 
 
 The second part of this book, which contains the 
 treatise of Enea Silvio Piccolomini De Mulieribus Pravis, 
 gives the author his official title as Pope Pius n., thus 
 proving that it cannot have been printed earlier than 
 1458, the year of his election. The connexion of this 
 book with others in the same group of types enables the 
 same inference to be extended to them. (Old Royal 
 Library.) 
 
 5. Utrecht, Ketelaerand Leempt, about 1473. 
 
 Vegetius. De re militari. 
 
 During the two years they were at work Ketelaer and 
 Leempt printed a remarkable number of first editions of 
 important books. In 1475 their type passed into the 
 possession of William Hees. 
 
 6. Louvain, John of Westphalia, about 1475. 
 
 Vergerius. De ingenuis moribus. 
 
 John of Westphalia received his training as a printer 
 in Italy, and brought Italian founts with him to the Low 
 Countries. This book, with its initial letters printed in 
 red, represents the earliest stage of his press at Louvain, 
 where he worked from 1474 to 1496. In 1473 an ^ the 
 early part of 1474 he had issued at Alost, in conjunction 
 with Thierry Martens, the first books printed in what is 
 now Belgium. 
 
 7. Gouda, Gerard Leeu, 1479. ' Reynaertdie 
 
 Vos.' 
 
 Leeu introduced printing into Gouda in 1477, 
 printed there until 1484, when he removed to Antwerp. 
 The last book from his press, with a colophon in which 
 his death is mentioned, is shown in Case xin^. With 
 the exception of a verse paraphrase printed by Ketelaer 
 and Leempt, this is the first edition of Reynard the Fox 
 in any language. (Grenville Library.)
 
 48 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 8. Gouda, Gerard Leeu, 1480. Dialogus 
 Creaturarum. 
 
 The first illustrated book from Leeu's press, and the 
 
 fee offtctetf 
 
 na 
 put mottttoi* &6 fo : 
 
 acftft 0, cav iC eftaf cc cepe 
 
 cCv^ quc nc gai 
 
 rt 
 
 IX. II. BRUGES, COLARD MANSION, 1476 
 PART OF COLUMN FROM ' BOCCACCIO 
 
 first edition of the Dialogus Creaturarum, a collection of 
 stories about animals, with morals. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 9. Antwerp, Gerard Leeu, 1491. Duytsche 
 Ghetijden. 
 
 Imitated from the French editions of the Hours of the
 
 SPAIN 49 
 
 B. Virgin produced by Jean du Pre at Paris, 1488- 
 90. This is the only known copy of the book in which 
 these borders and cuts first appear. After Leeu's death 
 they were frequently used by Adr. van Liesveld. 
 
 10. Haarlem, Jacob Bellaert, 1484. Otto von 
 
 Passau. Boeck des Gulden Throens of 
 der xxiv. Ouden. 
 
 Jacob Bellaert was the first printer at Haarlem (1483), 
 using type obtained from Leeu at Gouda. The wood- 
 cuts in his first book were also borrowed from Leeu, 
 while most of his other blocks passed later into Leeu's 
 possession. Bellaert disappears in 1486, and in that 
 year Jan Andrieszoen printed a few books at Haarlem, 
 which after this possessed no press during the fifteenth 
 century. 
 
 11. Bruges, Colard Mansion, 1476. Boc- 
 caccio. De la ruyne des nobles hommes 
 et femmes. 
 
 Mansion was a calligrapher, and this type of ' lettres 
 batardes' is said to be based on his own handwriting. 
 For his connexion with Caxton see Case xi. In 1484 
 he had to flee from Bruges to avoid imprisonment for 
 debt, and left his printing materials behind him. 
 
 Case x. SPAIN 
 
 IN Spain the first press was set up at Valencia in 1474 
 by Lambert Palmart, a ' German ' or Fleming, and 
 Alonzo Fernandez of Cordova, and by the end of the 
 fifteenth century printing had been introduced into 
 twenty-four other places, though in many of these only 
 by travelling printers called in to print special books. 
 In addition to Valencia, the more important centres of 
 printing were Saragossa, Seville, Barcelona, Salamanca, 
 Burgos, and Toledo, and even in these the output of the 
 
 D
 
 50 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 press was mostly small, the total number of Spanish 
 fifteenth century books, which can at present be traced, 
 only amounting to between five and six hundred. These 
 were produced by rather less than fifty printers, of whom 
 two out of every three were foreigners, only about one 
 book in six issuing from a native press. Nevertheless, 
 as in other countries, the handwriting to which readers 
 were accustomed was generally taken as a model, and 
 early Spanish books, both in their type and illustrations, 
 have a peculiarly massive and dignified appearance. 
 They retained this, moreover, throughout the first half 
 of the sixteenth century, when in other countries 
 printing was undergoing great changes, mostly for the 
 worse. 
 
 1. Valencia, Lambert Palmart, about 1475. 
 
 Aesop's Fables. 
 
 Printed in the same roman type as the 1474 'Obres 
 e Trobes' of Fenollar, and the 'Sallust,' finished ijth 
 July 1475, the earliest books printed in Spain. Palmart 
 was a Fleming. He printed some of his books in 
 partnership with Alonso Fernandez, a native of Cordova. 
 
 2. Saragossa, printer uncertain, 1478. 
 
 Bernardinus de Parentinis. Liber de 
 expositione missae. 
 
 Printing was introduced into Saragossa in 1475 by a 
 certain Matthaeus of Flanders, whose name is only found 
 in an edition of the ' Manipulus Curatorum ' finished on 
 October i5th of that year. This book also is usually 
 assigned to his press. 
 
 3. Burgos, Friedrich Biel, about 1485. 
 
 Glosa de las coplas de Mingo Revulgo. 
 
 Biel had been in partnership with Michael Wensler 
 at Basel about 1472, and one of the printers' devices he 
 adopted in Spain bears the arms of Basel. He intro- 
 duced printing into Burgos in 1485, and speedily proved 
 himself one of the finest printers in Spain.
 
 SPAIN 51 
 
 4. Burgos, Friedrich Biel, 1487. Doctrinal 
 de los Caballeros. 
 
 Another specimen of the fine printing of Friedrich 
 Biel, showing different types. This is said to be the 
 only perfect copy of the ' Doctrinal.' 
 
 Eftalapejfa fuftilla 
 qwe\>iftetanomot>at>a 
 nwetta flaca ttanfi J3t>3 
 jura Dice que auras 
 confuftietca7 coja^on 
 cometiealb:auolcon 
 pmatatiaellobo\>tejo 
 o*a \mttifteoeYmcnoio 
 telameteenvmjfpnco 
 
 bltca ffecontanoo ottos oafios que paocff e pot oefeto 
 
 ftifticw 
 
 X. 3. BURGOS, F. BIEL, ABOUT 1485 
 PART OF PAGE FROM ' COPLAS DE MINGO REVULGO' 
 
 5. Barcelona, printer uncertain, about 1484. 
 Libre del Consolat, or Statutes of 
 Barcelona, in Catalan. 
 
 Printing was introduced into Barcelona in 1478 by 
 Pierre Brun of Geneva, in partnership with Nicolaus 
 Spindeler. This book, distinguished by its numerous 
 printed initials, was probably from the press of Spindeler 
 when working by himself.
 
 52 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 6. Huete, unknown printer, 1485. Diaz de 
 
 Montalvo. Copilacion de leyes. 
 
 The only book printed at Huete. With remarkable 
 borders and initials cut on soft metal. Each initial 
 illustrates the subject of the laws set forth in the section 
 which it begins. 
 
 7. Seville, Meinardus Ungut and Stanislaus 
 
 Polonus, 1494. Manuale Hispalense, or 
 Ritual of the Diocese of Seville. 
 
 Ungut and Stanislaus appear to have worked at Naples 
 under Matthias Moravus until the break up of his press 
 in 1491. They must then have come straight from Naples 
 to Seville, where they issued their first book in the same 
 year. 
 
 8. Seville, Meinardus Ungut and Stanislaus 
 
 Polonus, 1495. Caspar Gorricio. Con- 
 templaciones sobre el Rosario de Nuestra 
 Senora. 
 
 With numerous illustrations and fine initials. 
 
 9. Seville, Pierre Brun, 1499. Historia del 
 
 imperador Vespasiano. 
 
 Pierre Brun of Geneva had been working in Spain for 
 over twenty years when this book was published ; at 
 Tortosa with Nic. Spindeler (1477), at Barcelona first 
 with Spindeler (1478) and then with Posa (1481) at 
 Seville with Giovanni Gentile (1492), and now again, 
 after an interval, at Seville on his own account, in 1499. 
 
 10. Barcelona, J. Rosembach, 1493. Diego 
 de San Pedro. Carcel de Amor. 
 
 Rosembach began printing at Barcelona in 1492, and 
 worked there with intermissions till 1530. He was em- 
 ployed from time to time to print special service-books 
 at Tarragona (1498), Perpignan (1500), and Montserrat 
 (1518).
 
 ENGLAND 53 
 
 Case xia. ENGLAND 
 
 BOOKS PRINTED BY CAXTON 
 
 PRINTING was introduced into England by William 
 Caxton, a mercer, born in the Weald of Kent about 1420. 
 As he tells us himself in his first book, Caxton in 1469 
 had been living abroad some ' thirty years, for the most 
 part in the countries of Brabant, Flanders, Holland, and 
 Zealand,' and had been for some time Governor of the 
 English Merchants at Bruges. About 1469 he entered 
 the service of Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy (sister of 
 Edward IV.), as her secretary, and by her he was en- 
 couraged to continue a translation of Raoul Le Fevre's 
 Recueil des histoires de Troye, which he had begun and 
 laid aside. The translation was finished in September 
 1471 during a visit to Cologne, and Caxton, who had 
 promised to 'dyverce gentilmen and to my frendes to 
 addresse to hem as hastely as I myght this sayd book/ 
 saw at once that, unless his hand was for ever to be 
 weary and his eyes dimmed ' with overmoche lokyng on 
 the white paper,' it must be printed. To gain some 
 practical insight into the new art, of which Cologne was 
 already an important centre, he seems to have visited 
 one of the printing offices in the city, and to have taken 
 some part in printing an edition of Bartholomew's ' De 
 Proprietatibus Rerum.' But his stay at Cologne was 
 brief, an English book could not be printed there without 
 his supervision, and printing in the Low Countries was 
 as yet (on the most favourable view) in its infancy. 
 Thus it was not until two or three years later, when 
 printers whose names have come down to us were at last 
 at work at Utrecht and Alost, that Caxton resumed his 
 plan, associated himself with Colard Mansion, a skilled 
 calligrapher, and with his aid printed his book The 
 Recuyell of the Histories of Troye. This probably appeared 
 in 1475, and was followed by The Game and Play of the 
 Chesse, which for many years was regarded as the earlier 
 of the two. Had all gone well with his patrons Caxton 
 might have continued to print English books at Bruges,
 
 54 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 o ES5 O 
 
 s rfeis 
 *^c*{3^ v 
 
 o> r ^,cs> v JB ^ ^\a- 
 ** <* r^ caes c v 
 
 s?^f*?l^l% 
 
 til fell?:!* ft 
 
 & 
 
 liiiiPiliiPll! 
 
 * ^ ^ n fej J" ^-8 * I ^ ** 2 JB* 8 
 
 2^ S-Bls^l^' 3 - S^^ S^ 1 
 
 ^ S^^-H^y^ dS> *t ^! C ^ * 
 
 s-Jf 1 5f *"^"J|.I|^ S 
 
 LJ 
 o w 
 
 X 
 
 8"J 
 
 s 
 
 Sd 
 
 I mt_ *C 
 
 02 s o > 
 
 ^5 
 
 &MAf|fl. 
 
 ** w P .<* ^ 
 
 O < 
 
 L2 " ^ 
 
 t* 
 
 *
 
 BOOKS PRINTED BY CAXTON 55 
 
 but the disastrous defeat of Charles the Bold by the Swiss 
 at Morat, in June 1476, probably quickened his desire to 
 return to England. At Michaelmas 1476 he hired a shop 
 in the Sanctuary at Westminster, and there in the autumn 
 of 1477 published The Dictes or Sayengis of the Philo- 
 sophres. From 1477 to his death in 1491, his press was 
 never idle, though his own personal energies must have 
 been mainly occupied with the numerous books which he 
 edited or translated for it to print. Including single 
 sheets and new editions, his known publications at Bruges 
 and in England number just a hundred, and eight differ- 
 ent founts of type were used in printing them. Almost 
 all the books were of a popular character, not intended 
 for scholars, but for well-to-do and fairly educated readers. 
 Poems of Chaucer, Gower and Lydgate, several romances 
 (including Malory's Morte d'Arthur), chronicles, the 
 Golden Legend (the great collection of Lives of the 
 Saints), moral treatises, books of devotion, a few Horae 
 and a Psalter were the chief issues from the first English 
 press, and it is improbable that books of any other kind 
 would at this period have found purchasers in England. 
 
 i. Type i. Bruges, with the help of Colard 
 Mansion, about 1475. The Recuyell of 
 the Histories of Troye, translated by 
 Caxton from the French of Raoul Le 
 Fevre. 
 
 Lefevre was chaplain to Philip, Duke of Burgundy, and 
 finished his Recueil des histoircs de Troye in 1464. 
 Caxton's translation was begun at Bruges, ist March 
 1468/9, and finished at Cologne iQth September 1471. 
 In the Epilogue to the third book he thus describes the 
 printing of it : ' Thus ende I this book whyche I have 
 translated after myn Auctor as nyghe as God hath gyven 
 me connyng, to whom be gyven the laude and preysing. 
 And for as moche as in the wrytyng of the same my penne 
 is worn, myn hand wery and not stedfast, myn eyen 
 dimmed with overmoche lokyng on the whit paper, and 
 my corage not so prone and redy to laboure as hit hath 
 ben, and that age crepeth on me dayly and febleth all the 
 bodye; and also because I have promysid to dyverce
 
 56 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 gentilmen and to my frendes to addresse to hem as hastely 
 as I myght this sayd book. Therefore I have practysed 
 and lerned at my great charge and dispense to ordeyne 
 this said book in prynte after the maner and form as ye 
 may here see, and is not wreton with penne and ynke, 
 as other bokes ben, to thende that every man may have 
 them attones, for all the bookes of this storye named the 
 Recule of the Historyes of Troyes, thus enprynted as ye 
 here see, were begonne in oon day and also fynysshid in 
 oon day.' The French original was printed in the same 
 type as the translation, but whether by Mansion alone, 
 after Caxton had left Bruges, or with Caxton's help, is 
 disputed. (King's Library.) 
 
 2. Type i. Bruges, with the help of Colard 
 
 Mansion, 1475 or 1476. The Game and 
 Playe of the Chesse, translated by Caxton 
 from Jean de Vignay's French version of 
 the Ludus Scaccorum of Jacobus de 
 Cessolis. 
 
 In the prologue to the second edition of this work 
 Caxton writes that Jean de Vignay's ' book of the chesse 
 moralysed ' came into his hands while resident at Bruges, 
 and that for the benefit of those who knew no Latin or 
 French he translated it into English, ' and whan I so had 
 achyeved the sayd translacion I dyde doo sette in enprynte 
 a certeyn nombre of theym, whiche anone were depesshed 
 and solde.' On returning to England, Caxton left this 
 first fount of type at Bruges, and no more English books 
 were printed with it. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 3. Type 2, 1477. 'The Dictes or Sayengis 
 
 of the Philosophres,' translated by Earl 
 Rivers from ' Les dits moraux des philo- 
 sophies,' a version by G. de Tignonville 
 of an anonymous Latin work of the four- 
 teeth century. 
 
 A copy of this book in the John Rylands Library has 
 a colophon with the more precise date ' the xviij day of
 
 BOOKS PRINTED BY CAXTON 
 
 57 
 
 *! ^s^^rS g^!l^^ih^|p 
 
 s 
 & 
 
 * 5 ^ |J^ & I" Jj ^^f 
 
 allStl^wlsst?? 1 
 
 f>^O ^ ^t 4C^ v Jt 
 
 l( 5s ^ ^ ^-. 
 
 litri^ffli 
 
 M< r^ 
 
 gS 
 
 gs 
 
 iS 
 
 w- 
 
 i* 
 
 10 M 
 
 O 
 
 *2 
 
 fk 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 5 
 
 i
 
 58 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 the month of November.' A French book on the Four 
 Last Things (' Les quatre derrenieres choses ') had already 
 been printed in this type, presumably at Bruges, by Colard 
 Mansion only.. Caxton's translation of Le Fevre's romance 
 of 'Jason,' and two thin Latin books, a speech by John 
 Russell, and a treatise entitled 'Infancia Saluatoris' are 
 also in this type, and were probably printed by Caxton at 
 Westminster during 1477. But the 'Dictes' is the 
 earliest book printed in England, bearing its own evidence 
 as to place and date. 
 
 4. Type 2, about 1478. Chaucer. The 
 
 Canterbury Tales. 
 
 The number of leaves in this book (372) considerably 
 exceeds that of all the other books in the same type which 
 can be regarded as prior to it. It is probable, therefore, 
 that Caxton, who frequently in his prefaces and epilogues 
 expresses his admiration for Chaucer, as soon as he started 
 work in England, began printing the Canterbury Tales at 
 one of his presses, the smaller books being printed in 
 succession at another while this was in progress. (King's 
 Library.) 
 
 5. Type 2 (later form), about 1481. The 
 
 Game and Playe of the Chesse. Second 
 edition. With woodcuts. 
 
 Caxton's use of illustrations probably began with two 
 small woodcuts of a master and scholars in the third 
 edition of the ' Parvus Cato,' used again soon afterwards, 
 with many others, in the 'Mirror of the World.' This 
 second edition of the ' Game and Playe of the Chess ' is 
 reckoned the third of his illustrated books, and the 
 woodcuts in it, probably copied from some foreign 
 edition, show a slight advance on their predecessors. 
 
 6. Type 3, between 1480 and 1483. Latin 
 
 Psalter, with the Canticles, etc., for use 
 as a service-book. 
 
 The only known copy of this book. The type in 
 which it is printed was used only for a few service-books 
 and for headlines in other works.
 
 BOOKS PRINTED BY CAXTON 
 
 59 
 
 tto awfc tie few tto fljgttgc/ Jte 3 (We twf accufc $el Jo: 3 
 ffrifife ffclbc fc 0gj attotQittlbar/ Ttn^j as tc tymfcr came/ 
 of fi)c (frcpfcxo gf fcfaty (ene }c tfcuCf pf; 
 
 Ibacs 
 
 an? f^c fengue f^cibcde aCCe ^ con(ratj?- / Ttnty in; 
 
 tbeC / < 
 nt^incro 
 
 a 
 
 cncounttcD? an&? mc(fe Xbt 
 me of ea( 3 ?uc 8c 
 
 ) tic manctc 
 
 ttc 
 
 3 C^ ttof ffcooe aibc^/fit TlnD 
 fQetfbtx mqj rnufi not foti^e h) 
 
 tlbo fen^uco/fo: fcft fbCgc t&Cgic anty fcm6Ca^ 6? (T^ fco; 
 
 XI. 7. WESTMINSTER, CAXTON, 1483 
 PAGE FROM 'AESOP' (REDUCED)
 
 60 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 7. Type 4, 1484. 'The book of the subtyl 
 
 hystoryes and Fables of Esope which 
 were translated out of Frensshe into 
 Englysshe by Wylliam Caxton, 1483.' 
 
 The woodcuts in this Aesop are ultimately derived 
 from those in the Ulm edition of about 1477. The 
 French edition from which Caxton translated has not 
 yet been discovered. 
 
 8. Type 5, about 1488. S. Bonaventura. 
 
 Speculum Vitae Christi, ' the booke that 
 is cleped the Myrroure of the blessed 
 lyf of Jhesu Cryste.' 
 
 This copy, which belongs to the second of the two 
 issues, is printed on vellum. The only other vellum 
 'Caxton' known is the copy of the 'Doctrinal of Sapyence,' 
 1489, in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. The 
 author of the translation is not known. 
 
 9. Type 6, about 1490. The Fifteen Oes 
 
 and other prayers. 
 
 Caxton's colophon states : ' Thiese prayers tofore 
 wreton ben enprented bi the commaundementes of the 
 most hye and vertuos pryncesse our liege ladi Elizabeth 
 by the grace of God Quene of Englonde and of Margarete 
 Moder vnto our souerayn lorde the Kyng, etc. By 
 their most humble subget and seruaunt William Caxton.' 
 This is the only book known to have been printed by 
 Caxton with ornamental borders. The woodcut of the 
 Crucifixion belongs to a set of Horae cuts, presumably 
 Flemish, subsequently used by Wynkyn. The only copy 
 known.
 
 ENGLAND 61 
 
 Case xi b. 
 
 PRINTING AT OXFORD, ST. ALBANS, AND 
 IN THE CITY OF LONDON 
 
 THE competition which Caxton met from other printers 
 was only slight, and the total known output of all the other 
 presses in England during his life only amounted to about 
 one half of his. At Oxford in 1478-79 three small books 
 were printed from a fount obviously of Cologne origin. 
 A change of type forbids a positive statement that they 
 were the work of Theodoric Rood of Cologne, whose 
 name first appears in a book dated n October 1481 ; but 
 there is no reason to doubt the identification. In 1485 
 the name of an English stationer, Thomas Hunte, is joined 
 with Rood's in a metrical colophon, but shortly after this, 
 in 1486 or 1487, the press came to an end, having printed, as 
 far as is known, only fifteen books. Save for some seven 
 books produced in 1517-19, there was no more printing at 
 Oxford until 1585. At Cambridge there was no fifteenth 
 century press ; nine books were printed by John Lair de 
 Siberch about 1521, but continuous printing only began 
 in 1583. 
 
 In 1480 an unnamed printer, whom we know to have 
 been the master of the Abbey school, issued his first dated 
 book at St. Albans, and eight books printed at this press 
 have survived, six of a scholastic and two of a popular 
 character, the latest date in any of them being 1486. 
 Although two of the St. Albans books competed with 
 editions of his own, Caxton allowed some of his type to 
 pass into the Schoolmaster's hands, and there seems to 
 have been some connexion between the two presses. 
 
 In 1480, a foreign printer, John Lettou, set up a press 
 in the city of London, and in that and the following year 
 printed a few books and indulgences, some of them at the 
 expense of an Englishman, William Wilcock. In 1482 
 Lettou was joined by William Machlinia (William of 
 Malines ?) and five law-books were printed in partnership. 
 After this Machlinia printed more than twenty books by 
 himself, probably working till 1490 or 1491, when his 
 stock appears to have been taken over by Pynson.
 
 62 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 Besides Pynson who succeeded Machlinia, and Wynkyn 
 who succeeded Caxton, the only other firm working in 
 England in the fifteenth century was that of Julian 
 Notary, who printed from 1496 to 1518, producing, as far 
 as we know, fewer than fifty books, but putting very good 
 work into them. 
 
 1. Oxford, unnamed printer, probably Theo- 
 
 doric Rood, '1468' (for 1478). Expositio 
 in symbolum Apostolorum. 
 
 This book is dated in its colophon MCCCCLXVIII., an x 
 having dropped out, as in the ' Decor Puellarum ' of 
 Jenson (Case vi. 6). Precisely the same misprint occurs 
 in three other books printed in 1478, at Augsburg, 
 Barcelona, and Venice. The ' Expositio ' is attributed 
 to S. Jerome, but was really written by Tyrannius 
 Rufinus of Aquileia (d. 610). (King's Library). 
 
 2. Oxford, unnamed printer, probably Theo- 
 
 doric Rood, 1479. Aristotle. Libri 
 Ethicorum traducti a Leonardo Aretino. 
 
 The second book printed at Oxford. Its close simi- 
 larity in make-up to the first is sufficient proof that there 
 could not have been an interval of eleven years between 
 them. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 3. Oxford, Theodoric Rood and Thomas 
 
 Hunte, about 1484-85. Lyndewode. 
 Constitutiones prouinciales Ecclesiae 
 Anglicanae. 
 
 This is the largest of the Oxford books, both in size 
 and in number of pages. Four different types were used 
 in printing it. 
 
 4. St. Albans, the Schoolmaster-printer, 
 
 1480. Laurentius de Saona. Noua 
 Rhetorica. 
 
 The first dated book printed in St. Albans abbey ; an
 
 ENGLAND 63 
 
 undated edition of the ' Elegantiae ' of Augustinus Dathus 
 was probably issued before it. The type is apparently 
 identical with Caxton's No. 2, used in the earliest books 
 he printed in England. (King's Library.) 
 
 raaottts ai%neSbt mqiiam free fectmbu 
 ttafcict'oms fiipua eppofite wguiam con 
 fequahtue afcwcttmws fecprccetime vfc 
 nobis et omnibus qui ijocaitoumfc conce 
 t>at tamfmis ftee quam fnfccr tmufi ciiflo 
 Dia ciitfu cctifltmato e^pectate iwfticie 
 tepofi tarn cotonam : c^ ftnienttt mfeu cot 
 qui refiitgimt fn vifant cfecna 
 -octo a conf ufione et obptobw o cfeuno 
 pec cnRuin botnintim noflrum pec qt 
 i^eo patti ommpotctt cfi f^icitu fancto 
 glotia e impetium fn ferula feculocutif 
 antetr 
 
 e^poftcto fancti ^tomrm frt 
 Bmbolo apoO:olo2um at> papam (ante 
 cmm JmpwITa jcontc CJt fmita 
 no bommt AV * cccc * Ipviij * jevi 
 Deccmbtis <t 
 
 XI (J. I. OXFORD, T. ROOD, 1478 
 COLOPHON OF 'EXPOSITIO,' MISDATED 1468 
 
 5. St. Albans, the Schoolmaster -printer, 
 
 14*6. n&& 'The Bokys of Haukyng and 
 
 Huntyng, and also of Cootarmuris,' 
 
 commonly known as the Book of St. 
 
 Albans. 
 
 The metrical treatise on hunting ends with the words 
 Explicit Dam Julyans Barnes in her boke of huntyng,'
 
 64 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 and on the strength of this ascription the whole book, 
 together with a treatise on Fishing with an Angle added 
 in Wynkyn de Worde's reprint in 1496, is popularly 
 attributed to an otherwise unknown Juliana Bernes, or 
 Berners, represented as being a daughter of Sir James 
 Berners (executed in 1388) and Prioress of the Nunnery 
 of Sopwell, a dependency of St. Albans. (Grenville 
 Library.) 
 
 6. London, John Lettou for William Wilcock, 
 
 1480. Antonii Andreae Quaestiones 
 super duodecim libros metaphysicae 
 Aristotelis. 
 
 The first book printed in the City of London, though 
 Lettou had previously printed one or more editions of an 
 Indulgence in favour of those giving aid against the Turks. 
 
 7. London, John Lettou and William Mach- 
 
 linia, about 1482. Vetus Abbreuia- 
 mentum Statutorum. 
 
 The other four books printed by Lettou and Machlinia 
 in partnership, all of them in the British Museum, were 
 Littleton's New Tenures and the Statutes of the 33rd, 
 35th and 36th years of Henry vi. 
 
 8. London, William Machlinia for Henry 
 
 Vrankenbergh, about 1483. Speculum 
 Christiani, attributed to Watton. 
 
 The colophon states that this book was printed 'ad 
 instancias necnon expensas Henrici Vrankenbergh mer- 
 catoris,' and in the Public Record Office is a deed dated 
 roth May 1482, demising an alley in Clement's Lane to 
 Henry Frankenbergk and Barnard van Stondo, merchants 
 of printed books. (King's Library.) 
 
 9. Westminster, Julian Notary and Jean 
 
 Barbier for Wynkyn de Worde, 1498. 
 Sarum Missal. 
 
 Only two earlier books from Notary's press are known,
 
 ENGLAND 65 
 
 the device in each of them bearing the initials of himself 
 and Barbier, and of a not certainly identified I. H. The 
 second of these books, like this missal, was printed for 
 Wynkyn de Worde. (King's Library.) 
 
 10. London, Julian Notary, 1508. Promp- 
 torium Paruulorum Clericorum. 
 
 After issuing one book in London, Notary worked 
 at Westminster from 1497 to 1503, and thereafter 'with- 
 out Temple Bar, in St. Clement's Parish, at the Sign of 
 the Three Kings.' This is the earliest printed English- 
 Latin vocabulary, supplementing the Latin-English of the 
 Hortus Vocabulorum. Another name for it was Medulla 
 Grammaticae, or Marrow of Grammar. Earlier editions had 
 been issued by Pynson and Wynkyn. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 Case xua. 
 
 BOOKS PRINTED BY WYNKYN DE WORDE 
 
 IN the letters of denization, which he took out in 1496, 
 Wynkyn de Worde is described as coming from the 
 Duchy of Lorraine. The ' Worde ' in his name is 
 generally identified with Worth in Alsace. His 
 Christian name, which he never used in any of his 
 books, was John. Although he lived till 1534, he seems 
 to have come to England with Caxton in 1476, for in 
 1480 Elizabeth, wife of Wynand van Worden, is men- 
 tioned as the former occupant of a tenement leased from 
 Westminster Abbey, the lease standing naturally in her 
 name while her husband was an alien. Caxton was so 
 occupied with editing and translating that it is probable 
 that from the first Wynkyn held an important position 
 in the printing office, and on his master's death in 1491 
 he took over the business, the earliest books bearing his 
 own name appearing in 1493. From this year to his 
 death in 1534 he was the most prolific of English 
 printers of his day, his total publications still extant 
 amounting to over six hundred, including new editions 
 and broadsides. Of these over one hundred were issued 
 in the fifteenth century. In all his different devices, of 
 which he had at least fifteen, Wynkyn retained Caxton's 
 
 E
 
 66 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 initials, and his larger books were mostly reprints of those 
 which Caxton had already published. He introduced 
 some improvements, such as title-pages, and the more 
 frequent use of ornamental initials, and printed some fine 
 books, notably the De Proprietatibus Rerum here shown, 
 but he was not a conspicuously good printer. Up to 1500 
 he continued in Caxton's house, removing in that year to 
 the Sign of the Sun in Fleet Street. On his death his 
 business passed to his executor, John Byddell. 
 
 1. About 1493. 'The lyf of saint Katherine 
 
 of Senis,' i.e. S. Catharine of Siena. 
 
 ' Compiled by a worshypful clerke, fryer Reymond of 
 the ordre of Saynt domynik,' i.e. Raymundus de Vineis. 
 Printed in Caxton's type 4*. (King's Library.) 
 
 2. 1494. Walter Hylton. Scala Perfec- 
 
 tionis. 
 
 A metrical colophon states : ' th' auctour Walter 
 Hilton was And Wynkyn de Worde this hath sett in 
 print In William Caxtons hows,' also that the book was 
 dedicated to Margaret, Countess of Richmond and 
 Derby, and printed by her command. In later books, 
 printed in the reign of Henry vni., Wynkyn frequently 
 styles himself printer ' unto the most excellent princess 
 my lady the King's grandame.' 
 
 3. About 1494. Hours of the Blessed 
 
 Virgin according to the use of Sarum. 
 
 The large woodcuts belong to the set of which Caxton 
 used one in the ' Fifteen Oes ' (Case xia. 9). They 
 appear to be of Flemish origin. 
 
 4. About 1495. Bartholomaeus De Pro- 
 
 prietatibus Rerum. 
 
 Printed on paper made at Hertford by John Tate. 
 Some of the woodcuts are copied from those in the 
 Dutch version printed by Bellaert at Haarlem in 1485. 
 Bartholomew was an English Minorite who flourished 
 about 1230. This English version was finished by John 
 Trevisa in 1398. (Grenville Library.)
 
 BOOKS PRINTED BY W. DE WORDE 67 
 
 ft pittance bp te vb ftfc^ t^ 
 \ttcmDe 10 gamallp &epat f pD 
 f omv&ljat fljal be tyutlp ttttt 
 to f ffia tottht b$ f> : Ipf of outt 
 
 of fcttfp aa ^ ttj^tte ma 
 hptfjmttnnbrauwc. 
 
 ltt piouind; 
 pttmttm 
 
 toozloe tbei-e affpgnpD Ipbemodjetool 
 oe fpme bp mro/ Joz 3fi* tof c jyt!) out 
 of p (out!) ty p eeft Dnfo tl;e nozdje/HnD 
 uropa out c of rlje noztlje Dn Co p ttett/ 
 
 XII. 4. WESTMINSTER, WYNKYN DE WORDE, ABOUT 1495 
 SECTION OF COLUMN FROM DE PROPRIETATIBUS RERUM 
 
 5. 1496. The Book of St. Albans. Second 
 edition. 
 
 This is the earliest edition which contains the treatise 
 on Fishing with an Angle. For the first edition see Case
 
 68 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 xi. 5. Printed with type which had belonged to 
 Godfried van Os. (King's Library.) 
 
 6. About 1496. Statuta edita in parliamento 
 
 tento apud Westmonasterium An. xi. 
 Regis Henrici Septimi. 
 
 On vellum, with illuminated initials and paragraph 
 marks. 
 
 7. 1502. 'The Ordinarye of Crystyanyte 
 
 or of Cristen men, newly hystoryed 
 and translated out of Frenshe into 
 Englysshe.' 
 
 Translated from L'Ordinaire des Chretiens, a treatise 
 on Baptism, the Commandments, the works of mercy, 
 etc., written in 1467. With numerous woodcuts, none 
 of them, apparently, designed for the book. (Grenville 
 Library.) 
 
 8. About 1507. 'The Dystruccyon of Iheru- 
 
 salem by Vespazian and Tytus.' 
 
 The woodcuts are copied from French cuts used at 
 Paris by Jean Trepperel. 
 
 9. 1521. Whittinton. Grammaticae prima 
 
 pars. 
 
 A specimen of Wynkyn's roman type, and of the very 
 numerous grammatical works by Whittinton, which he 
 printed from 1512 onwards. In this one year, 1521, he 
 is known to have issued thirteen different works by 
 Whittinton, besides three reprints. 
 
 10. 1529. Malory. La Mort d'Arthur. 
 
 First printed by Caxton in 1485, reprinted with strange 
 woodcuts by Wynkyn de Worde in 1498, and now again 
 in 1529. (Grenville Library.)
 
 ENGLAND 69 
 
 Case xn^. 
 
 BOOKS PRINTED BY RICHARD PYNSON 
 
 RICHARD PYNSON was a native of Normandy and pro- 
 bably learned printing at Rouen. Slight, but sufficient, 
 indications show that he took over Machlinia's business 
 in 1490 or 1491, and while making arrangements for 
 carrying it on he had three legal books printed for him 
 by Guillaume Le Talleur of Rouen. He also took Le 
 Talleur's device as the model for the earliest of his own. 
 His first dated book is a Doctrinale printed in November 
 1492, of which the only copy known is in the Grammar 
 School Library at Appleby. When this was published 
 he had already printed a fine edition of Chaucer's Canter- 
 bury Tales. During the fifteenth century Pynson is 
 known to have printed over seventy books, and from 
 1500 to his death in 1529 or 1530, upwards of three 
 hundred more, his total output being thus rather more 
 than half that of Wynkyn de Worde. About 1510 he 
 was appointed printer to Henry vni., and fully deserved 
 this distinction, his books being better printed and of 
 a more important character than those of Wynkyn. He 
 also took much more pains in illustrating them, though 
 for this he seems to have been dependent mainly on 
 foreign woodcuts or woodcutters. On his death his 
 business was taken over by Robert Redman. 
 
 1. 1492. Chaucer. ' The boke of the Tales 
 
 of Canterburie.' 
 
 Reprinted from Caxton's second edition, with new 
 illustrations. The state of Pynson's device in this book 
 shows that it was printed earlier than the 'Doctrinale' 
 of November 1492. (King's Library.) 
 
 2. 1493. Henry Parker. 'Diues and Pauper, 
 
 that is to say the riche and the pore
 
 fie fUaCttoBofpeefltofe 6m netwge 
 tte leue at i ? t CK Crete gob quot) IJe 
 ifie ttxtfbefotte fotijbifftoietpe 
 ' 
 
 ant) tgetf o*e goofl 9 tt)artte tfe 8f foty 
 
 a nb (ierc Cegpn netg Qte cTaCe 
 
 3&te buetfcb a bittg t5at ftarzcb riiffp 
 
 . I. LONDON, PVNSON, ABOUT 1492 
 PAGE FROM 'CANTERBURY TALES' (REDUCED)
 
 BOOKS PRINTED BY PYNSON 71 
 
 fructuously tretyng upon the x. com- 
 mandments.' 
 
 Until the discovery of the ' Doctrinale ' of November 
 1492, this was always quoted as Pynson's first dated 
 book. (King's Library.) 
 
 3. 1494. 'The boke callde John Bochas 
 
 descriuinge the Fall of Princis, Prin- 
 cessis and other nobles, translated into 
 Englissh by John Ludgate.' 
 
 Lydgate's version of the De Casibus Illustrium Virorum 
 of Boccaccio, with woodcuts from a French version 
 printed at Paris by Jean Du Pre. 
 
 4. 1497. Terence. Comoediae sex. 
 
 With the exception of the Cicero Pro Milone printed 
 at Oxford, of which only a fragment has been preserved, 
 this is the first Latin classic printed in England. (King's 
 Library.) 
 
 5. 1 506. Manuale ad usum insignis ecclesiae 
 
 Sarum. 
 
 Printed on vellum, in red and black ; one of the finest 
 of Pynson's books. 
 
 6. About 1508. Petrus Carmelianus. A 
 
 Latin description of the reception of the 
 Ambassadors of Maximilian, who came 
 to England in 1508 to arrange a mar- 
 riage between Charles, Prince of Castile, 
 afterwards the Emperor Charles v., and 
 the Princess Mary. 
 
 Printed on vellum, with two interesting woodcuts, 
 very unlike English work of the period. The tract has 
 no title-page or title of any kind. (Grenville Library.)
 
 72 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 7. 1509. ' The Shyp of Folys translated out 
 
 of Laten, French and Doche by Alex- 
 ander Barclay.' 
 
 Barclay's version of the Narrenschiff of Sebastian 
 Brant, with the Latin translation of J. Locher in the 
 margin. The woodcuts are copied from those in the 
 original edition. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 8. 1516. Robert Fabyan. ' Newe Chronicles 
 
 of Englande and of France/ 
 
 The first edition of Fabyan's chronicles. Some, at 
 least, of the woodcuts in it are taken from French 
 sources. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 9. About 1520. ' The famous cronycle of the 
 
 warre whiche the romayns had agaynst 
 Jugurth, compyled in latyn by the re- 
 nowmed romayn Salust, and translated 
 into Englysshe by Syr Alexander Bar- 
 clay.' 
 
 The translation was made at the request of Thomas, 
 Duke of Norfolk, and Pynson was allowed a special 
 privilege for printing it. It has the Latin text in the 
 margin. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 10. 1521. Henry viu. Assertio Septem 
 Sacramentorum aduersus Martin. Luth- 
 erum. 
 
 The first edition of the work for which Pope Leo x. 
 conferred upon Henry viu. the title 'Defender of the 
 by Faith.' Some of the ornaments are copied from designs 
 Holbein made for Froben of Basel. (Old Royal Library.)
 
 ENGLAND 73 
 
 Case xuia. 
 
 ENGLISH PRINTING IN THE SIXTEENTH 
 CENTURY 
 
 PYNSON had been preceded as King's Printer by William 
 Faques, whose extant books, three of them dated 1504, 
 are all admirably printed. He was himself succeeded by 
 Thomas Berthelet, who kept up the tradition of good 
 printing sufficiently well, though he is now perhaps 
 better known as the owner of the bindery at which the 
 chief gilded English bindings of the middle of the 
 century were produced. Berthelet was followed by 
 Richard Grafton, who had taken a prominent part 
 in the publication in England of Coverdale's Bible, 
 and lost his office under Mary for having printed the 
 proclamation of Lady Jane Grey. During this period 
 little good printing was done in England save by the 
 royal printers, but neither Jugge and Cawood who suc- 
 ceeded Grafton, nor the Barkers under Queen Elizabeth, 
 could vie with the best work of John Day, the finest 
 English printer since Pynson. Helped by the patronage 
 of Archbishop Parker, Day, who printed from 1546 to 
 1584, brought out many notable books. He also took 
 an interest in book-illustration, and the woodcuts in 
 Cunningham's Cosmographical Glass (probably by foreign 
 workmen), and Foxe's Book of Martyrs (presumably 
 English) are of a more original and ambitious character 
 than any previously attempted in English books. 
 Holinshed's Chronicles, Spenser's Shepherd's Kalender, 
 and a few later books were similarly illustrated. After 
 this woodcuts became unfashionable and were largely 
 replaced by engravings on copper. 
 
 i. London, William Faques, 1504. Psal- 
 terium. 
 
 A liturgical Psalter according to the use of Sarum. 
 Printed ' ex mandate victoriosissimi Anglic regis Henrici 
 septimi,' Faques being the King's printer. (Grenville 
 Library.)
 
 74 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 2. London, Thomas Berthelet, 1532. Jo. 
 
 Gower. De Confessione Amantis. 
 
 The second edition of Gower's Confessio Amantis, 
 the first having been printed by Caxton. The book is a 
 good specimen of Berthelet's black-letter. 
 
 3. London, Thomas Berthelet, 1544. Psalmi 
 
 seu precationes ex variis Scripturae locis 
 collectae. 
 
 An example of Berthelet's roman type. In its English 
 form this book was known as ' the King's Psalms,' and 
 was often issued with 'the Queen's Prayers or Medi- 
 tations,' attributed to Katharine Parr. 
 
 4. London, Edward Whitchurch, April 1540. 
 
 'The Byble in Englyshe, with a pro- 
 loge therinto made by Thomas, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury.' 
 
 First edition of Cranmer's Bible, being a revision of 
 Coverdale's version as published at the instigation of 
 Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, in April 1539, by 
 Grafton and Whitchurch in conjunction. The former 
 partners now printed separately, editions by Whitchurch 
 appearing in April and November 1540, and May and 
 November 1541; editions by Grafton in July 1540 and 
 December 1541. This copy, which is printed on vellum, 
 bears an inscription showing that it was presented to 
 Henry vin. by his ' loving faithfull and obedient subiect 
 and daylye oratour, Anthonye Marler of London, haber- 
 dassher.' (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 5. London, Richard Grafton, 1547. ' In- 
 
 iunccions geven by Edwarde the vi. To 
 all and singuler hys louinge subiectes 
 aswel of the Clergie as of the Laietie.' 
 
 This book contains specimens of Grafton's printing in 
 black-letter, roman capitals and italics.
 
 ENGLAND 75 
 
 6. London, John Day, 1559. William 
 
 Cunningham. ' The Cosmographical 
 Glasse.' 
 
 With a fine portrait of Cunningham, a map of Norwich, 
 and numerous pictorial initials. 
 
 7. London, John Day, 1563. John Fox. 
 
 'Actes and Monuments of these latter 
 and perillous dayes,' generally known 
 as Fox's Book of Martyrs. 
 
 With numerous woodcuts probably by English artists. 
 
 8. London, for J. Harrison, 1577. Raphael 
 
 Holinshed. 'The Chronicles of Eng- 
 lande, Scotland, and Irelande.' 
 
 With numerous woodcuts. 
 
 Case 
 
 ENGLISH BOOKS PRINTED ABROAD 
 
 As late as the middle of the seventeenth century English 
 books printed abroad were both numerous and interesting. 
 Until the accession of Elizabeth the most important 
 section of them was formed by the Latin Service-books, 
 for the production of which the printers of Paris, Rouen, 
 and Antwerp were specially well equipped. Before the 
 Reformation began these were supplemented only by a 
 few Latin grammatical works with English glosses, and 
 by about a dozen popular books, of which Gerard Leeu at 
 Antwerp printed four (in 1492-93), Antoine Ve"rard at 
 Paris two (1503), and John of Doesborgh at Antwerp 
 (1505-1520?) most of the rest. When the Reformation 
 had begun not only were many controversial works printed 
 in Protestant districts abroad, but for twelve years (1525- 
 1537) all editions of Tyndale's New Testament and both 
 the first and second editions of Coverdale's Bible were
 
 76 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 printed out of England. After the accession of Elizabeth 
 the foreign printing of English books still continued, the 
 presses being employed by Roman Catholic controver- 
 sialists or by Protestant dissenters, like the Brownists. 
 
 1. Antwerp, Gerard Leeu, 1493. ' Cronycles 
 
 of the Reame of England.' 
 
 The three other popular English books printed by 
 Leeu were The History of Jason, The History of 
 Knight Paris and the Fair Vienne, and The Dialogue 
 of Solomon and Marcolphus. While printing The 
 Chronicles of the Realm of England, from Caxton's 
 edition, Leeu died from a blow received in a quarrel with 
 one of his workmen, and his death is thus commemorated 
 in the colophon : ' Enprentyd by maistir Gerard de Leew, 
 a man of grete wysedom in all maner of kunnyng, whych 
 nowe is come from lyfe unto the deth, whiche is grete 
 harme for many a poure man. On whos sowle god 
 almyghty for hys hygh grace have mercy. Amen.' 
 (Grenville Library.) 
 
 2. Antwerp, Thierry Martens, 1493. Joannes 
 
 de Garlandia. Synonyma. With Eng- 
 lish glosses. 
 
 The first book printed by Thierry Martens at Antwerp. 
 The British Museum has two copies. No other is known. 
 
 3. Paris, for Antoine Verard, 1503. ' Traytte 
 
 of god lyuyng and good deyng.' 
 
 A translation into northern English of L'Art de bien 
 vivre et de bien mourir (Case vin. 4). 
 
 4. Paris, Wolfgang Hopyl, for Gerard Cluen 
 
 and Francis Birckman, 1504. Missale 
 ad consuetudinem insignis ecclesiae 
 Sarum. 
 
 Between 1495 an d I S 20 Hopyl printed several service- 
 books for the English market. Francis Birckman was a 
 citizen of Cologne, who seems to have had agencies at 
 Antwerp (see No. 8), London, and Paris.
 
 ENGLISH BOOKS PRINTED ABROAD 77 
 
 5. Paris, for Antoine Verard, 1506. Horae 
 
 diuae Virginis Mariae secundum usum 
 insignis Ecclesiae Sarum. 
 
 Other French printers and publishers of Sarum Horae 
 were Philippe Pigouchet (Case vm. 8), Simon Vostre, 
 Jean Richard of Rouen, Pierre Guerin, F. Regnault, 
 Thielmann Kerver, and Germain Hardouyn. 
 
 6. Antwerp, Jan van Doesborgh, about 1505. 
 
 The Fifteen Tokens of the Day of 
 Doom. 
 
 Among the other English books printed by Doesborgh 
 were 'a gest of Robyn Hode,' 'the lyfe of Virgilius/ 
 ' Frederick of Jennen,' ' Mary of Nemmegen,' ' Howleglas,' 
 ' Of the newe landes founde by the messengers of the 
 Kynge of Portyngale,' etc. Both part of the text and 
 some of the woodcuts of the Fifteen Tokens are ultimately 
 derived from the section on the coming of Antichrist 
 in the French ' Art de Bien Mourir ' (Case vm. 4). 
 
 7. Rouen, Pierre Olivier for Jacques Cousin, 
 
 1516. Manuale ad usum insignis eccle- 
 siae Sarum. 
 
 Other Rouen printers and publishers who produced 
 English service-books were Martin Morin (Case vm. 5), 
 Pierre Violette, Eustace Hardy, Jean Caillard, Pierre 
 Olivier, Jacques Cousin, etc. 
 
 8. Antwerp, Christophorus Endoviensis for 
 
 F. Birckman, 1523. Processionale ad 
 usum insignis ecclesiae Sarum. 
 
 Christopher of Endhoven, who also calls himself 
 Ruremundensis, besides printing several other Sarum 
 service-books, seems to have had almost a monopoly of 
 Processionals. Of six editions in the Museum printed 
 between 1523 and 1545 all are from his press.
 
 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 9. Cologne, Peter Quentel, 1525. The New 
 Testament translated by William Tyn- 
 dale. 
 
 The only known fragment of the uncompleted first 
 edition of Tyndale's New Testament. Three thousand 
 
 flrp Copter. 
 
 voy be 
 anberopttV, 
 <wb 
 
 tc of <Bot^ 
 motieb vp$ 
 
 10. PRINTED ABROAD, 1535 
 SECTION OF A COLUMN OF THE FIRST PRINTED ENGLISH BIBLE 
 
 copies of the first ten sheets (A-K) had been printed at 
 Cologne, when the editors were obliged to flee to Worms 
 and there begin work afresh. (Grenville Library.)
 
 ENGLAND 79 
 
 10. Place uncertain, at the expense of Jacob 
 van Meteren, 1525. 'The Bible, that is 
 the holy Scripture of the Olde and New 
 Testament : faithfully and truly trans- 
 lated out of Douche and Latyn into 
 Englishe.' 
 
 The first printed English Bible. Edited and, as 
 regards the parts not already rendered by Tyndale, trans- 
 lated by Miles Coverdale. Probably printed at Zurich. 
 (Grenville Library.) 
 
 Case xwa. 
 
 LATER ENGLISH PRINTING 
 
 DURING the seventeenth century printing in England, 
 as in other countries, became cheap and bad. In the 
 eighteenth century the founts of Caslon marked a dis- 
 tinct improvement, and those of Baskerville, though now 
 no longer admired as they used to be, may be credited 
 with showing, like the amateur press of Horace Walpole, 
 a renewal of interest in printing as an art. 
 
 The revival or re-invention of wood-engraving by 
 Bewick, about 1780, had no good effect on printing, the 
 new illustrations being too delicate to print well with 
 type. The founts also of this period were almost 
 uniformly bad, and there was little improvement until 
 1844 when the Chiswick Press revived the use of 'old- 
 faced ' type, such as Caslon's. Since this date much 
 excellent printing has been done in England, and also 
 in Scotland, where many books published by London 
 firms are now printed. In 1891 a new influence was 
 introduced by the books which William Morris then 
 began to print at the Kelmscott Press, close to his own 
 house at Hammersmith. The types, border-pieces, and 
 initials in these were designed by himself, and the wood- 
 cut illustrations were mostly after drawings by his friend 
 Sir Edward Burne-Jones. Fifty-three books were printed 
 at the Kelmscott Press between 1891 and 1896, when
 
 8o SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 the press was closed and the wood-blocks of the illus- 
 trations, borders and initials presented to the Department 
 of Prints in the British Museum. 
 
 1. A Specimen of the Several Sorts of Letter 
 
 given to the University by Dr. John 
 Fell, sometime Lord Bishop of Oxford. 
 Oxford, 1706. 
 
 The types illustrated in this specimen book were almost 
 all obtained from Holland, about 1670. 
 
 2. A Specimen of Printing Types by William 
 
 Caslon, Letter-founder, London. 1766. 
 
 The earliest books printed with Caslon's types, an 
 Arabic Psalter and an edition of the works of Selden, 
 were issued in 1725. At the time of his death, a year 
 before this specimen-book was issued, Caslon was recog- 
 nised as the foremost of English typefounders. 
 
 3. Strawberry Hill, private press of Horace 
 
 Walpole, 1757. Odes by Mr. Gray. 
 
 The first book issued from Walpole's press, the printer 
 employed on it being William Robinson, an Irishman. 
 Walpole writes as to it, ' I found him [Gray] in town 
 last week ; he had brought his two Odes to be printed. 
 I snatched them out of Dodsley's hands.' Dodsley, 
 however ; remained the publisher. The two Odes are 
 The Progress of Poetry and The Bard. 
 
 4. Birmingham, John Baskerville, 1759. 
 
 Milton. Paradise Lost. 
 
 After experiments extending over several years, Basker- 
 ville printed his first book, a quarto Virgil, in 1757. 
 His types excited great controversy, and their success was 
 so partial that for some time after 1763 he almost ceased 
 printing, a Horace of 1770 and some other Latin classics 
 printed in the three years which preceded his death in 
 1775 being his chief later works. After his death the 
 bulk of his type was purchased by Beaumarchais and
 
 ENGLAND 81 
 
 used for printing two editions of Voltaire. Baskerville's 
 printing was much praised by Dibdin and Macaulay, but 
 the old dislike to the exaggeration both of the thin and 
 thick strokes has recently revived. 
 
 5. Newcastle, 1818. The Fables of Aesop. 
 
 With designs on wood by Thomas 
 Bewick. 
 
 Woodcuts had almost disappeared from English books 
 when Bewick was apprenticed to a jobbing engraver at 
 Newcastle in 1767. In 1774 he engraved some illustra- 
 tions to Gay's Fables, and his edition of that work in 
 1779, his 'Select Fables' (1784), 'History of Quad- 
 rupeds' (1790), and 'History of British Birds' (1797) 
 revived a lost art, though with a new technique. The 
 'Aesop' of 1818 was his last important work. 
 
 6. London, Charles Whittingham the 
 
 younger, 1844. 'So much of the diary 
 of Lady Willoughby as relates to her 
 domestic history and to the eventful 
 period of the reign of Charles the First.' 
 
 The first book in which the use of old-faced type was 
 revived. Whittingham had determined to use Caslon's 
 old types in an edition of Juvenal, but the Juvenal was 
 delayed, and meanwhile the opportunity occurred of 
 printing this seventeenth-century story in a type which 
 would give it an old-world look. 
 
 7. Hammersmith, William Morris at the 
 
 Kelmscott Press, 1892. Jacobus de 
 Voragine. The Golden Legend. Cax- 
 ton's translation. 
 
 Although owing to its large size it only appeared in 
 November 1892, when six smaller works had already 
 been issued from the Kelmscott Press, the Golden 
 Legend was the first book which Morris planned when 
 he began printing, and the type used in it was always 
 called the 'Golden' type. The illustrations are from 
 drawings by Sir E. Burne-Jones. 
 F
 
 82 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 8. Hammersmith, William Morris at the 
 
 Kelmscott Press, 1892. Morris. A 
 Dream of John Ball and A King's 
 Lesson. 
 
 Printed in the ' Golden ' type. The frontispiece is 
 from a drawing by Sir E. Burne-Jones. 
 
 9. Hammersmith, William Morris at the 
 
 Kelmscott Press, 1893. The History 
 of Godefrey of Boloyne and of the con- 
 quest of Iherusalem. 
 
 A reprint of Caxton's edition of 1481. Printed in 
 the large black-letter type first used in the reprint of 
 Caxton's ' The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye,' and 
 thence known as the ' Troy ' type. On vellum. 
 
 10. Hammersmith, William Morris at the 
 
 Kelmscott Press, 1894. Psalmi Peni- 
 tentiales. 
 
 An English rhymed version of the seven Penitential 
 Psalms in the Kentish dialect of the fourteenth century. 
 Printed in the smaller form of the Troy type known as 
 the 'Chaucer' type, from its use in the great folio edition 
 of Chaucer's works. 
 
 11. Hammersmith, William Morris at the 
 
 Kelmscott Press, 1896. Morris. The 
 Well at the World's End. 
 
 Printed in the 'Chaucer' type. The illustrations 
 from drawings by Sir E. Burne-Jones.
 
 SCOTLAND 83 
 
 Case 
 
 PRINTING IN SCOTLAND, IRELAND, AND 
 THE COLONIES 
 
 THE earliest books known to have been printed in 
 Scotland, the ' Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy,' and 
 ten similar tracts, were the work of Walter Chapman 
 and Andrew Millar, who were licensed by James IV. to 
 set up a press in Edinburgh in 1507; the earliest in 
 Ireland was a Prayer Book printed at Dublin in 1551 
 by Humphrey Powell, an English printer, whom the 
 Privy Council had encouraged by a gift of twenty 
 pounds to transfer his press to Ireland. Copies of these 
 books are preserved respectively at Edinburgh and 
 Dublin. The examples of Scottish and Irish printing 
 here shown represent the work of Davidson and Bassan- 
 dyne, the most notable of the sixteenth century printers 
 in Edinburgh, and of William Francke, or Franckton, 
 who was the chief printer in Dublin at the beginning of 
 the seventeenth century. 
 
 In North America, Stephen Day set up the first press 
 in 1639, in Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
 printing in that year the Freeman's Oath and an 
 Almanack, and in 1640 ' The Psalms in metre, faithfully 
 translated for the use, edification, and comfort of the 
 Saints in publick and private, especially in New England.' 
 American printing in Colonial days is here represented 
 by the famous Bible in the language of the Massachusetts 
 Indians printed at Cambridge, the New Testament in 
 1661, the Old in 1663. A similar book, a Prayer-book 
 and Catechism, printed in 1767 at Quebec for the use of 
 the Montagnais tribe, illustrates early printing in Canada, 
 and along with this are shown what are believed to be 
 the first books printed at the Cape of Good Hope, in 
 Tasmania, and Australia. 
 
 i. Edinburgh, Thomas Davidson, about 
 1528. Ad serenissimum Scotorum 
 regem Jacobum quintum de suscepto
 
 84 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 regni regimine a diis feliciter ominato 
 Strena. 
 
 The roman type on the title-page of this book was the 
 first used in Scotland. The subject of the book is the 
 assumption of power by James v. in 1528. No other 
 copy is known. 
 
 2. Edinburgh, Thomas Davidson, 1536. 
 
 Hector Boece. ' The hystory and 
 croniklis of Scotland, translatit be 
 Maister J. Bellenden.' 
 
 The best known of the productions of Davidson's 
 press, and the one on which his fame as a printer chiefly 
 
 rests. 
 
 3. Edinburgh, T. Bassandyne and A. 
 
 Arbuthnot, 1576-79. The Bible and 
 Holy Scriptures contained in the Old 
 and New Testament. 
 
 The first Bible printed in Scotland. The price of it 
 was fixed at 4. 135. 4d. Scots. Bassandyne died while 
 the book was in progress. 
 
 4. Dublin, at the expense of John Usher, 
 
 1571. John O'Kearney. Aibidil Gaoid- 
 heilge, & Caiticiosma. 
 
 The first book printed with the Irish type presented to 
 O'Kearney by Queen Elizabeth. The preface alludes to 
 an earlier form of the Catechism ; but of this, if it was 
 ever printed, nothing is known. 
 
 5. Dublin, John Francke or Franckton, 
 
 1602. Tiomna Nuadh ar dTighearna 
 agus ar Slanaightheora losa Criosd. 
 
 First edition of the New Testament in Irish. Printed 
 in the type given to O'Kearney by Queen Elizabeth.
 
 PRINTING IN THE COLONIES 85 
 
 6. London, Henry Denham at the cost of 
 
 Humphrey Toy, 1567. Testament 
 Newydd ein Arglwydd Jesu Christ. 
 
 The first portion of the Bible in Welsh. Translated 
 by W. Salesbury and R. Davis, Bishop of St. Davids. 
 
 7. Cambridge, Massachusetts, S. Green and 
 
 M. Johnson, 1661-62. John Eliot's 
 translation of the Bible into the lan- 
 guage of the Massachusetts Indians. 
 
 The first Bible printed in America. (King's Library). 
 
 8. Quebec, Brown and Gilmore, 1767. 
 
 Prayer-book and Catechism compiled by 
 J. B. de La Brosse for the use of the 
 Montagnais Indians. 
 
 Said to be the first book printed at Quebec. 
 
 9. The Cape of Good Hope, 1814. Grand. 
 
 Narrative of the Life of a Gentleman 
 long resident in India. 
 
 The first book printed in South Africa. 
 
 10. Hobart Town, Andrew Bent, 1818. 
 
 ' Michael Howe, the last and worst of the 
 Bushrangers of Van Diemen's Land.' 
 
 The first book printed in Tasmania. 
 
 11. Sydney, R. Howe, 1825. Busby. A 
 treatise on the culture of the vine. 
 
 The first book printed in Australia.
 
 86 FAMOUS ENGLISH BOOKS 
 
 Cases xv. and xvi. 
 
 IN the first of these cases are exhibited the Bible of 1611, 
 the first edition of the English Book of Common Prayer 
 together with some of the previously authorized service- 
 books out of which it was compiled, the first folio edition 
 of Shakespeare's Plays and specimens of two of the 
 earlier quarto editions. In the note to the description 
 of the Bible of 161 1, references will be found to the Cases 
 in which earlier editions of the Bible are exhibited. In 
 Case XVI. are shown copies of the first editions of some 
 of the chief masterpieces of English literature, from the 
 poems of Surrey and Wyatt in ' Tottel's Miscellany,' to 
 the first edition of Tennyson's Poerns, published in 1830. 
 
 Case xv. 
 
 An exhortation vnto prayer, thought mete 
 by the Kynges maiesty, and his clergy 
 to be reade to the people in euery 
 churche afore processions. Also a 
 Letanie with suffrages to be sayd or 
 songe in the tyme of the sayd proces- 
 sions. London, Thomas Petyt, 1544. 
 
 The first edition of the Litany as now, with slight 
 alterations, in use in the English Church. 
 
 The Primer in Englishe and Latyn set 
 forth by the Kynges Maiestie and his 
 Clergie to be taught, learned, and read, 
 and none other to be used throughout 
 all his dominions. London, R. Grafton, 
 
 1545- 
 
 Revised primers had previously been edited by William 
 Marshall and by John Hilsey, Bishop of Rochester. 
 But it was not until 1545 that the 'Prymers of Salisbury 
 use ' were superseded by authority.
 
 FAMOUS ENGLISH BOOKS 87 
 
 3. The Order of the Communion. London, 
 
 R. Grafton, 1548. 
 
 This is not a complete Communion service, but an 
 interpolation in the missal to be used ' immediatly after 
 that the preest him selfe hath receiued the Sacrament, 
 without the variying of any other Rite or Ceremony in 
 the Masse, untill other Order shalbe prouided.' 
 
 4. The Book of the Common Prayer and 
 
 administracion of the Sacramentes, and 
 other rites and- ceremonies of the 
 Churche : after the use of the Churche 
 of Englande. London, E. Whitchurch, 
 7th March 1549. 
 
 First edition of the first Prayer Book of Edward vi. 
 At the back of the last leaf is the King's Proclamation 
 ordering copies to be sold unbound at not more than 
 two shillings, those bound ' in paste or boards ' at not 
 more than three shillings and fourpence. 
 
 5. The Holy Bible, conteyning the Old 
 
 Testament, and the New : newly trans- 
 lated out of the originall tongues : with 
 the former translations diligently com- 
 pared and reuised by his Maiesties 
 speciall commandement. Appointed to 
 be read in Churches. London, Robert 
 Barker, 1611. 
 
 First edition of the so-called ' King James' Bible,' or 
 Authorized Version. Of the versions by which it was 
 preceded the first editions of Tyndale's New Testament 
 and Coverdale's Bible are shown in Case xm. These 
 were prohibited in England, but a revision of Coverdale's 
 translation, printed in 1537, was 'set forth with the 
 Kinges most gracyous lycence,' and this was further 
 revised and reprinted under the auspices of Thomas 
 Cromwell, Earl of Essex in 1539. A corrected edition 
 of this, ' apoynted to the use of Churches,' was published
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 The creation of Heaucn and Earth, $ of the 
 light, 6 of the firmament, <? of the earth fe- 
 parated from the waters, n and made fruit- 
 ful!, 14 oftheSunne,Moone,andStarres, 
 10 oftiihandfowle, 14 of beads and cat- 
 tell, 16 of Man in die Image of God. 
 fb the appointment of food. 
 
 createc tftc 
 c 
 cacti). 
 
 x Sfttis tfte 
 catfl)>as!Jitfc 
 out fo?we ? ano 
 
 tfjefate of tf)e Deepe : anu ffte 
 of 0oa mooneo upon tlje fate of tlje 
 
 3 
 
 , 
 
 goon : ami 0oB bMDen f tt;e W from 
 tDctjarUcncffc. 
 
 XV. 5. THE HOLY BIBLE, l6ll 
 
 SECTION OF COLUMN FROM FIRST EDITION OF THE 
 'AUTHORIZED VERSION'
 
 FAMOUS ENGLISH BOOKS 89 
 
 in April 1540 (see Case xma.). The other important 
 Bibles which preceded the Authorized Version were the 
 Geneva Bible (1557-60), the Bishops' Bible (1568), and 
 the Roman Catholic annotated translation, of which the 
 New Testament was printed at Rheims in 1582, and the 
 Old at Douay in 1609-10. The first printed Latin Bibles 
 will be found in Case n., and important German, Italian, 
 French, Scotch, Irish, and Welsh editions in Cases iv., 
 vii., vin., and 
 
 6. Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, 
 
 Histories and Tragedies. Published 
 according to the true Originall Copies. 
 London, Isaac Jaggard and Ed. Blount, 
 1623. 
 
 The first collected edition of Shakespeare's Plays. 
 With dedication to William, Earl of Pembroke, and 
 Philip, Earl of Montgomery, signed by John Heminge 
 and Henry Condell, the actor-editors. The portrait is 
 by Martin Droeshout ; the lines facing it by Ben Jonson. 
 
 7. An excellent conceited Tragedie of Romeo 
 
 and luliet. As it hath been often (with 
 great applause) plaid publiquely, by the 
 right Honourable the L. of Hunsdon 
 his Servants. London, J. Danter, 1597. 
 
 The first edition. Bequeathed by David Garrick. 
 
 8. The excellent History of the Merchant 
 
 of Venice. With the extreme crueltie 
 of Shylocke the lew towards the saide 
 Merchant, in cutting a just pound of his 
 flesh. And the obtaining of Portia, by 
 the choyse of three Caskets. Written by 
 W. Shakespeare. London, J. Roberts, 
 1600. 
 
 One of two editions published in 1600. The other, also 
 in the Museum, was printed by I. R. for Thomas Heyes.
 
 90 FAMOUS ENGLISH BOOKS 
 
 Case xvi. 
 
 1. 'Tottel's Miscellany.' Songs and Son- 
 
 ettes written by the right honorable 
 Lorde Henry Haward, late Earl of 
 Surrey, and other. London, R. Tottel, 
 
 I557- 
 
 The first English anthology, and one which remained 
 very popular throughout the sixteenth century. The 
 poems of Sir Thomas Wyatt were first printed in it, and 
 among the other poets represented were Sir F. Bryan, 
 Lord Vaux, Nicholas Grimald, and Thomas Churchyard. 
 
 2. Sir Philip Sidney. An Apologie for 
 
 Poetrie. London, for H. Olney, 1595. 
 
 This, like all Sidney's writings, was first published 
 after his death. It was written between 1579 and 1585. 
 An edition under the title ' The Defence of Poesie ' was 
 printed in the same year for William Ponsonby, who was 
 the only authorized publisher of Sidney's books. 
 
 3. Edmund Spenser. The Faery Queene. 
 
 Disposed into twelve books fashioning 
 xn. morall vertues. London, for W. 
 Ponsonbie, 1590. 
 
 The first three books only. The second three were 
 published in 1596. 
 
 4. Francis Bacon. Essayes. Religious Medi- 
 
 tations. Places of perswasion and dis- 
 swasion. London, J. Windet for H. 
 Hooper, 1597. 
 
 In the dedication to his brother Antony Bacon writes : 
 ' I do now like some that have an orchard ill-neigh- 
 boured, that gather their fruit before it is ripe, to prevent 
 stealing. These fragments of my conceit were going
 
 FAMOUS ENGLISH BOOKS 91 
 
 to print : to labour the stay of them had been trouble- 
 some and subject to interpretation; to let them pass 
 had been to adventure the wrong they mought receive 
 by untrue copies. Therefore I held it best discretion 
 to publish them myself.' This first edition contains only 
 ten essays; that of 1612 has thirty-eight; that of 1625 
 fifty-eight. 
 
 5. Robert Herrick. Hesperides, or the works 
 
 both humane and devine of Robert Her- 
 rick, Esq. London, for J. Williams 
 and F. Eglesfield, 1648. 
 
 6. John Milton. Paradise lost. A poem 
 
 written in ten books. By John Milton. 
 Licensed and entred according to order. 
 London, Peter Parker, 1667. 
 
 7. Izaac Walton. The Compleat Angler or 
 
 the Contemplative man's Recreation. 
 Being a discourse of fish and fishing, 
 not unworthy the perusal of most 
 anglers. London, T. Maxey for R. 
 Marriot, 1653. 
 
 8. John Bunyan. The Pilgrim's Progress 
 
 from this world to that which is to 
 come delivered under the similitude of 
 a Dream, wherein is discovered the 
 manner of his setting out, his dangerous 
 journey, and safe arrival at the desired 
 country. London, for N. Ponder, 1678. 
 
 9. Daniel Defoe. The Life and strange 
 
 Surprising Adventures of Robinson 
 Crusoe of York, Mariner, who lived
 
 92 FAMOUS ENGLISH BOOKS 
 
 eight and twenty years all alone in an 
 un-inhabited island on the coast of 
 America near the mouth of the great 
 river of Oroonoque, etc. London, for 
 W. Taylor, 1719. 
 
 Before publication as a book Robinson Crusoe had 
 been printed in Nos. 25-289 of 'The Original London 
 Post, or Heathcot's Intelligence.' 
 
 10. Jonathan Swift. Travels into several 
 
 remote nations of the World. By 
 Lemuel Gulliver, first a surgeon and 
 then a captain of several ships. London, 
 for Benj. Motte, 1726. 
 
 11. Oliver Goldsmith. The Vicar of Wake- 
 
 field ; a tale : supposed to be written by 
 himself. Salisbury, B. Collins for F. 
 Newbery, London, 1766. 
 
 12. Robert Burns. Poems, chiefly in the 
 Scottish dialect. Kilmarnock, John 
 Wilson, 1786. 
 
 13. Wordsworth and Coleridge. Lyrical 
 
 Ballads. With a few other poems. 
 Bristol, printed by Biggs and Cottle 
 for T. N. Longman, London, 1798. 
 
 14. Sir Walter Scott. Waverley, or Tis 
 
 Sixty Years since. Edinburgh, printed 
 by James Ballantyne and Co., for 
 Archibald Constable, etc., 1814. 
 
 15. Alfred Tennyson. Poems, chiefly lyrical. 
 
 London, Effingham Wilson, 1830.
 
 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 93 
 
 Case xvii. 
 
 PRINTING IN GREEK AND HEBREW 
 
 PRINTED Greek characters were used for Greek quota- 
 tions in Latin books printed at Mainz and Subiaco as 
 early as 1465, though the Mainz Greek is mixed with 
 Roman letters and ludicrously inaccurate. An undated 
 edition of the Greek text of the Batrachomyomachia, 
 accompanied by two Latin versions, appears to be the 
 work of Thomas Ferrandus of Brescia, and may have 
 been produced about 1474. But the first book printed 
 wholly in Greek, and the first Greek text with a certain 
 date, the Grammar of Lascaris (No. i), was printed at 
 Milan in 1476 with type cut under the direction of 
 Demetrius Damilas, a Cretan of Milanese origin. During 
 the next eighteen years a few Greek books were printed 
 at Milan, Florence (where the Greek press was practically 
 an off-shoot of the Milanese), Parma, Venice, and Vicenza. 
 In 1494-5, Aldus set up his press at Venice and began 
 printing Greek books in much greater numbers, replacing 
 the older and more dignified founts by new ones based 
 on the current Greek writing of his day. His high 
 reputation as a publisher caused the form of Greek letter 
 he thus adopted to be generally imitated, and modern 
 Greek types still show the influence of his innovation. 
 
 The first Hebrew printed books may have been issued 
 in 1475. The earliest is said to have been printed at 
 Reggio and finished in February of that year, but its 
 existence is disputed. The date of another book, printed 
 at Piove di Sacco, is sometimes interpreted as July 1475, 
 sometimes as 1478. Hence the books issued by Abraham 
 Conathat at Mantua from May 1476, and by Abraham 
 ben Chajjim dei Tintori at Ferrara from May 1477 (No. 9), 
 are the earliest undisputed productions of Hebrew 
 presses. But the most important of the fifteenth century 
 printers of Hebrew are those of Soncino (1483) and 
 Naples (1488), who founded a school which carried the 
 printing of Hebrew into many distant places, including 
 Constantinople.
 
 94 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 1. Milan, Dionysius Paravisinus, 1476. 
 
 Constantine Lascaris. Greek Grammar. 
 
 The first book printed wholly in Greek. The type 
 was cut under the direction of Demetrius Damilas, a 
 Cretan, of Milanese descent. It was used afterwards at 
 Florence to print the works of Homer and other books. 
 (King's Library.) 
 
 2. Milan, printer uncertain, about 1479. 
 
 The Idylls of Theocritus and the 
 Works and Days of Hesiod. 
 
 An example of the second Greek fount used at Milan 
 after Bonus Accursius of Pisa had become superintendent 
 of the press in place of Damilas. The printer at this 
 period is not certainly known. This and an undated 
 Aesop, in the type of the Lascaris, and a Batrachomyo- 
 machia, also undated, probably printed at Brescia, are the 
 first Greek texts of the classical period which appeared 
 in print. 
 
 3. Florence, Lorenzo di Alopa, about 1494-5. 
 
 Euripides. Four Tragedies. 
 
 Printed entirely in majuscules, on the model of 
 Greek lapidary inscriptions. Before the experiment was 
 abandoned as unsatisfactory, five books had been thus 
 printed. The earliest of them was the Greek Anthology, 
 issued in 1494. (King's Library.) 
 
 4. Venice, Laonicus Cretensis, 1486. Batra- 
 
 chomyomachia. 
 
 The first book wholly in Greek printed in Venice. 
 With interlinear glosses in red. The type is remarkable 
 for its archaic appearance. (King's Library.) 
 
 5. Venice, Aldus Manutius, 1495. Lascaris. 
 
 Greek Grammar. 
 
 The first book printed by Aldus, and the only one in 
 this earliest variety of his new 'modern-face' type, 
 which was immediately afterwards modified. It has a 
 Latin translation on alternate pages. (King's Library.)
 
 GREEK AND HEBREW 95 
 
 6. Venice, Zacharias Callierges, 1499. Ety- 
 
 mologicum Magnum. 
 
 The first of four books issued in 1499 and 1500, at the 
 expense of Nicolaus Blastus, a Cretan merchant, all 
 remarkable for the richness of their ornament. (King's 
 Library.) 
 
 7. Alcala de Henares, Arnaldo Guillen de 
 
 Brocar, about 1514. Musaeus. Hero 
 and Leander. 
 
 The type here used was cut in preparation for the 
 New Testament of the great Polyglott Bible, printed 
 under the superintendence of Cardinal Ximenes at Alcala 
 (Complutum) in 1514. It is supposed to have been 
 imitated from the writing of an early Greek manuscript 
 sent from the Vatican Library to the editors for use in 
 editing the text. 
 
 8. London, Reginald Wolfe, 1543. S. Chry- 
 
 sostom. Two Homilies. 
 
 The first Greek text printed in England. It is accom- 
 panied by a Latin version by Sir John Cheke. 
 
 9. Ferrara, Abraham ben Rabbi Chajjim dei 
 
 Tintori, 1477. Levi ben Gerson. Com- 
 mentary on Job. 
 
 The first book printed by Abraham ben R. Chajjim, 
 who afterwards went to Bologna and thence to Soncino, 
 where he directed the famous press of Joshua Solomon 
 called Soncino, and his two nephews. 
 
 10. Place, printer and date uncertain, per- 
 haps Brescia, about 1500. Isaac ben 
 Solomon Sahula. Book of Fables. 
 
 Remarkable among Hebrew books for its woodcut 
 illustrations.
 
 96 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 ii. Lisbon, Rabbi Eliezer, 1491. Penta- 
 teuch in Hebrew, with a commentary. 
 
 Rabbi Eliezer was the first printer in Lisbon (1489), 
 where no Christian printer was at work before 1495. 
 In the fifteenth century there were only five presses in 
 Portugal, and three of these were Hebrew. Printed on 
 vellum. (King's Library.) 
 
 Case xviii. 
 
 DURING the fifteenth century several attempts were 
 made to print woodcut illustrations in various colours. 
 Thus in 1457 Fust and Schoffer printed the large initials 
 of their Psalter in red and blue, in 1485 Erhard Ratdolt 
 at Venice printed an astronomical diagram in red, black, 
 and yellow, in 1490 Jean du Pre at Paris tinted the 
 illustrations in a Horae in different colours, and a few 
 other experiments were made, two of which are here 
 shown. Erhard Ratdolt was the most persevering in 
 these attempts ; other printers quickly abandoned them 
 as too costly, and it was recognised that the only way to 
 introduce contrasts of colour (other than red and black) 
 into books was by hand-work. Books thus decorated 
 compare very poorly with illuminated manuscripts, but 
 a few examples are here shown, both of original designs 
 in colours painted in special copies, and also of the 
 commoner practice of painting over woodcuts. 
 
 1. Venice, Johann Herzog, 1490. Crispus 
 
 de Montibus. Repetitio tit. Institutio- 
 num de Heredibus. 
 
 An example of printing in red, brown and green. 
 
 2. Augsburg, Erhard Ratdolt, 1493. Mis- 
 
 sale Brixinense. 
 
 Colour printing supplemented by hand-work.
 
 ILLUMINATED BOOKS 97 
 
 3. Venice, Erhard Ratdolt, 1482. Euclid's 
 
 Geometry in Latin. 
 
 An example of Ratdolt's decorative innovations in 
 another direction, the dedicatory letter to the Doge, 
 Giovanni Mocenigo, to whom this vellum copy was pre- 
 sented, being printed in gold. The border design is hand- 
 painted. (King's Library.) 
 
 4. Paris, Gering, Friburger and Crantz for 
 
 G. Fichet. Fichet. Rhetoricorum libri. 
 
 Special copy on vellum for presentation to Sixtus iv., 
 with an illumination of the author handing his book to 
 the Pope. (Cracherode Library.) 
 
 5. Paris, P. Pigouchet, 1498. Horae ad 
 
 usum Romanum. 
 
 On vellum, with the printed illustrations painted over 
 by hand. 
 
 6. Venice, Aldus Manutius, 1501. Martial. 
 
 Epigram mata. 
 
 On vellum. With illuminated design. (King's 
 Library.) 
 
 7. Florence, Giunta, 1514. Plautus. Comoe- 
 
 diae. 
 
 On vellum. Probably the presentation copy to Lorenzo 
 ii. de' Medici, to whom the book is dedicated. With 
 an illumination. (King's Library.) 
 
 8. Travelling Library of Sir Julius Caesar, 
 
 Master of the Rolls in the reign of 
 James i. 
 
 With a catalogue of the books on the panel, within an 
 ornamental design. The bindings of the religious works 
 are stamped with an angel, of the historical with a lion, 
 of the poetical with a wreath. Most of the books are 
 printed at Leyden. 
 
 G
 
 98 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 Case xix. 
 RECENT ACCESSIONS 
 
 SOME of the more interesting of the books acquired from 
 time to time by the Museum, by purchase or presentation, 
 are temporarily exhibited in this Case. At the back of it 
 are at present shown some English Proclamations of 
 historical interest. 
 
 Case xx. POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 IN 1891 Mr. Thomas Keay Tapling, M.P., bequeathed to 
 the British Museum his great collection of Postage Stamps, 
 then valued at about ,50,000, and now at considerably 
 more. Selections from these stamps, changed from time 
 to time, are here exhibited. 
 
 Cases xxi., xxn. MUSIC 
 
 IN the earliest books requiring musical examples blank 
 spaces were left for the music to be written by hand. 
 Later on, either the notes were printed and the lines of 
 the stave left to be inserted in manuscript, as in Gerson's 
 ' Collectorium super Magnificat' (Esslingen, Conrad 
 Fyner, 1473), or the lines were printed and the notes 
 written, as in Francisco Tovar's ' Libro de Musica Pratica ' 
 (Barcelona, J. Rosenbach, 1510). Use was also some- 
 times made of wooden or metal blocks, a method which 
 first appears in the 'Musices Opusculum' of Nicolaus 
 Burtius (Bologna, Ugo de Rugeriis, 1487), and in the 
 4 Flores Musice ' of Hugo Spechtshart (Strassburg, J. Pryss, 
 1488), and which was occasionally used (as in Turbervile's 
 ' Booke of Faulconrie,' 1575), long after type-printing had 
 been brought to perfection. In Germany, movable 
 music-types were first used in the ' Missale Herbipolense ' 
 (Wiirzburg, 1481), printed by Jorg Reyser, the second
 
 MUSIC-PRINTING 99 
 
 edition (1484) of which is exhibited. Almost simultan- 
 eously Octavianus Scotus of Venice printed plain-song 
 in the same way, i.e. from movable types, with two 
 printings. Further important progress was made by 
 Ottaviano Petrucci (Venice and Fossombrone), Erhard 
 Oeglin (Augsburg), Andreas Antiquus de Montona 
 (Rome), and Pierre Attaingnant (Paris), examples of 
 whose printing are shown. One of the earliest dated 
 engraved musical works (Verovio's ' Diletto Spirituale,' 
 Rome, 1586), and rare works in Organ, Lute and Guitar 
 Tablature are also exhibited. In the lower divisions of 
 the Cases will be found some fine choir-books and full 
 scores, remarkable for their great size. 
 
 1. Esslingen, Conrad Fyner, 1473. Jean 
 
 Charlier de Gerson. Collectorium super 
 Magnificat. 
 
 The first book containing printed musical notes. The 
 notes are printed from punches, the lines of the stave 
 being left blank, to be filled in by hand. (King's 
 Library.) 
 
 2. Venice, Theodorus Francus, 1480. 
 
 Franciscus Niger. Brevis Grammatica. 
 
 The musical notes are printed from type, the space for 
 the lines left to be filled in by hand. (King's Library.) 
 
 3. Venice, Octavianus Scotus, 1482. Dom- 
 
 inican Missal. 
 
 The second work printed by Scotus containing plain- 
 song in Roman notation printed from movable types. 
 
 4. Wurzburg, Jorg Reyser, 1484. Missale 
 
 Herbipolense. 
 
 This is the second issue of Reyser's Wurzburg Missal 
 of 1481, the first work containing plain-song in Gothic 
 notation printed from movable types.
 
 ioo SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 A 
 
 Ocmoftrata ffiftrati co^AKlb dtcc:mo aiccdil ^}f 
 
 XXI. 5. BOLOGNA, UGO DE RUGERIIS, 1487 
 BURTIUS, MUSICES OPUSCULUM
 
 MUSIC-PRINTING 101 
 
 5. Bologna, Ugo de Rugeriis, 1487. 
 
 Nicolaus Burtius. Musices Opusculum. 
 
 The earliest book containing music printed from 
 blocks. (Grenville Library). 
 
 6. Strassburg, J. Pryss, 1488. Hugo 
 
 Spechtshart. Flores Musice omnis 
 cantus Gregoriani. 
 
 7. Seville, ' por quatro alemanes companeros,' 
 
 1492. Domingo Duran. Lux Bella. 
 
 The first Spanish work containing printed music. 
 
 8. Westminster, Wynkyn de Worde, 1495. 
 
 The Polychronicon of Ralph Higden, 
 translated into English by John de 
 Trevisa. 
 
 The first book printed in England containing musical 
 notes. The passage in which they occur describes the 
 consonances of Pythagoras. The double octave is 
 wrongly printed, containing a note too much. (King's 
 Library). 
 
 9. Venice. Joannes Emericus for Lucan- 
 
 tonio Giunta, 1499-1500. Graduale 
 Romanum. 
 
 10. Cologne, H. Quentel, 1501. Nicolas 
 Wollick. Opus Aureum. 
 
 1 1. Venice, Octaviano Petrucci, 1503. Misse 
 
 Petri de la Rue. 
 
 One of the earliest books printed by Petrucci.
 
 102 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 12. Valladolid, Diego de Gumiel, 1506. 
 
 Bartholome de Molina. Arte de canto 
 llano Lux videntis dicha. 
 
 13. Augsburg, Erhardt Oeglin, 1507. P. 
 
 Tritonius. Melopoiae sive Harmoniae 
 Tetracenticae. 
 
 14. Barcelona, J. Rosenbach, 1510. Fran- 
 cisco Tovar. Libro de Musica Pratica. 
 
 In this work the staves only are printed, the notes 
 being written by hand. 
 
 15. Paris, J. Badius Ascensius, 1510. 
 
 Joannes Mauburnus. Rosetum exer- 
 citiorum spiritualium et sacrarum medi- 
 tationum. 
 
 This work contains musical examples in block-printing 
 and early representations of musical instruments. 
 
 1 6. Venice, A. de Zannis de Portesio, 1512. 
 
 Franchinus Gaforus. Practica Musicae. 
 
 17. Antwerp, Jan de Gheet, 1515. A Col- 
 
 lection of Wood-cuts, Verses, and Music 
 in praise of the Emperor Maximilian. 
 
 The music, which is probably the first printed at 
 Antwerp, is by Benedictus de Opitiis. Printed from 
 wooden blocks. 
 
 1 8. Rome, Andreas Antiquus de Montona, 
 
 1516. Liber quindecim Missarum, by 
 Josquin de Pres, Brumel, Fevin, Pierre 
 de la Rue, J. Mouton, Pippelare and P. 
 Rosselli. 
 
 The earliest musical work printed at Rome.
 
 MUSIC-PRINTING 103 
 
 19. Venice, Bernardinus Vercelensis, 1523. 
 
 Marco Antonio de Bologna. Recer- 
 chari, Motetti, Canzoni. 
 
 The earliest collection of organ or virginal music in 
 modern notation. 
 
 20. London, Wynkyn de Worde, 1530. 
 The Bass and part of the Treble Part of 
 a collection of twenty English Songs by 
 Cornysh, Taverner, Cowper, Fayrfax, 
 and others. 
 
 The earliest collection of music printed in England. 
 
 21. Nuremberg, Hieronymus Formschneider, 
 
 1532. Hans Gerle. Musica Teusch, 
 auf die Instrument der grossen vnnd 
 kleirien Geygen, auch Lautten, welcher 
 ... in die Tabulatur, zu ordnen . . . ist. 
 
 22. Valladolid, Diego Hernandez de Cordova, 
 
 1538. Luys de Narbaez. El Libro del 
 Delphin de Musica de cifras para taner 
 Vihuela. 
 
 A collection of compositions and arrangements for 
 the Vihuela, a six-stringed instrument analogous to the 
 guitar. Printed in Tablature, which was first introduced 
 into Spain from Italy by Narbaez. 
 
 23. Lyons, Jacques Moderne, 1539. Le 
 
 Parangon des Chansons. Quart Livre. 
 
 24. Paris, Pierre Attaingnant, 1540. 
 Clement Jannequin. Huitiesme Livre
 
 104 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING
 
 MUSIC-PRINTING 105 
 
 contenant xix. Chansons nouvelles a 
 quatre parties. 
 
 The Contra-tenor and Bassus Parts. 
 
 25. Venice, Antonio Gardano, 1549. 
 
 Giacques Buus. Intabolatura d'Organo 
 di Recercari. Novamente stampata con 
 carateri di stagno. 
 
 26. London, R. Grafton, 1550. John Mer- 
 becke. The Booke of Common Praier 
 noted. 
 
 27. Mexico, Johannes Paulus Brissensis, 
 
 1556. Ordinarium sacri ordinis heremi- 
 tarum Sancti Augustini. 
 
 The. first music printed in America. 
 
 28. Venice, Angelo Gardano, 1566. Mel- 
 
 chior Neysidler. Intabolatura di Liuto. 
 Libro i., ii. 
 
 29. Rome, apud Haeredes Valerii et Aloysii 
 Doricorum fratrum, 1567. G. Ani- 
 muccia. Missarum Liber Primus. 
 
 30. Leipzig, by the heirs of J. Berwald, 1571. 
 E. N. Amerbach, organist of the 
 church of St. Thomas, Leipzig. Orgel- 
 oder Instrument-Tabulatur. 
 
 This volume formerly belonged to J. S. Bach, and 
 contains his autograph. 
 
 31. London, H. Bynneman for C. Barker,
 
 106 SPECIMENS OF EARLY PRINTING 
 
 1575. G. Turbervile. The Noble Arte 
 of Venerie. 
 
 With musical examples printed from blocks. 
 
 32. Munich, Adam Berg, 1580. Orlando di 
 Lasso. Officia aliquot, de praecipuis 
 festis anni, 5 vocum. 
 
 Printed at Munich. Part in. of the great edition of 
 Lasso's sacred music, published under the collective title 
 of ' Patrocinium Musices.' 
 
 33. Rome, Simone Verovio, 1586. Diletto 
 Spirituale. Canzonetti a tre et quattro 
 Voci composti da diversi ecc mi . musici . . . 
 con 1'intavolatura del Cimbalo et Liuto. 
 
 Edited and engraved by Simone Verovio in 1586. 
 This work and Peetrino's ' Melodic Spirituale ' (issued by 
 Verovio in the same year) are the earliest dated examples 
 of Music printed from copper plates. 
 
 34. Rome, Jacobus Tornerius and Bernar- 
 dinus Donangelus, 1589. G. P. da 
 Palestrina. Hymni totius anni . . . 
 quattuor vocibus concinendi. 
 
 35. Munich, Adam Berg, 1594. Cesare de 
 
 Zaccari. Hymni quinque vocum de 
 tempore per totum annum. 
 
 36. Munich, N. Heinrich, 1610. Orlando di 
 
 Lasso. Missae Posthumae. 
 
 Edited by Rud. de Lasso. 
 
 37. Printer and date uncertain. II primo, 
 
 secondo e terzo Libro della Chitarra 
 Spagnola. 
 
 By an anonymous composer known as ' 1'Academico
 
 MUSIC-PRINTING 107 
 
 Caliginoso detto II Furioso.' Probably printed at Rome, 
 about 1610. 
 
 38. London, engraved by William Hole for 
 
 Dorothy Evans, printed by G. Lowe, 
 about 1611. Parthenia, or the Mayden- 
 head of the first Musicke that ever was 
 printed for the Virginalls. By William 
 Byrd, Dr. John Bull and Orlando 
 Gibbons. 
 
 39. London, engraved by William Hole, 1613. 
 
 Angelo Notari. Prime Musiche nuove 
 a una, due e tre voci, per cantare, con la 
 Tiorba et altri Strumenti. 
 
 40. Mainz, Christopher Kiichler, 1666-67. 
 Cantus Gregoriano-Moguntinus, Brevi- 
 ario Romano accomodatus. 
 
 41. Clavier Uebung. Theil u. By J. S. 
 Bach. 
 
 Published at Niirnberg, by C. Weigel, in 1735. A set 
 of proof-sheets containing many corrections in Bach's 
 handwriting. 
 
 42. De Profundis. Psalm for sixteen-part 
 chorus and orchestra, by D. F. E. 
 Wilsing. 
 
 Published at Berlin, in 1853, by Schlesinger, at the 
 expense of Frederick William iv., King of Prussia. 
 
 43. Mass, for Solos, Chorus, Organ and 
 Orchestra, composed for the consecration
 
 io8 CHINESE BOOKS, ETC. 
 
 of the Cathedral of Gran, by Franz 
 Liszt. 
 
 Full score, printed in 1859, at the Imperial Printing 
 Press, Vienna. 
 
 Cases XXIIL, xxiv. 
 
 CHINESE AND JAPANESE 
 
 PRINTING AND BOOK 
 
 ILLUSTRATION 
 
 THESE two Cases belong to the Department of Oriental 
 Printed Books and Manuscripts. Attention may be 
 drawn here to the earlier exhibits, more especially to 
 the Buddhist Dharani of the eighth century, the earliest 
 specimens of printing known to us as existing in any 
 part of the world, and the Chinese Encyclopaedia printed 
 in Korea from movable types in 1337. 
 
 Cases xxv. -xxviii. TEM- 
 PORARY EXHIBITIONS 
 
 DURING the last few years temporary exhibitions have 
 been arranged in these Cases from the Museum collec- 
 tions of Italian, French, and Spanish illustrated books, 
 the books printed by William Morris at the Kelmscott 
 Press, the works of Chaucer, English books with engraved 
 illustrations, etc. These temporary exhibitions are 
 changed at intervals of about a year. 
 
 Cases xxix. -xxxiv. 
 BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 THE last six Show-cases in the Gallery contain examples 
 of bindings of printed books, in continuation of the exhi-
 
 BOOKBINDINGS 109 
 
 bition of bindings of manuscripts in the Grenville Room. 
 The Library of the British Museum is particularly rich 
 in fine bindings, both English and foreign the English 
 consisting principally of the books belonging to the Old 
 Royal Library, given by King George II. to the nation in 
 1757 while the foreign are generally found in the mag- 
 nificent collection bequeathed to the Museum in 1799 by 
 the Rev. C. M. Cracherode, who had been able to take 
 full advantage of the great dispersion of valuable books 
 consequent upon the French Revolution. 
 
 In Cases xxix. and xxx. are exhibited books which 
 have been bound for English Kings and Queens from 
 Henry viil. to George IV., mostly by English binders. 
 The specimens exhibited in Cases XXXI. to XXXIV. 
 are arranged, as far as the difference in their sizes will 
 permit, in chronological order, so as to illustrate the 
 history of bookbinding in Germany, Italy, France and 
 England. 
 
 Cases xxix., xxx. 
 
 ENGLISH ROYAL BINDINGS 
 
 THE Kings and Queens of England were great admirers 
 of fine bindings, and many handsome examples which 
 belonged to Henry VIIL, Edward VI., Queen Mary and 
 Queen Elizabeth, are to be found in these Cases. James I. 
 possessed a large number of superbly bound books, re- 
 splendent with gold tooling ; the sides being generally 
 ornamented with his arms and initials, and thickly 
 studded with heraldic thistles, fleurs-de-lis, etc. Henry 
 Prince of Wales inherited from his father the love of 
 fine bindings, and several which belonged to him are 
 exhibited in Cases xxix. and xxxiv. When the 
 library of Lord Lumley was purchased by this accom- 
 plished young prince, he appears to have had most of the 
 books rebound in calf, with his arms in the centre of the 
 covers, and crowned roses, fleurs-de-lis, Prince of Wales' 
 feathers, or crowned lions rampant in the corners. During 
 the troubled reign of Charles I., comparatively few books 
 were added to the royal collection, but his son Charles II.
 
 no SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 increased it very considerably. His books are generally 
 handsomely but plainly bound in red morocco, the sides 
 and backs being stamped with his cypher. Some of the 
 bindings executed for this monarch, however, are most 
 elaborately tooled ; one of singular beauty is exhibited 
 in Case XXX. Samuel Mearne was his bookbinder. 
 Many other English bindings worthy of special notice 
 will be found in this exhibition. 
 
 1. Henry vin. and Anne Boleyn. Centre 
 
 portion of an old binding inlaid in 
 modern work. With initials H. A. on 
 either side of crowned Tudor rose, and 
 legends : La loy a este donne par Moyse. 
 La Grace et la verite" est faicte par lesu 
 Christ. Probably bound for presenta- 
 tion to the Queen. Ascribed to Thomas 
 Berthelet, the King's binder. Brown 
 calf. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 La Saincte Bible. Antwerp, 1534. 
 
 2. Henry .viii. Royal arms with supporters 
 
 and Tudor badges, including a crowned 
 rose, and initials K. H. Ascribed to 
 Berthelet. Brown calf. (Old Royal 
 Library.) 
 
 Opus eximium de vera differentia regiae potestatis et 
 ecclesiasticae. London, 1534. 
 
 3. Henry vin. With motto ' Dieu et mon 
 
 Droit,' and initials H. R. The edges of 
 the leaves are inscribed : ' Rex in aeter- 
 num vive/ Ascribed to Berthelet. 
 White deerskin. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Elyot. The Image of Governance. London, 1541.
 
 ENGLISH ROYAL BINDINGS 
 
 in 
 
 D I E V+ 
 
 H K ET+ UON+Zk R 
 DROIi; 
 
 XXIX. 3. ENGLISH. A BINDING BY THOMAS BERTHELET FOR 
 HENRY VIII.
 
 U2 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 4. Henry vm. Orange velvet binding, em- 
 
 broidered with gold cord. Initials H. R. 
 Ascribed to Berthelet. (Old Royal 
 Library.) 
 
 Latin Bible. Zurich, 1543. 
 
 5. Katharine Parr. Purple velvet, em- 
 
 broidered with the Queen's arms. 
 
 Petrarch. Opere volgari. Venice, 1544. 
 
 6. Henry vm. Red satin, embroidered with 
 
 gold cord. The edges of the leaves are 
 inscribed : ' Rex in aeternum vive.' 
 Ascribed to Berthelet. 
 
 Bede. De Natura Rerum. [With other works.] 
 Basel, 1526-36. 
 
 7. Edward vi. Each side bears the royal 
 
 arms, crowned initials E. R., the motto 
 ' Dieu et mon Droit ' and date MDLII. 
 Ascribed to Berthelet. Brown calf. 
 (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Petri Bembi Historia Veneta. Venice, 1551. 
 
 8. Queen Mary. Each side bears the royal 
 
 arms and initials M. R. Ascribed to 
 Berthelet. Brown calf. (Old Royal 
 Library.) 
 
 Epitome operum diui Augustini. Cologne, 1549. 
 
 9. Queen Elizabeth. Green velvet binding 
 
 (restored), with gold enamelled plaques. 
 On one side are the royal arms of
 
 ENGLISH ROYAL BINDINGS 113 
 
 England, on the other a crowned Tudor 
 rose. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Nouum Testamentum Graece. Paris, 1550. 
 
 10. Queen Elizabeth. With the Queen's 
 
 arms and initials. A presentation copy 
 from Archbishop Parker, in whose house 
 it may have been bound, perhaps by the 
 workmen of John Day, the printer. On 
 the corner-pieces are the initials I. D. P. 
 Brown calf inlaid with white deerskin. 
 (Cracherode Library.) 
 
 Flores Historiarum per Matthaeum Westmonasterien- 
 sem collecti. London, 1570. 
 
 11. Queen Elizabeth. Binding with sunk 
 
 panels, painted with the Queen's arms 
 and the name ' Elisabetha.' Italian 
 work. Red morocco inlaid with red 
 and pale brown morocco. (Old Royal 
 Library.) 
 
 Mascher. II fiore della retorica. Venice, 1560. 
 
 12. Queen Elizabeth. Green velvet, inlaid 
 with satin, embroidered with pearls and 
 the Queen's arms. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Christopherson. Historia Ecclesiastica. Louvain, 
 1569. 
 
 13. Queen Elizabeth. Crimson velvet, with 
 centrepieces, corners and clasps of ena- 
 melled gold. The centrepieces bear a 
 double red rose crowned, with the 
 initials E. R. (King's Library.) 
 
 Meditationum Christianarum libellus. Lyons, 1570. 
 H
 
 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 14. Queen Elizabeth. With the Queen's 
 
 badge, a crowned Falcon bearing a 
 sceptre. Brown calf. 
 
 Trogi Pompeii historiarum Philippicarum Epitoma. 
 Paris, 1581. 
 
 15. James i. With the King's arms and the 
 
 initials I. R. Dark green morocco. 
 (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Thevet. Pourtraits et vies des hommes illustres. 
 Paris, 1584. 
 
 1 6. James i. With the King's arms on a 
 
 field of thistles, fleurs-de-lys, etc. Olive 
 morocco. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Pontificate Romanum. Rome, 1595. 
 
 17. James i. With the King's arms, with 
 
 supporters, on a field of thistles. Olive 
 morocco. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Godwin. Rerum AngHcarum Annales. London, 1616. 
 
 1 8. James i. With the King's arms on a 
 
 field of flowers. White vellum. (Old 
 Royal Library.) 
 
 Abbot. De Gratia et Perseverantia Sanctorum. 
 London, 1618. 
 
 19. Henry, Prince of Wales. With the 
 Prince's ostrich-feather badge. Olive 
 morocco. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Rivault. Les elemens de 1'artillerie. Paris, 1608. 
 
 20. Henry, Prince of Wales. Ostrich-feather
 
 ENGLISH ROYAL BINDINGS 115 
 
 badge and initials H. P. Brown calf. 
 Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Commentaires de messire Blaise de Monluc. Bor- 
 deaux, 1592. 
 
 21. Henry, Prince of Wales. Crimson 
 velvet, stamped with ostrich - feather 
 badge in gold and silver. (Old Royal 
 Library.) 
 
 Becano-Baculus-Salcolbrigiensis. Oppenheim, 1611. 
 
 22. Henry, Prince of Wales. Arms, and in 
 the corners crowned lions rampant. 
 Brown calf. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Froissart. Chroniques. Paris, 1518. 
 
 23. Henry, Prince of Wales. Arms, and in 
 the corners fleurs-de-lys. Brown calf. 
 (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Lycosthenes. Prodigiorum chronicum. Basel, 1557. 
 
 24. Henry, Prince of Wales. Arms, and in 
 the corners crowned Tudor roses. 
 Brown calf. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Bouchet. Les Annales d'Acquitaine. Paris, 1540. 
 
 25. Henry, Prince of Wales. Arms, and in 
 the corners the ostrich-feather badge 
 in silver. Brown calf. (Old Royal 
 Library.) 
 
 Adam Goddam super quattuor libros sententiarum. 
 Paris, 151 i. 
 
 26. Henry, Prince of Wales. Ostrich-feather 
 badge in gold and silver, with initials
 
 ii6 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 H. P. Brown calf. (Old Royal 
 Library.) 
 
 La Mareschalerie de Laurent Ruse. Paris, 1563. 
 
 27. Charles i. With the King's arms. 
 
 Black morocco. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Williams. The right way to the best religion. 
 London, 1636. 
 
 28. Charles n. ' Cottage ' design, stained in 
 black, with the King's cypher, crowned, 
 between palm branches. Attributed to 
 Samuel Mearne. Red morocco. (Old 
 Royal Library.) 
 
 Common Prayer. London, 1669. 
 
 29. Charles n. With the King's cypher, 
 crowned, between palm branches. At- 
 tributed to Samuel Mearne. Red 
 morocco. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Sixteenth century Tracts. 
 
 30. James n. With the King's cypher, 
 
 crowned, between palm branches. At- 
 tributed to Charles Mearne. Red 
 morocco. (King's Library.) 
 
 Common Prayer. Oxford, 1681. 
 
 31. William in. With the King's arms. 
 
 Red morocco. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Memoirs of the Earl of Castlehaven. London, 1681. 
 
 32. William in. With the King's cypher,
 
 ENGLISH ROYAL BINDINGS 117 
 
 XXX. 28. BINDING BY SAMUEL MEARNE FOR CHARLES II.
 
 u8 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 crowned, between palm branches. Red 
 morocco. 
 
 Recueil de diverses pieces servans a Phistoire de 
 Henri HI. 
 
 33. Queen Anne. ' Cottage ' design, with 
 
 the Queen's initials, crowned, between 
 palm branches, in each corner. Red 
 morocco. (King's Library.) 
 
 Aelfric. An English Saxon Homily on the birthday 
 of St. Gregory. London, 1709. 
 
 34. George i. With the King's arms and 
 crowned cypher. Red morocco. 
 
 Account of what passed in a conference concerning 
 the succession to the Crown. MS. 
 
 35. Caroline, Princess of Wales. With the 
 
 arms of the Princess. Red morocco. 
 (King's Library.) 
 
 Playford. Wit and Mirth. London, 1714. 
 
 36. George, Prince of Wales, afterwards 
 
 George u. Ostrich-feather badge and 
 initials G. P. Red morocco. (King's 
 Library.) 
 
 Musgrave. Antiquitates Britanno-Belgicae. Exeter, 
 1719. 
 
 37. George n. With the King's arms. Red 
 
 morocco. (King's Library.) 
 
 Chandler. A Vindication of the Defence of Christi- 
 anity. London, 1728. 
 
 38. George, Prince of Wales, afterwards
 
 STAMPED BINDINGS 119 
 
 George in. Mosaic binding, with the 
 Prince's arms and cypher. Bound by 
 Andreas Linde. Red morocco, with 
 black and yellow inlays. (King's 
 Library.) 
 
 Der Gantze Psalter. London, 1751. 
 
 39. George, Prince of Wales, afterwards 
 George iv. Mosaic binding, with 
 ostrich-feather badge. Red and black 
 morocco. (King's Library.) 
 
 London and its Environs described. London, 1761. 
 
 Case xxxi. 
 
 STAMPED BINDINGS, WITH EXAMPLES OF 
 GERMAN AND DUTCH WORK OF LATER 
 DATE 
 
 IN Case vill. of the Exhibition of Manuscripts in the 
 Grenville Library may be seen fine examples of the 
 different styles of bookbinding in use during the five 
 centuries which preceded the introduction of printing, 
 the metal covers, enriched with jewels and enamels, 
 chiefly used for Gospel-Books ; the ivory and embroidery 
 found on smaller volumes of unusual value ; and the 
 leather impressed with small stamps (ungilded), which, at 
 least from the eleventh century, formed the binding of 
 books in ordinary use. Similar blind-stamped bindings 
 are found on the earliest printed books, many of them 
 being protected by the brass bosses and corner-pieces 
 which had recently come into fashion, and were really 
 useful as long as the medieval custom of keeping books 
 lying on their sides, instead of standing upright, still con- 
 tinued. Besides bosses and corner-pieces, early printed 
 books are also occasionally found with chains attached to
 
 120 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 them, the use of chains, which lasted in English churches 
 till the eighteenth century and even later, being in the 
 fifteenth century almost universal in public libraries. 
 About 1470 large panel stamps came into fashion, being 
 used at first for the centre of large designs and afterwards 
 as the sole ornament of small bindings. In France these 
 panel stamps mostly took a pictorial form, representing 
 scenes from the Bible, figures of saints, etc. In England 
 the examples which have been preserved are mainly 
 heraldic or floral. In Germany, towards the middle of 
 the sixteenth century, portraits of celebrated persons, 
 such as Luther, Melanchthon, the Emperor Charles v., 
 etc., were frequently used as stamps. The white pigskin 
 bindings on which they are usually found, although the 
 stamps seldom show clearly on the hard leather, are the 
 most characteristic examples of German work, which in 
 subsequent centuries developed little originality. With 
 the German bindings are exhibited a few Dutch ones, the 
 more notable being the work of Poncyn and Magnus, 
 both of whom in their designs show the influence of Le 
 Gascon. 
 
 1. German cut and blind-stamped binding. 
 
 Brown calf. 
 
 Rainerus de Pisis. Pantheologia. Basel, 1475. 
 
 2. German blind - stamped binding, with 
 
 bosses, chain and label. The name of 
 the binder, Conradus de Argentina is 
 on a scroll. Black calf. 
 
 Bartolus de Saxoferrato super Infortiato. Venice, 
 1471. 
 
 3. German blind - stamped binding with 
 
 colour, signed and dated by the binder, 
 ' lo. Richenbach 1475.' Pigskin. 
 
 Jacobus de Voragine. Legenda Sanctorum. Basel, 
 1474.
 
 STAMPED BINDINGS 121 
 
 4. German blind-stamped binding, with large 
 
 panel stamp. Brown calf. 
 
 Postilla Thome de Aquino in Job. Esslingen, 1474. 
 
 5. German blind - stamped half binding. 
 
 Pigskin on oaken boards. 
 
 Terentii Opera. Lyons, 1493. 
 
 6. French blind-stamped binding, with large 
 
 panel stamp of the vision of ' Ara Coeli,' 
 and the initials and device of Julian 
 Notary. Brown calf. 
 
 Ovidius Naso. Epistolae. Lyons, 1528. 
 
 7. English blind-stamped binding, with 
 
 small bosses. Attributed to Thomas 
 Hunte of Oxford. Brown calf. 
 
 Nider. Consolatorium. Paris, 1478. 
 
 8. English blind-stamped binding by Richard 
 
 Pynson, with panel stamps of double 
 rose and device. Brown sheepskin. 
 
 Abbreviamentum Statutorum. London, 1499. 
 
 9. English blind-stamped binding, with panel 
 
 stamps of the arms of Henry vm. and 
 double rose. Brown sheepskin. 
 
 Beroaldus. Opuscula. About 1510. 
 
 10. English blind-stamped binding, with 
 Tudor badges and the initials N. S., 
 i.e. Nicholas Spierinck of Cambridge. 
 Brown calf. 
 
 Le Fevre. Liber Trium Virorum. Paris, 1513.
 
 122 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 ii. English blind -stamped binding, with 
 panel stamps of the arms of Henry vm. 
 and Katharine of Arragon. Brown calf. 
 
 Whittinton. De octo partibus orationis. London, 
 1521. 
 
 XXXI. 8. ENGLISH BLIND-STAMPED BINDING 
 BY RICHARD PYNSON 
 
 12. English blind-stamped binding by John 
 . Reynes, with panel stamp : ' Arma
 
 Redemptoris Mundi.' Brown sheep- 
 skin. 
 
 Henrici vin. ad M. Lutheri epistolam responsio. 
 London, 1526. 
 
 13. German blind-stamped binding, with 
 panel portraits of the Emperor Charles v. 
 and John Frederick, Duke of Saxony. 
 Brown calf. 
 
 Camerarius, Kar^x^ " 1 ? T0 ^ Xpwrtaiwjwm. Leipsic, 
 
 LATER GERMAN AND DUTCH BINDINGS 
 
 14. German blind-tooled binding, with small 
 
 stamps. Pigskin. 
 
 Sacerdotale. Venice, 1587. 
 
 15. German binding, with portraits in gold. 
 
 Dated 1563. Brown calf. 
 
 New Testament in Croatian. Tubingen, 1563. 
 
 1 6. German armorial binding. Dated 1568. 
 
 Brown calf. 
 
 Kirchengeseng. [A Moravian hymnbook.] 1566. 
 
 17. German coloured binding, with silver 
 
 fillets. Pale calf. (Slade Bequest.) 
 
 Der Stat Niirmberg vernevite Reformation. Frankfort 
 am Main, 1566.
 
 124 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 1 8. German coloured binding, from the 
 
 library of Albert v. Duke of Bavaria. 
 With emblematic figures. Red morocco. 
 
 Canisius. De Maria virgine. Ingolstadt, 1577. 
 
 19. German binding (probably of the seven- 
 
 teenth century), with stamps of the 
 Crucifixion and S. John in gold. Brown 
 calf. 
 
 Catechismus. Strassburg, 1582. 
 
 20. Dutch binding, with central panel stamp 
 and large cornerpieces. With the name 
 of the owner : D. Joannes Baptista 
 Bovrier. Brown calf. 
 
 David. Veridicus Christianus. Antwerp, 1601. 
 
 21. Dutch binding by Poncyn of Amster- 
 dam. Red morocco. 
 
 Biblia. Amsterdam, 1655. 
 
 22. Dutch binding by Magnus of Amsterdam. 
 
 Red morocco. 
 
 Missale Romanum. Antwerp, 1663. 
 
 23. German or Dutch binding, with silver 
 bosses, clasps and corners. 
 
 Biblia, Deutsch. Liineburg, 1683. 
 
 24. German binding in silver, with niello 
 
 and filigree work. 
 
 Bussieres. Flosculi Historiarum. Cologne, 1688.
 
 ITALIAN BINDINGS 125 
 
 25. German binding, with the arms of Ber- 
 
 nardus Abbas Ethalensis in the centre 
 of a floral design. Brown calf. 
 
 Braun. Historia Augusta. Augsburg, 1698. 
 
 26. German tortoiseshell binding, with inlays 
 of silver and mother-of-pearl. (Slade 
 Bequest.) 
 
 Arndt. Gebetbuch. Ulm, 1722. 
 
 Case xxxii. 
 
 ITALIAN BINDINGS 
 
 THROUGH the trade of Venice with the East, Italian 
 binders in the second half of the fifteenth century adopted 
 patterns and methods of ornamentation not previously in 
 use in Europe. In the Show-case of ' Bindings of Manu- 
 scripts ' (Grenville Room, vm. 21) may be seen a fine 
 blind-tooled design, consisting of a panel and border of 
 interlaced cable pattern, set with bead-like dots and with 
 minute rings or roundels of metallic lustre. The cable 
 pattern or ' Arabic knots ' will be found on several early 
 Venetian and Florentine bindings of printed books here 
 shown, while the binding of Omnibonus 'De octo parti- 
 bus orationis' offers an example of the use of the gilt 
 roundels. The use of gold tooling was also introduced 
 into Europe through Venice, where it became common 
 in the last years of the fifteenth century. Many of the 
 earliest bindings on which it is found cover books printed 
 by Aldus, who may have had his own bindery. Three 
 fine bindings exhibited, two of them with sunk cameo 
 designs, belong to books printed at Florence, and were 
 probably made in that city. Eastern influences survived 
 for many years at Venice in the richly decorated sunk- 
 panel bindings, of which examples are shown in No. 15 
 of this Case, and No. 1 1 of the English Royal Bindings 
 (Case XXIX.), but about 1520, for ordinary gilt leather 
 bindings the Oriental rope-patterns were superseded by
 
 126 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 lighter geometrical designs, which were so often used on 
 books bound for Jean Grolier, Vicomte d'Aguisy (who 
 in 1510 succeeded his father as treasurer of the Duchy of 
 Milan) that they have become associated with his name. 
 Two of these Grolier books are here shown, with two 
 books bound for another famous collector, Tommaso 
 Maioli, about whom little is known, and an example of the 
 famous cameo bindings at one time owned by Demetrio 
 Canevari. Towards the middle of the century the geo- 
 metrical designs on bindings tend to grow heavier, and 
 the strap-work patterns are often found painted in various 
 colours. After about 1560 Italian binding degenerated 
 very rapidly, but in the seventeenth century the art was 
 temporarily revived by the use of some very decorative 
 and effective ' fan ' patterns, of which examples are shown 
 in Nos. 18 and 19 of this Case. 
 
 1. Blind-stamped binding, with small gilt 
 
 roundels. With metal bosses and clasp. 
 Pale brown calf. 
 
 Omnibonus. De octo partibus orationis. Venice, 
 1474. 
 
 2. Blind-stamped binding, with gilt roundels 
 
 and coloured cameo designs of Curtius 
 leaping into the abyss in the Roman 
 Forum, and Horatius Codes defending 
 the Sublician bridge. Grolier's copy, 
 containing his autograph. Deep brown 
 morocco. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 Celsus. De Medicina. Venice, 1477. 
 
 3. Venetian binding, with Arabic knots and 
 
 the small 'Aldine' leaf, surrounded by 
 borders of figured and knotted work. 
 Olive morocco. 
 
 Petrarch. Sonetti e Canzoni. Venice, Aldus, 1501.
 
 ITALIAN BINDINGS 127 
 
 4. Florentine binding, with sunk cameo por- 
 
 traits of Philip of Macedon and Alexander 
 the Great, with borders of interlaced 
 work. Deep red morocco. (Cracherode 
 Library.) 
 
 Greek Anthology. Florence, 1494. 
 
 5. Florentine binding, blind-tooled, with 
 
 small cameo portrait of Julius Caesar. 
 Brown morocco. 
 
 Bonini. 'EyxetpiStov y/sa/^aTi/o}?. Florence, 1514. 
 
 6. Florentine binding, with Arabic knots and 
 
 figured border. Olive morocco. 
 
 Caesar. Commentaria. Florence, 1514. 
 
 7. Venetian binding, made for Jean Grolier, 
 
 Vicomte d'Aguisy, perhaps by the firm 
 of Aldus, with interlacing geometrical 
 design, enclosing scroll work and two 
 Arabic knots. On the upper cover are 
 the Author's name and the inscription : 
 lo. Grolierii et Amicorum ; on the lower 
 is one of Grolier's mottoes : Portio mea 
 Domine sit in terra viventium. Citron 
 morocco. (Cracherode Library.) 
 
 Silius Italicus. De Bello Punico secundo. Venetiis, 
 in aedibus Aldi, 1523. 
 
 8. Binding with interlaced geometrical 
 
 design, made for Jean Grolier, with 
 inscription : lo. Grolierii et Amicorum, 
 and motto : Portio mea Domine sit in
 
 128 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 terra viventium. Citron calf. (Crach- 
 erode Library.) 
 
 Wittichindi Saxonis rerum ab Henrico et Ottone I. 
 Impp. gestarum libri in. Basel, 1532. 
 
 9. Binding with borders of arabesque design 
 on a ground of gold dots, with a central 
 cartouche. Made for Tommaso Maioli, 
 with his monogram and inscription, Tho. 
 Maioli et Amicor. Brown morocco. 
 (Cracherode Library.) 
 
 Caesar. Commentarii. Rome, 1469. 
 
 i o. Binding with borders of arabesque design, 
 partly stained black, partly studded with 
 gold dots, with a central cartouche. 
 Made for Tommaso Maioli, with his 
 monogram and inscription, Tho. Maioli 
 et Amicorum. Olive morocco inlaid 
 with pale brown. (Cracherode Library.) 
 
 Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Venice, 1499. 
 
 11. Binding with coloured cameo design of 
 Apollo in his chariot. Part of a collec- 
 tion at one time owned by Demetrio 
 Canevari, physician to Pope Urban vn. 
 Dark olive morocco. 
 
 Polydori Vergilii Anglicae Historiae libri xxvi. Basel, 
 1534. 
 
 12. Binding with cameo stamp of an eagle 
 soaring over a rocky sea, with motto, Este 
 Procul. Made for Apollonio Filareto,
 
 ITALIAN BINDINGS 
 
 129 
 
 ^rar^oc-^rtr^ar-Ji5 
 
 vyiTi 
 CHINDVS 
 
 SAXO. 
 
 E.REBVSGESTI 
 
 SAXONVM 
 
 ET C, 
 
 IO.GROLIERII ET AMICORVM. 
 
 XXXII. 9. ITALIAN BINDING FROM THE LIBRARY OF JEAN GROLIER 
 
 I
 
 130 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 Secretary of Pierluigi Farnese. Brown 
 morocco. (Slade Bequest.) 
 
 Ptolemy. Geographica Enarratio. Lyons, 1541. 
 
 13. Coloured binding, with strap-work 
 pattern. Brown morocco. 
 
 Zantani. Le Imagini. Parma, 1548. 
 
 14. Coloured binding, with large centre 
 
 stamp. Brown morocco. 
 
 Petrarca. Opere. Venice, 1550. 
 
 15. Venetian binding inlaid in oriental style, 
 
 with sunk panels. Red morocco inlaid 
 with black and yellow. (Slade Bequest.) 
 
 Piccolomini. Delia Institutione morale. Venice, 
 1560. 
 
 1 6. Armorial binding, with floral scroll-work. 
 
 Red morocco. 
 
 Elysius. Christianae Religionis Arcana. Venice, 
 1569. 
 
 17. Coloured binding, with the arms of 
 
 Cardinal Barberini. Brown morocco. 
 
 Lauro. Pianta e historia di Malta. Rome, 1639. 
 
 1 8. Binding with outer border in compart- 
 
 ments, and fan-pattern centre and corner- 
 pieces. Brown morocco. (Presented by 
 Sir R. C. Hoare.) 
 
 Ripamonti. Historia Patriae. Milan, 1641. 
 
 19. Binding with outer border of spirals, and 
 fan-pattern centre and corner-pieces. Red
 
 FRENCH BINDINGS 131 
 
 morocco. (Presented by Sir R. C. 
 Hoare.) 
 
 Ripamonti. Historia Patriae. Milan, 1648. 
 
 20. Coloured armorial binding, with the arms 
 of Pope Clement xm. Dull red morocco. 
 
 Oddi. Constitutiones Synodales. Viterbo, 1763. 
 
 21. Armorial binding, with the arms of Pope 
 
 Clement xm. Brown morocco. 
 
 Allegrini. De Laudibus S. Stanislai Kostkae oratio. 
 Rome, 1767. 
 
 Case xxxni. 
 
 
 FRENCH BINDINGS 
 
 THE designs on which gold-tooling was first used in 
 France are for the most part clumsy imitations of 
 Venetian work. In the bindings of the artist-printer 
 Geoffroy Tory the influence of the earlier Italian designs 
 is still evident, though they are used in a more individual 
 manner and combined with Tory's own device of a broken 
 vase and a 'toret,' or wimble. After Grolier returned 
 from Italy in 1529 he is said to have introduced Italian 
 binders into France, the books presumed to have been 
 bound for him at Paris being distinguishable only by 
 minute differences, and perhaps by a slightly greater 
 precision of style, from those of Venetian workmanship. 
 The bindings here shown executed for Henri II. illustrate 
 the continued survival of Italian influence, but the general 
 handling is original, and about the year 1 560 French binders 
 took the place of Italian as the finest in Europe. The work 
 associated with the name of Nicolas Eve illustrates two 
 entirely new styles, of French origin, which began about
 
 132 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 this time, the use of the ' semis,' or repetition of the same 
 small stamp at regular intervals over the greater part of 
 the binding, and the so-called 'fanfare' style, in which 
 the ground is closely covered with combinations of small 
 tools representing branches of palm and laurel, floriated 
 spirals and other ornaments. The 'semis' is found on 
 the binding of the ' Statuts de 1'ordre du Sainct Esprit,' 
 for which the bill of Nicolas Eve has been preserved ; the 
 theory that all or most ' fanfare ' designs may be attributed 
 to him is much less certain. These designs are found on 
 royal bindings of later date, but a sumptuary law issued by 
 Henri ill. in 1577 seems to have compelled private book- 
 lovers to content themselves for some years with stamping 
 only their coats of arms on their books, a simple method 
 of decoration to which the excellence of the leather in 
 many cases lends great dignity and distinction. For 
 royal bindings the ' semis ' continued in use, some bind- 
 ings in this style being ascribed to Clovis Eve (probably 
 a son or nephew of Nicolas), to whom are attributed the 
 very decorative bindings, supposed to have been made for 
 Marguerite de Valois, of which an example is shown. At 
 the beginning of the seventeenth century a new fashion 
 arose, the ' pointing ' work (designs made up of very fine 
 dots), which is especially associated with an anonymous 
 binder referred to as Le Gascon. These designs con- 
 tinued in vogue for many years, and were largely imitated 
 both in Holland and England. In the eighteenth century 
 the most important styles are the 'dentelle' (floral or 
 conventional designs with indented borders, resembling 
 lace) and the fine inlaid work in different coloured 
 leathers. Bindings with these designs are associated with 
 the names of Monnier, and of members of two great 
 families of binders, the Padeloups and Deromes. Simple 
 armorial bindings continued in use through both the 
 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the latest examples 
 of them here shown being from the libraries of the three 
 daughters of Louis XV. 
 
 i. Binding with the arms of Henry vin., and 
 motto : ' Dieu et mon droit.' Partly 
 stamped in blind, partly in gold, with
 
 FRENCH BINDINGS 133 
 
 imitations of Venetian patterns. Brown 
 calf. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Galen. Methodus medendi. Paris, 1519. 
 
 2. Central portion of a binding with the arms, 
 
 device and crowned initials of Francis i., 
 King of France. Brown calf inlaid in 
 modern leather. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 C. Suetonii Tranquilli Duodecim Caesares. Venice, 
 1521. 
 
 3. Binding with device of Geoffrey Tory, 
 
 and imitations of Venetian stamps. 
 Olive morocco. 
 
 Petrarca. Opere. Venice, 1525. 
 
 4. Coloured binding, in Venetian style, made 
 
 for Jean Grolier, Vicomte d'Aguisy, 
 with his inscription and motto. Brown 
 calf. (Cracherode Library.) 
 
 Machiavelli. II Principe. Venice, 1540. 
 
 5. Armorial binding, with the arms, initials 
 
 and badges of Henri n., King of France. 
 Olive morocco. (Cracherode Library.) 
 
 Moschopuli de ratione examinandae orationis. Paris, 
 1545- 
 
 6. Coloured binding, with cameo portrait of 
 
 Henri IL, King of France. Pale calf. 
 
 Coustumes du Bailliage de Sens. Sens, 1556. 
 
 7. Binding with arabesque design in imita- 
 
 tion of Italian work. Olive morocco. 
 (Cracherode Library.) 
 
 Lucretius. De Rerum Natura. Paris, 1563.
 
 134 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 8. Coloured binding, with the arms of 
 
 Catherine de' Medici. Olive morocco. 
 (Cracherode Library.) 
 
 Dionysii Areopagitae opera. Paris, 1562. 
 
 9. Binding with oval panel surrounded by 
 
 arabesques. Made for Jean Grolier, 
 Vicomte d'Aguisy, with his inscription 
 and motto. Olive morocco. (Crache- 
 rode Library.) 
 
 Aeneas Vicus. Commentaria in vetera imperatorum 
 Romanorum numismata. Venice, 1560. 
 
 10. Binding with geometrical design, with 
 the arms of Jean Baptiste Colbert, 
 Marquis de Seignelay, subsequently 
 added. Red morocco. (Cracherode 
 Library.) 
 
 Novum Testamentum. Paris, 1565. 
 
 11. 'Fanfare' binding, with the arms of 
 Jacques Auguste de Thou. Attributed 
 to Nicolas feve. Red morocco. (Crache- 
 rode Library.) 
 
 Poetae Graeci. Paris, 1566. 
 
 12. 'Fanfare' binding, with the arms of 
 Jacques Auguste de Thou. Attributed 
 to Nicolas Eve. Red morocco. (Crache- 
 rode Library.) 
 
 Valerius Maximus. Dictorum factorumque memor- 
 abilium libri ix. Antwerp, 1574.
 
 FRENCH BINDINGS 
 
 135 
 
 13. Binding with a 'semis' of fleurs-de-lys 
 and tongues of fire, with the arms of 
 
 xxxin. 12. 'FANFARE' BINDING FOR JACQUES AUGUSTE DE THOU 
 
 Henri in., King of France, the badge of 
 the Saint Esprit, and the monogram of
 
 136 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 Henri and his Queen, Louise of Lor- 
 raine, in the corners. One of forty-two 
 copies of the Statutes of the Order of 
 the Saint Esprit bound by Nicolas ve 
 in 1579. Orange morocco. (Presented 
 by Lady Banks.) 
 
 Le Livre des Statuts de 1'Ordre du Sainct Esprit. 
 Paris, 1578. 
 
 14. Binding with a semis of fleurs-de-lys, 
 with the arms of Henri in. and one of 
 the monograms from the collar of the 
 Order of the Saint Esprit. Olive 
 morocco. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 L'Histoire des Faicts des Roys de France. Paris, 
 1581. 
 
 15. Binding with a semis of fleurs-de-lys, 
 with the arms of Henri in. Olive 
 morocco. 
 
 Horatius Flaccus. Opere d'Oratio. Venice, 1581. 
 
 1 6. Binding with a floral diaper, the upper 
 cover bearing a shield charged with 
 three fleurs-de-lys on a bend, the lower 
 a similar shield with three lilies, sur- 
 rounded by the motto : ' Expectata non 
 eludet.' Usually asserted to have been 
 bound by Clovis five for Marguerite de 
 Valois, Queen Consort of Henri iv. 
 Red morocco. (Cracherode Library.) 
 
 Caesar. Commentarii. Paris, 1564.
 
 FRENCH BINDINGS 137 
 
 17. Armorial binding, with the arms and 
 
 monogram of Jacques Auguste de Thou 
 and his first wife, Marie Barban^on. 
 Red morocco. (Cracherode Library.) 
 
 Apollonii Alexandrini de Syntax! libri iv. Frankfort, 
 1590. 
 
 1 8. Armorial binding, .with the arms and 
 monogram of Jacques Auguste de Thou 
 and his second wife, Gasparde de la 
 Chastre. Pale brown morocco, with a 
 stamped and coloured pattern. (Crache- 
 rode Library.) 
 
 Phaedri Fabulae. Paris, 1617. 
 
 19. Armorial binding, with the arms and 
 
 initials of Henri iv. King of France. 
 Red morocco. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 J. A. de Thou. Historia sui temporis. Paris, 1604. 
 
 20. Armorial binding, with the arms of Mary 
 
 de' Medici, widow of Henri iv., with 
 semis of fleurs-de-lys, and the Queen's 
 monogram. Olive morocco. 
 
 Dion Cassius. Historia Romana. Hanover, 1606. 
 
 21. Armorial binding, with the arms of 
 
 Louis XIIL, and semis of his crowned 
 initial. Brown morocco. (Grenville 
 Library.) 
 
 Ammianus Marcellinus. Rerum gestarum libri xviii. 
 Hamburg, 1609. 
 
 23. Inlaid 'pointille" binding by Le Gascon.
 
 138 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 Red morocco with olive and citron inlays. 
 (King's Library.) 
 
 Chacon. Historia Belli Dacici. Rome, 1616. 
 
 ffyff^^ 
 
 XXXIII. 24. BINDING BY LE GASCON 
 
 24. ' Pointilld ' binding by Le Gascon. Red 
 morocco. (Cracherode Library.) 
 
 Novum Testamentum Graece. Amsterdam, 1633.
 
 FRENCH BINDINGS 139 
 
 25. Armorial binding, with the arms of Fey- 
 
 deau de Brou. Red morocco. 
 
 Languet. Epistolae. Groningen, 1646. 
 
 26. Binding made for the Baron de Longe- 
 pierre, with his badge of the Golden 
 Fleece. Attributed to Du Seuil. Red 
 morocco. (Cracherode Library.) 
 
 Claudianus. Opera. Leyden, 1650. 
 
 27. Armorial binding by the younger Pade- 
 
 loup with the arms of the Comte d'Hoym. 
 Black morocco. 
 
 Eutropius. De Gestis Romanorum. Paris, 1539. 
 
 28. Inlaid diaper- pattern binding by the 
 younger Padeloup. Brown morocco 
 with olive and crimson inlays. (Slade 
 Bequest.) 
 
 Office de la Semaine Sainte. Paris, 1712. 
 
 29. Inlaid floral binding by Jean Monnier. 
 Crimson morocco with inlays of many 
 colours. (Slade Bequest.) 
 
 La Sainte Bible. Cologne, 1539. 
 
 30. Inlaid and painted floral binding, perhaps 
 by J. A. Derome. Red morocco with 
 inlays of many colours. (Slade Bequest.) 
 
 Heures nouvelles. Paris, 1749. 
 
 31. 'Dentelle' binding by J. A. Derome, 
 with the arms of the Right Hon. Thomas
 
 140 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 Grenville added. Citron morocco. 
 (Grenville Library.) 
 
 Philelphi Satirae. Milan, 1476. 
 
 32. ' Dentelle ' binding by J. A. Derome, 
 with the arms of the Rev. C. M. Crache- 
 rode. Blue morocco. (Cracherode 
 Library.) 
 
 Taciti Opera. Venice, 1473. 
 
 33. Armorial binding, with the arms of 
 
 Madame Adelaide, eldest daughter of 
 Louis xv., King of France. Red 
 morocco. 
 
 Abbadie. L'art de se connoitre soi-meme. The 
 Hague, 1749. 
 
 34. Armorial binding, with the arms of 
 
 Madame Victoire, second daughter of 
 Louis xv., King of France. Olive 
 morocco. 
 
 L'Anti-Lucrece. Par M. le Cardinal de Polignac. 
 Paris, 1754. 
 
 35. Armorial binding, with the arms of 
 
 Madame Sophie, third daughter of 
 Louis xv., King of France. Citron 
 morocco. 
 
 Chevreau. Histoire du Monde. Paris, 1717.
 
 ENGLISH BINDINGS 141 
 
 Case xxxiv. 
 
 ENGLISH BINDINGS 
 
 THE imitation of Italian artistic binding quickly spread 
 over the greater part of Europe, reaching England in the 
 latter part of the reign of Henry vill. Thus we find 
 Thomas Berthelet, the king's printer and binder, in 
 a bill which is extant, charging Henry the sum of 
 117, OS. 6|d. for supplying certain works, and also for 
 printing and binding various books and proclamations, 
 some of them being described as ' gorgiously gilted on 
 the leather,' with 'arabaske drawing in golde on the 
 transfile,' and others as bound ' after the facion of Venice.' 
 These 'gorgiously gilted' bindings quickly superseded 
 the plain stamped ones of Reynes, Pynson, Notary and 
 other early English binders, of which examples are shown 
 in Case xxxi. ; and up to nearly 1570 the imitation of 
 Italian designs still continued, the bindings on the books 
 of the English collector Thomas Wotton being frankly 
 modelled on those made for Grolier. As in printing, 
 however, so in bookbinding, the work of John Day, carried 
 on with the active help of Archbishop Parker, shows 
 marked originality, and his bindings in brown calf, with 
 white inlays, are especially notable Throughout the 
 century, also, another native style of binding, that in 
 embroidered velvet, continued in use, being exchanged 
 under the Stuarts for the gayer and more elaborate, but 
 not more decorative, embroidery on silk and satin with 
 silver guimp. In leather bindings the French 'fanfare' 
 style failed to cross the Channel, but the 'semis' was 
 extensively used in England at the beginning of the 
 seventeenth century. Under Charles I. a lighter style of 
 decoration came into fashion, and bindings of consider- 
 able beauty and originality were produced at Oxford and 
 Cambridge, as well as in London. After the Restoration 
 the royal binder, Samuel Mearne, by a combination of the 
 pointill^ work of Le Gascon, with larger sprays and with
 
 142 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 the curious gabled rectangles known as ' Cottage' designs, 
 produced some very pleasing work, the general effect of 
 which is hardly diminished by the irregularities in its 
 execution. Under Mearne and his successors this style 
 of decoration enjoyed a long life, lasting with slight 
 modifications till the reign of George II. In the middle 
 of the eighteenth century English binding was at a very 
 low ebb, but Roger Payne, who began work a little before 
 1770, speedily revived the art, and was a worthy rival of 
 the best French binders. 
 
 It should be noted that, as illustrations of the historical 
 development of English binding, the books in Cases XXIX. 
 and XXX. should be studied as supplementing those here 
 shown. 
 
 1. Armorial binding, with the arms and 
 
 initials of Edward vi. Attributed to 
 Thomas Berthelet. Brown calf. (Old 
 Royal Library.) 
 
 Andreasius. De amplitudine misericordiae Dei. 
 Basel, 1550. 
 
 2. Armorial binding, with the arms of Queen 
 
 Mary. Attributed to Thomas Berthelet. 
 Brown calf. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Bonner. A profitable and necessarye doctryne. 
 London, 1555. 
 
 3. Binding with central panel stamp sur- 
 
 rounded by a Venetian border. Ascribed 
 to Thomas Berthelet. White deerskin. 
 (Grenville Library.) 
 
 Joannes a Lasco. Tractatio de sacramentis. London,
 
 ENGLISH BINDINGS 143 
 
 4. Binding of Italian design, with the white 
 
 horse and oak spray badge of Henry 
 Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, inlaid. Pale 
 brown calf. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Biblia. Venice, 1544. 
 
 5. Coloured armorial binding, with the arms 
 
 of Mary Queen of Scots, with supporters. 
 Black morocco. (King's Library.) 
 
 The Black Acts. Edinburgh, 1556. 
 
 6. Green velvet armorial binding, inlaid with 
 
 coloured silk and stamped in gold, with 
 the arms of Queen Elizabeth. (Old 
 Royal Library.) 
 
 Biblia. Zurich, 1544. 
 
 7. Inlaid armorial binding, painted with the 
 
 arms of Queen Elizabeth. Black 
 morocco, the corners inlaid with white 
 deerskin. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Nicolay. Navigations et Peregrinations orientales. 
 Lyons, 1568. 
 
 8. Coloured binding in the ' Grolier ' style, 
 
 with the inscription, ' Thomae Wottoni 
 et Amicoruin.' Brown calf. (Old Royal 
 Library.) 
 
 Cicero. Questions Tusculanes. Lyons, 1543. 
 
 9. Coloured binding in the 'Grolier' style, 
 
 with the arms of Thomas Wotton. 
 Brown calf. 
 
 Plinius Secundus. Historia Naturalis. Lugduni, 1548.
 
 144 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 10. Binding with the Bear and Ragged Staff 
 badge of Robert Dudley, Earl of 
 Leicester, and his initials. Brown calf. 
 (Grenville Library.) 
 
 Clemens Alexandrinus. Opera. Florence, 1550. 
 
 11. Coloured binding, with the Bear and 
 
 Ragged Staff badge of Robert Dudley, 
 Earl of Leicester. Brown calf. (Old 
 Royal Library.) 
 
 Plato. Convivium. Paris, 1543. 
 
 12. Binding with the names of 'William' 
 and 'Mildred Cicyll ' (Lord and Lady 
 Burghley) stamped on the covers. 
 Brown calf. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Basilii Magni et Gregorii Nazanzeni Epistolae Graecae. 
 Hagenau, 1528. 
 
 13. Inlaid armorial binding, probably by 
 John Day, with the arms of Queen 
 Elizabeth. Brown calf inlaid with 
 white deerskin. (Cracherode Library.) 
 
 The Gospels in Anglo-Saxon and English. London, 
 
 14. Green velvet binding embroidered in 
 gold and silver threads and coloured 
 silks, probably in the house of Matthew 
 Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury. (Old 
 Royal Library.) 
 
 Parker. De Antiquitate Britannicae Ecclesiae. Lon- 
 don, 1572.
 
 ENGLISH BINDINGS 145 
 
 15. Armorial binding and 'semis 'of roses, 
 
 with the arms of Queen Elizabeth. 
 Brown calf. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Grant. Graecae Linguae Spicilegium. London, 1577. 
 
 1 6. Black velvet embroidered with gold and 
 silver threads and coloured silks. (Old 
 Royal Library.) 
 
 Orationis Dominicae Explicatio. Per L. Danaeum. 
 Geneva, 1583. 
 
 17. Purple velvet embroidered with silver 
 thread. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Vermigli. Common Places of Peter Martyr. London, 
 1583- 
 
 1 8. Armorial binding, with the arms of 
 
 Janies i. and supporters, with a semis of 
 small fleurs-de-lys. Pale brown calf. 
 (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Casaubon. De rebus sacris et ecclesiasticis exercita- 
 tiones. London, 1614. 
 
 19. Crimson velvet binding stamped in gold. 
 
 (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 In Jacobi regis felicem in Scotiam reditum Academiae 
 Edinburgensis congratulatio. Edinburgh, 1617. 
 
 20. Armorial binding, with the arms of 
 
 James L, and semis of flowers. Olive 
 morocco. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Thomae Bradwardini Arch. Cantuariensis de causa 
 Dei contra Pelagium. London, 1618. 
 
 21. Purple velvet binding, mounted in silver. 
 
 On the centre ovals are engraved the
 
 146 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 arms of James i., and on the corner- 
 pieces and clasps the royal badges and 
 initials. (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 James i. A meditation upon the Lord's Prayer. 
 London, 1619. 
 
 22. Armorial binding, with the arms of 
 
 Charles i. Some of the roundels in the 
 design are coloured red. Olive morocco. 
 (Old Royal Library.) 
 
 Dallington. Aphorismes Civill and Militarie. London, 
 1613. 
 
 23. Armorial binding, with the arms of 
 
 Charles i. Blue morocco. 
 
 Corpus Statutorum Univ. Oxon. Oxford, 1634. 
 
 24 White satin binding, embroidered with 
 symbolical figures of Peace and Plenty. 
 
 Booke of Psalmes. London, 1635. 
 
 25. Blue velvet binding stamped in gold and 
 silver. Some of the stamps appear to 
 be those used by the Cambridge binder 
 Thomas Buck, and also at Little Gid- 
 ding. 
 
 Notitia Dignitatum. Lyons, i6oS. 
 
 26. Crimson velvet binding mounted in 
 silver. The centre plaques contain 
 portraits of Charles i. and Queen 
 Henrietta Maria. 
 
 New Testament and Book of Common Prayer. 
 London, 1643.
 
 ENGLISH BINDINGS 147 
 
 27. Inlaid Cottage design binding. Black 
 morocco inlaid with crimson and yellow. 
 
 Bible. London, 1658. 
 
 28. Coloured binding, the design pieced out 
 with silver paint. Attributed to Samuel 
 Mearne. Black morocco. 
 
 Discourse of Parliaments. 1677. 
 
 29. Coloured Cottage design binding. At- 
 tributed to Samuel Mearne. Red 
 morocco. 
 
 Common Prayer. London, 1678. 
 
 30. Cottage design binding, probably by 
 
 Charles Mearne. Blue morocco. 
 
 Bidpai. Fables. London, 1699. 
 
 31. Cottage design binding. Red morocco. 
 
 Ashmole. History of the Order of the Garter. 
 London, 1715. 
 
 32. Painted armorial binding covered with 
 transparent vellum. By James Edwards 
 of Halifax. With the arms of Charlotte, 
 Queen Consort of George m., with sup- 
 porters. 
 
 Common Prayer. Cambridge, 1760. 
 
 33. Armorial binding by Roger Payne, with 
 
 the arms of the Rev. C. M. Cracherode. 
 Red morocco. (Cracherode Library.) 
 
 Cicero. De oratore. Rome, 1468.
 
 148 SPECIMENS OF BOOKBINDINGS 
 
 
 EROTEMATA 
 LASCARIS 
 
 ALDUS 
 M.CCCC. 
 
 LXXXXV. 
 
 
 ' 
 
 # 
 
 I 
 
 XXXIV. 34. BINDING BY ROGER PAYNE FOR THE 
 REV. C. M. CRACHERODE
 
 ENGLISH BINDINGS 149 
 
 34. Armorial binding by Roger Payne, with 
 
 the arms of the Rev. C. M. Cracherode. 
 Olive morocco. (Cracherode Library.) 
 
 Lascaris. Erotemata. Venice, 1495. 
 
 35. Binding by Roger Payne, with the arms 
 of the Rt. Hon. Thos. Grenville added. 
 Olive morocco. (Grenville Library.) 
 
 Tasso. La Gerusalemme Liberata. Genoa, 1590. 
 
 Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, (late) Printers to Her Majesty 
 at the Edinburgh University Press
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
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 OCT 07 1985 
 
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