_Fol. 1^a_, TITLE: DIt boeck is ghenomet. dat vader boeck. dat in den
latijne is ghehieten Vitas patru_m_. inhoudende dye historien en_de_
legenden der heyligher vaderen die hare leue_n_ in stre_n_gher
penitencie ouerghebracht hebbe_n_ Ouergheset in goeder versta_n_delre
duytscer sprake. [Rest of page occupied by two woodcuts.] _Fol. 1^b_:
[H]Ier beghint die tafele va_n_ desen boecke dat ghehieten is dat va
(_sic_) vader boeck. _Fol. 4^b_: Hier eyndet die tafef (_sic_) van den
boecke..... _Fol. 5^a_: [Woodcut of the Annunciation, which is repeated
on the verso of the leaf.] _Fol. 6^a_: Hier beghinnet dat eerste deel
va_n_ desen boecke dat ghenoemet is Vitaspatrum in latijne. _Fol.
165^b_, COLOPHON: Hier eyndet dat derde deel va_n_ desen boecke van den
wo_n_derlijke wercken en_de_ goede exempele_n_ en_de_ goede leri_n_ghen
der heigher (_sic_) vadere_n_ so als die heylige leraer Jeronim_us_ vut
de_n_ griecke_n_ in den latine ghetoge_n_ heeft Ouergheset in goeder
v_er_standelre duytscer spraken om salicheit alre goeder kersten
me_n_scen. Ghedruct bi mi Peter va_n_ Os In de_n_ iare ons heren Mcccc
en_de_ xc. den eersten dach va_n_ den April. [PRINTER'S DEVICE,
(shields of Zwolle and of the printer combined).] _Fol. 166, blank._
Folio. Sign. A^4, a^8, b-z^6, A^4, B-D^6, 166 leaves, the last
blank, 6-165 numbered i-clx. 2 columns, 36 lines to the column,
gothic letter. Two- to six-line spaces left for capitals. The first
initial of the title is a ten-line ornamental woodcut D. The two
woodcuts on the title-page are printed from sections cut from the
blocks of the Latin Biblia Pauperum, that on the left (Descent of
the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost) from the central panel of
sign. p., that on the right (Jacob's dream), from the right-hand
panel of the sign. t. Other sections of these blocks were used in
like manner in other books of van Os. In place of blank fol. 5 cut
away, is inserted a full page woodcut of the Annunciation, printed
on both sides of the leaf, on paper unlike any other used in the
book. Campbell 938. Proctor 9135.
Prologue initial on fol. 6^a supplied in blue with pen ornamentation in
red. Chapter initials and paragraph-marks in alternate red and blue.
Initial-strokes in red. Blank last leaf wanting.
Bound by Alfred Matthews in three-quarter levant morocco with blind
tooling, gilt edges. Leaf 10-1/2 × 8 in.
Peter van Os, of Breda, was actively engaged in printing at Zwolle from
1479 till the end of the century, except for the three years 1481-1484.
The English translation of the "Vitas Patrum," which was the closing
labor of Caxton's life, was printed in 1495 by Wynken de Worde with this
colophon: "Thus endyth the moost vertuouse hystorye of the deuoute and
right renowned lyues of holy faders lyuynge in deserte, worthy of
remembraunce to all wel dysposed persons which hath be_n_ translated
oute of Frenche into Englisshe by William Caxton of Westmynstre late
deed and fynysshed at the laste daye of hys lyff."
24. HIGDEN, RANULPH. Polychronicon, translated into English by Trevisa
and continued by Caxton. [Westminster]. William Caxton, [1482].
_Fol. 1, blank._ _Fol. 2^a_: Prohemye. [G]Rete thankynges lawde &
honoure we merytoryously ben bounde to yelde and offre vnto wryters of
hystoryes, whiche gretely haue prouffyted oure mortal lyf, that shewe
vnto the reders and herers by the ensamples of thynges passyd, what
thynge is to be desyred. [Fol. 4-20, alphabetical table; 21, blank;
22-24, dialogue between the Clerke and the Lorde on translation,
Trevisa's epistle to Lord Berkeley; 25, blank.] _Fol. 26^a_:
Prolicionycion. Prefacio prima ad historiam. [A]Fter solempne and wyse
wryters of Arte and of scyence.... _Fol. 389^b_: God be thanked of al
his dedes. This translacion is ended on a thursdaye the eyghtenth daye
of Apryll the yere of our lord a thousand thre hondred and .lvij. The
xxxj yere of Kyng Edward the thyrd after the Conquest of Englond, the
yere of my lordes age Syr thomas lord of berkley that made me make this
translacion fyue and thyrtty. [390^a, Caxton's epilogue to Trevisa;
390^b, blank.] _Fol. 391^a_: Jncipit Liber vltimus. _Fol. 449^a_: Ended
the second day of Juyll the xxij yere of the regne of kynge Edward the
fourth & of the Incarnacion of oure lord a thousand foure score and
tweyne. Fynysshed per Caxton. _Fol. 449^b, 450, blank._
Folio. Sign. a-b^8, C^4, 1-28^8, [28*^2], 29-48^8, 49^4, 50^8,
52-55^8, 450 leaves, of which five (a, 1; 1, 1; 1, 5; 28*,2; 55, 8)
are blank. The folios of sign. 1,2-55,7 are numbered 1-ccccxxviii
(blanks 1, 5 and 28*,2 counted as iv and ccxxvi), with many errors
which are mostly corrected on the following leaves, but in the case
of fol. ccxli on the verso of the same leaf. There is, however, no
clx, and ccccxiii is duplicated, errors which balance each other
and do not disturb the final numeration. The omission of a
signature 51 is accidental, the text continuing without a break.
The purpose of the unsigned single sheet following sign. 28,
consisting of one printed and one blank leaf, was evidently to
carry the last remaining leaf of the fourth book and thereby make
possible a division of the volume at this point into two nearly
equal parts. Advantage has apparently been taken of this division
to bind the Grenville copy (Brit. Mus. IB. 55060) in two volumes.
Wynkyn de Worde, who reprinted the Polychronicon in 1495, followed
in this particular Caxton's example and in order to begin the fifth
book with a new signature left at the end of the fourth book nearly
a whole leaf blank, though he separated the other books by a blank
space of no more than three or four lines. Caxton's use of arabic
figures for signatures was confined to the years 1481-1483; after
that date he used letters only. The first few chapter-headings of
each book have Latin ordinals (Capitulum primum, secundum, etc.)
which are soon dropped for arabic figures. Gothic letter, Caxton's
fourth font, forty lines to the page, with headline. Two- to
seven-line spaces left for chapter and book initials, which are
supplied in red. Chapter-headings underlined in red. Blades ii,
172. Ames-Dibdin i, 138. Seymour de Ricci p. 60.
Seventy-two leaves, including the five blanks, are wanting in this copy,
viz.: sign. a-C; 1, 1, 4, 5, 8; 2, 1, 4, 5; 3, 2; 4, 1; 27, 3; [28*,2];
44, 7; 50-55. The lacking parts comprise the first twenty leaves
(Prohemye and alphabetical index), the last forty leaves (Caxton's
eighth book), and twelve intermediate leaves. Of these the Proheyme is
supplied in facsimile and sign. 4, 1 in manuscript. What is possibly an
original impression of Caxton's large device is placed at the end of the
volume. This was used by Caxton only during his last years, 1487-91, and
by Wynkyn de Worde, into whose hands the original block passed, in his
folios for thirty years longer. From one of the latter this may have
been taken, possibly from the Polychronicon of 1495, where the other
side of the leaf it occupied was blank, as is the case here also.
Trevisa's translation of Higden was completed, according to the best
MSS., in 1387, not in 1357 as stated on fol. 389^b. (In 1357 the 18th of
April fell on Tuesday, not Thursday, and Thomas Lord Berkeley was then
in the fifth, not the thirty-fifth year of his age.) Caxton was himself
the translator of twenty-two of the one hundred books which he printed
and it was therefore not strange that Trevisa's English should have been
in his hands, as the proem states, "a lytel embelysshed fro tholde
makyng." In what these embellishments consisted is partially explained
in the epilogue: "Therfore I William Caxton a symple persone haue
endeuoyred me to wryte fyrst ouer all the sayd book of proloconycon, and
somewhat haue chaunged the rude and old Englyssh, that is to wete
certayn wordes, which in these dayes [1482] be neyther usyd ne
understanden". He went however further than this and so changed the
inflections and orthography that the language is no longer of the
fourteenth but rather of the fifteenth century. But in no other way
could it have been made to harmonize with his proposed continuation,
concerning which he proceeds to say: "and also am auysed to make another
booke after this sayd werke whiche shal be sett here after the same, And
shal haue his chapytres and his table a parte. For I dar not presume to
sette my book ne ioyne hit to his, for dyuerse causes". Accordingly he
begins his "Liber ultimus" with a new signature, preceded by a blank
page. His "table" nevertheless is combined with that of the preceding
seven books in one alphabet. Wynkyn de Worde's edition has a more
elaborate index of ninety pages in which each of the eight books is
indexed in a separate alphabet.
Apart from the interest attaching to this "Liber ultimus" as the only
original work of any length from Caxton's pen, the Polychronicon is next
to the Golden Legend his largest book, and in the Prohemye they are
grouped together as the "twoo bookes notable" which treat of history. It
happens also, probably because of larger editions printed, that of these
two books many more copies have survived than of any of his other books,
about one-fourth of which are now represented only by single copies. Of
the Polychronicon, Seymour de Ricci's "Census of Caxtons" (1909)
enumerates forty known copies (very few of them entirely complete),
evenly divided between public and private libraries. To this list he
adds, under the heading "Present owners untraced," forty-eight copies
(nos. 41-88) which appeared at sales between 1698 and 1901, some of them
possibly identical with copies already described as "known." In this
second division is found the present copy (no. 79), purchased by the
donor of this collection at the Smets sale, New York, May, 1868, in calf
binding, with the name of the owner "A.A. Smets, Savannah, May 28, 1836"
on the fly-leaf. It was at once sent to Francis Bedford for binding,
with instructions to have the "inlaying, repairing etc. done over in
the very best manner, by the best restorer in France or England." Bound
in brown morocco, richly blind-tooled, with Tudor rose, fleur-de-lis and
acorn emblems. Leaf 10-1/4 × 7-1/2 in. The Smets fly-leaf and the
original instructions sent to Mr. Bedford with the volume and returned
by him with an added note over his own signature, laid in.
Other copies of the Polychronicon which have passed through Mr.
Bedford's hands have been bound in the same style, among them the
Menzies copy, sold New York, November, 1876, which de Ricci wrongly
conjectured might be identical with the Smets.