1483-1487.
The publication of the _Liber Festivalis_ on the last day of June,
1483, marks the beginning of a new group of books, for in it first
appears a recasting of type No. 4 on a slightly larger body, and with
one or two different letters, thus giving us a clear date by which to
divide all books in this type into two divisions.
The _Liber Festivalis_, or _Festial_ as it should more properly be
called, was compiled by John Mirk, canon of the abbey of St. Mary at
Lilleshall, in Shropshire. It was intended, as the compiler tells
us, to supply short sermons for ignorant priests to expound to their
congregations on saints' days, and the stories were obtained from the
_Golden Legend_ and the _Gesta Romanorum_. It was in no way a
service book, though often so considered, indeed, it is included in
Dickinson's _List of printed service books according to the ancient
uses of the Anglican Church_, but was more in the nature of a
preacher's assistant, such as are published to the present day, giving
a series of headings and anecdotes applicable to particular subjects.
This first edition of Caxton's differs considerably in the text from
all later editions, which follow the version printed at Oxford by Rood
and Hunte in 1486.
It is a folio of 116 leaves, of which the first is blank, and has 38
lines to the page.
With it was issued a supplement of 30 leaves, called _Quattuor
Sermones_, which were homilies on such matters as the Seven
Sacraments, Seven Deadly Sins, and the like.
[Illustration:
PLATE IX
LIBER FESTIVALIS
(see page 56)
]
About this time was issued the _Sex Epistolae_, edited by Petrus
Carmelianus, an Italian scholar settled in England, who afterwards
became Latin secretary to Henry VII. The letters were published in the
interest of the Venetians, who were indignant at the separate terms
made between Pope Sixtus IV. and the Duke of Ferrara.
This book, one of the earliest known separate publications of
diplomatic correspondence, is quite different in character from any
of Caxton's other books, except perhaps the _Oration_ of John Russell.
The only known copy of the tract was discovered in 1874 in the
Hecht-Heine Library at Halberstadt, bound up in a volume of late
theological pamphlets, by Dr. Könnecke, Archivist at Marburg, and
after various cautious overtures, was finally secured by the trustees
for the British Museum. It is a very uninteresting-looking quarto of
24 leaves, of which the first is blank. Lidgate's _Life of Our Lady_,
a folio of 96 leaves, appeared about this time. There were apparently
two editions issued, one of which has almost entirely disappeared,
with the exception of a few leaves, which evidently varied very
considerably in the text. Blades mentions only the one edition, and in
this connexion a rather curious and amusing point may be noticed.
When he published his _Enemies of Books_ he was anxious to give an
illustration of the ravages of a book-worm, and for this purpose gave
a fac-simile of two fragments of a Caxton almost destroyed by these
pests. Now, the very pages which he reproduced were from this variant
edition of the _Life of Our Lady_, and yet, not thinking of comparing
them with the ordinary edition, he missed the opportunity of adding
another to his list of Caxtons.
The second edition of Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, also ascribed to
the year 1483, is an interesting book in many ways. The prologue shows
very strongly how much enthusiasm Caxton took in the literary side
of his work. I give the following quotation in his own words: "Whyche
book I have dylygently oversen and duly examyned to thende that it
be made acordyng unto his owen makyng. For I fynde many of the sayd
bookes whyche wryters have abrydgyd it and many thynges left out. And
in somme place have sette certayn versys that he never made ne sette
in hys booke, of whyche bookes so incorrecte was one brought to me
vj yere passyd whyche I supposed had ben veray true and correcte.
And accordyng to the same I dyde do enprynte a certayn nombre of them
whyche anon were sold to many and dyverse gentyl men of whome one
gentylman cam to me and said that this book was not accordyng in
many places unto the book that Gefferey chaucer had made. To whom
I answered that I had made it accordyng to my copye and by me was
nothyng added ne mynusshyd. Thenne he sayd he knewe a book whyche hys
fader had and moche lovyd that was very trewe and accordyng unto hys
owen first book by hym made; and sayd more, yf I wold enprynte it
agayn he wold gete me the same book for a copye, how be it he wyst wel
that hys fader wold not gladly departe fro it. To whom I said, in caas
that he could gete me suche a book trewe and correcte yet I wold ones
endevoyre me to enprynte it agayn. And thus we fyll at accord. And he
ful gentylly gate of hys fader the said book and delyverd it to me, by
whiche I have corrected my book."
Besides revising his text, Caxton added illustrations. There are
twenty-four of these, but several are made to do duty twice over,
a common custom with early printers. Thus the "poor parson" and the
"doctor of physick," the "somnour" and the "Franklin," are represented
by the same cuts; while the large illustration depicting the
pilgrims sitting at supper at a round table does duty in some later
publications for the "Assembly of the Gods."
[Illustration:
PLATE X
CHAUCER'S CANTERBURY TALES
(see page 58)
]
As might have been expected, such a book became very popular, and
is now consequently very rare. Besides a few more or less imperfect
copies, only one perfect one is known, now in the library of St.
John's College, Oxford, which unfortunately has the cuts rudely daubed
with colour. When perfect, the book should contain 312 leaves, the
first being blank. Chaucer's _Troilus and Creside_ and _Hous of Fame_,
as well as a little tract of six leaves called the _Curial_, were also
printed about this time.
September 2, 1483, is another definite date, for on that day Caxton
finished an edition of Gower's well-known poem, the _Confessio
Amantis_, or _Lover's Confession_, written by command of Richard II.,
who, meeting the poet rowing on the Thames, near London, invited him
into the royal barge, and after much conversation requested him to
"book some new thing." The book is a folio of 222 leaves, of which
no less than four are blank, and only one copy is now in existence in
which these blank leaves have been preserved. Otherwise the book is
not uncommon, though nearly every copy is imperfect. An extremely fine
copy, wanting only the blank leaves, is in the library of Shrewsbury
School, and is mentioned here to correct an error of Blades, who goes
out of his way to state, "The copy ascribed by N. Carlisle to Edward
VI. Grammar School, Shrewsbury, is not from the press of Caxton."
The _Life of the Holy and Blessed Virgin Saint Winifred_ is a small
folio of 16 leaves, printed about this date. Caxton states that he
"reduced" this book into English, but there is some difficulty as to
the source from which he took it. The life of the celebrated Welsh
saint was written in Latin in the twelfth century by Robert, Prior of
Shrewsbury, and this Caxton may have translated, but as no copy of the
manuscript is now in existence the point cannot be determined. Only
three copies of the printed book are known.
The book called _Caton_ was translated by the end of December, 1483,
and must therefore have been printed at the beginning of 1484. The
_Catonis Disticha_ was the best known school-book of the middle ages,
and with the _Donatus_, was the groundwork of Latin learning over
Europe. About 1480 a certain Daniel Church added a few Latin precepts
to the original book, which acquired the name of _Parvus Cato_, and
after his time the two are generally found together as _Cato, parvus
et magnus_. In the second half of the fifteenth century it was, as
Caxton himself tells us, "translated in to Englysshe by Mayster Benet
Burgh, late Archdeken of Colchestre and hye chanon of saint stephens
at westmestre, which ful craftly hath made it in balade ryal for the
erudicion of my lord Bousher, sone and heyr at that tyme to my lord
the erle of Estsex." Of this version Caxton printed three editions,
which have already been noticed, but the present is a different and
considerably larger work. It contains, besides the "disticha" and
moral maxims, very extensive glosses or commentaries containing
"histories and examples," translated by Caxton from a French original.
It is a folio of 80 leaves, of which four are blank and usually
wanting. About twelve copies are known, and a good example is in the
Lenox Library, New York.
On the 31st of January, 1484, Caxton issued the _Booke whiche the
Knyght of the Toure made to the enseygnement and techyng of his
doughters_. This work was compiled about the year 1371 by Geoffrey
de la Tour-Landry, a literary knight of celebrated family, and was
translated by Caxton, "at the request of a noble lady which hath
brought forth many noble and fair daughters, which be virtuously
nourished." In his preface he advises "every gentleman or woman having
children desiring them to be virtuously brought forth to get and have
this book," though it would in these days be considered anything but
suitable for young persons,--or for the matter of that, for their
elders.
[Illustration:
PLATE XI
THE FABLES OF ESOPE
(see page 61)
]
[Illustration:
PLATE XII
THE FABLES OF ESOPE
(see page 61)
]
The _Fables of Aesop_ was issued on March 26th, the first day of the
year 1484. This is certainly one of the finest and rarest amongst
the books which Caxton printed. It begins with a large full-page
frontispiece containing a figure of Æsop similar in treatment to those
occurring in some foreign editions. This is found only in the copy
at Windsor Castle. In the text there are no less than one hundred and
eighty-five wood-cuts, the work of two or perhaps even three different
engravers, one of whom apparently cut the illustrations to the second
edition of the _Game of Chesse_. One illustration is engraved in quite
a different manner from the rest, and was probably cut hurriedly to
replace one accidentally lost or broken, and has an appearance much
more resembling modern work than the others, which are simply the
ordinary heavy black outline cuts of the period. A complete copy of
the book should contain 144 leaves, the last two being blank, and the
leaves are numbered. It was twice reprinted in the fifteenth century
by Richard Pynson at London, and these two reprints are even rarer
than the original, one copy of each being known, and both of them
imperfect.
The only perfect copy known of Caxton's edition is in the King's
Library at Windsor, and was one of the very few books retained when
the Royal Library was handed over to the nation by George IV. A note
on the fly-leaf shows the reason for this. "Left to his Majesty by the
late Mr. Hewett of Ipswich in Suffolk and delivered to Mr. Allen by
Philip Broke, Esq. and Sir John Hewett, Bart. to present to the King."
It is in magnificent condition and uncut. The British Museum was
fortunate enough to be able to purchase a copy in 1844, which, with
the one imperfection of not having the frontispiece, is in as fine
condition as the Windsor copy, and in an early sixteenth-century
binding by John Reynes. The third and last copy is in the Bodleian, to
which it was presented in 1680, with other Caxtons, by Moses Pitt,
a London bookseller. It is imperfect, wanting in all about twelve
leaves.
A curious broadside was published about this time, which is generally
known as the _Death-bed Prayers_. It contains two prayers to be said
by a priest at the bedside of dying persons, and the only known copy,
which was formerly in the Spencer Library, was found bound up with a
copy of the _Pilgrimage of the Soul_.
The _Order of Chivalry_, which was printed in the reign of Richard
III., may be ascribed to 1484. The author of the book is not known,
but it was translated from the French, and agrees exactly with
a manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale, entitled _L'Ordre de
Chivallerie_, beautifully illuminated, and written in Flanders for
Edward IV. Caxton used in this book and the _Aesop_ a large floriated
initial letter A, the only large ornamental capital which he seems to
have possessed.
Five copies are known, two in the British Museum, two in the Spencer
collection at Manchester, and one in a private library in America. The
book, which is a small quarto, should contain 52 leaves, the first and
last being blank. One copy in the British Museum and one at Manchester
are complete as regards text, but neither has both blanks.
[Illustration:
PLATE XIII
THE FABLES OF ESOPE
(see page 62)
]
The _Golden Legend_, Caxton's most important work, was finished, so
far as regards the translation, on the 20th of November, 1483. In
the second prologue the printer tells us that when beginning the
translation the magnitude of the task and the heavy expenses of
printing made him "halfe desperate to have accomplissd it," and he
proposed to put what he had already done to one side and leave the
work. The Earl of Arundel, however, encouraged him to proceed, not
only by promising to take a certain number of copies when finished,
but by the offer of an annual gift of a buck in summer and a doe in
winter. Thus assisted, Caxton finished his translation and printed the
book, and some idea of the task involved may be gathered from the fact
that the work consists of 894 printed pages, each page containing two
columns of 55 lines. It is illustrated with a frontispiece, eighteen
large and fifty-two small wood-cuts. The translator compiled his
version from three sources, for he tells us that he had beside him "a
legende in frensshe, another in latyn and the thyrd in englysshe."
The French edition which Caxton used has been clearly identified in a
curious manner. In one or two places it contains bad misprints which
Caxton translated blindly. In the life of St. Stephen the words
"femmes veuves" have been misprinted "Saine venue," which Caxton
renders "hole comen," in spite of the words making no sense. In the
life of St. Genevieve "a name" occurs in place of "a navire," which
appears in the English version as "at name" in place of "by ship."
This French version is of great rarity, the only two copies known
being in the British Museum and the Cambridge University Library.
Fortunately, the _Golden Legend_ is one of the commonest of Caxton's
books, though every copy is more or less imperfect. The finest is that
which formerly belonged to Lord Spencer, which was made perfect as
regards the text with leaves from other copies, and is, with the
exception of these leaves, very large and in fine condition. In 1577
it belonged to Robert Hedrington, who appears to have owned many
Caxtons.
The three books which follow the _Golden Legend_, and which are
all dated 1485, are of very great interest. These are the _Morte
d'Arthur_, the _Lyf of Charles the Great_, and the _History of Paris
and Vienne_, all printed in folio.
Sir Thomas Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_, that cycle of stories connected
with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and as Sir Walter
Scott called it, the best of all English romances, is perhaps the
most interesting volume that Caxton ever printed. Two copies only, one
perfect, the other wanting a few leaves, are now known. The first has
a long and interesting pedigree. It first appeared at Dr. Bernard's
sale in 1698, when it produced the magnificent sum of two shillings
and ten pence, passing into the vast library of the Earl of Oxford.
Osborne, the bookseller who bought that library _en bloc_, sold the
volume to Bryan Fairfax for five pounds, and in 1756 it passed with
the whole of his library to Mr. Child, the banker, at a valuation of
two pounds, twelve shillings, and six pence. While safely preserved at
Osterley at the beginning of last century, it raised the most covetous
feelings in the breasts of the two great Caxtonian collectors,
Lord Spencer and his nephew, the Duke of Devonshire, who both made
overtures for its acquisition. It had almost been ceded to the latter
in exchange for some work of art, when it was discovered that it could
not legally be parted with, and it remained at Osterley until 1885,
when Lord Jersey's library was sold. At this sale it was purchased by
Mr. Pope for a sum little under two thousand pounds, and left England
for America, where it still remains. The second copy was obtained
by Lord Spencer in 1816 at the sale of the library of Mr. Lloyd of
Wygfair. Both copies are in very fine condition. The complete book
consists of 432 leaves, the first being blank. There are 38 lines to
a page, and as these run straight across, instead, as is so often the
case, being made up into two columns, the effect of the whole, with
the wide margins, is very striking. Sir Thomas Malory's translation
from the French was finished in the ninth year of King Edward
IV.,--that is, about 1470,--but apparently no manuscript of it is now
in existence.
The _Life of the noble and christian prince, Charles the Great_, was
translated by Caxton from an anonymous French version compiled at
the request of Henry Bolomyer, Canon of Lausanne. In it the various
stories and legends relating to Charlemagne have been gathered
together from various sources. Caxton finished his translation on the
18th of June, when he had nearly finished the printing of the _Morte
d'Arthur_, and the printing of the book was finished on the 1st of
December.
The only copy known, which is perfect with the exception of the last
blank leaf, is in the King's Library in the British Museum.
The moment Caxton had finished the translation of _Charles the Great_
he set to work on another short romance, the _History of the knight
Paris and the fair Vienne_. This he finished on the 31st of August,
and the book was printed by the 19th of December. Like the last, only
one copy, and that quite perfect, is known; and it is also in the
King's Library in the British Museum.
It seems very probable that at an early date these two books were
bound together, but either before or on their coming into the
possession of the Earl of Oxford they were bound separately. They
agree entirely in size and typographical particulars, both having 39
lines to the page in two columns.
The _Paris and Vienne_ was reprinted in 1492 by Gerard Leeu at Antwerp
in small folio, with illustrations. He reprinted also in the
same month the _History of Jason_, and in the year following the
_Chronicles of England_. The apathy in book production which seems to
have immediately succeeded Caxton's death may have encouraged him to
attempt printing for the English market, but his own death while his
edition of the _Chronicles_ was passing through the press put an end
to the trade. He printed one other English book, the _Dialogue of
Salomon and Marcolphus_, of which one copy exists. This, like the
rest, may have been copied from an edition printed by Caxton, but if
so, all traces of it have disappeared.
No dated book of 1486 is known, but several may be ascribed to this
date. First the _Directorium Sacerdotum_, or _Pica_, a work compiled
by Clement Maydeston, containing the rules for adapting the calendar
to the services of each week in accordance with the thirty-five
varieties of the Almanac. Of this book, so interesting to liturgical
students, but one copy is known, now in the British Museum, a library,
however, to which it should not rightly belong. The volume formed part
of the collection bequeathed to the Cambridge University Library by
Dr. Holdsworth in 1648, but it was stolen from there in or shortly
before 1778, and soon afterwards "bought of a man introduced by Dr.
Nugent" by William Bayntun, Esq., of Gray's Inn, after whose death it
came into the possession of King George III., and passed with the rest
of the King's Library into the British Museum. At the beginning of the
book a single leaf containing a large wood-cut has been inserted which
does not really belong to the volume. In the centre is a half-length
figure of Our Lord with the hands crossed. Behind the head and
shoulders is the cross, and on either side the spear and the reed with
the sponge. Below is the text of an _Indulgence_, which in this case
has been cut out, while round the whole is a framework composed of
twenty-eight small square compartments, each containing some emblem of
the crucifixion. These early English prints, several of which exactly
similar in treatment are known, go under the name of the _Image of
Pity_.
[Illustration:
PLATE XIV
THE IMAGE OF PITY
(see page 66)
]
[Illustration:
PLATE XV
SPECULUM VITAE CHRISTI
(see page 67)
]
The _Directorium_ is a folio of 160 leaves, the first, which is
wanting in the only known copy, having been most probably blank.
About this year the first edition of Bonaventura's _Speculum Vitae
Christi_ was issued, remarkable for its illustrations. These, though
not large, are much more graceful in design and better in execution
than any which preceded them, and are clearly the work of a new
engraver. It is a curious fact that in neither edition which he
printed did Caxton use the full series of these cuts, for odd
illustrations appear in later books which clearly belong to the set,
but which had not been made use of before. Besides the regular series,
a few smaller cuts occur, much ruder in execution.
These belong to a set cut for an edition of the _Horae ad usum Sarum_,
but the early editions of this book are known only from fragments, so
that we cannot ascertain how many there were in the original series.
Several of these _Speculum_ cuts reappear in the _Royal Book_, a
translation of _La Somme des vices et vertus_, published very shortly
after. This book at present enjoys the distinction of having brought
the highest price hitherto paid for a Caxton, a copy having been sold
(March 20, 1902) for the sum of £2,225. The history of this particular
copy is an interesting one. It belonged early in the seventeenth
century to Thomas Archer, parson of Houghton Conquest, Bedfordshire,
who bequeathed it to the Church Library of St. John's, Bedford. This
library was afterwards moved to St. Paul's Church, Bedford, and about
1840 transferred to the Bedford Literary Institute. The council of
this Institute, entirely ignoring their moral obligations, determined
to make money out of so valuable a book, and not only did they do so,
but they also did their best to destroy one of the very few existing
evidences of Caxton's work. The book when I examined it several years
ago was in its original binding, tooled with stamps which we have many
reasons for believing belonged to Caxton himself. This Bedford book
afforded the strongest proof of all, for the boards of the binding
were lined with unused copies of one issue of Caxton's 1481
_Indulgences_. Of these there had originally been four, two at each
end, but two had been abstracted. When the book was sold the remaining
two were taken out and sold separately, thus destroying for ever a
most valuable piece of evidence. This book, together with one of the
_Indulgences_, is now in a private library in America.
A few years ago Mr. Robert Proctor, working in the library of New
College, Oxford, found in the binding of a book two small slips of
vellum with some printing upon them in Caxton's type No. 5. These
turned out to be portions of a leaf of a hitherto unknown Caxton, an
edition of the _Donatus melior_, revised by Mancinellus, printed in
folio. They are also the earliest specimens of Caxton's use of vellum.
The date of the book would be about 1487.
In May, 1487, Caxton finished the printing of the _Book of Good
Manners_, which he had translated from the French at the request of
one of his friends, William Pratt, a mercer of London who had lately
died. The original book was written by Jacobus Magnus or Jacques
Legrand, the author of the _Sophologium_, and was evidently popular,
for it was frequently reprinted, no less than four other English
editions having been issued in the fifteenth century. Caxton's
edition is a small folio of 66 leaves, and three copies, all in
public libraries, are known. The finest is in the Cambridge University
Library, and another, also perfect, is in the Royal Library at
Copenhagen. This latter, which was sold by auction in 1682 for the sum
of two shillings, was purchased by the Copenhagen Library in 1743 for
one guinea. The third copy, wanting some leaves, is at Lambeth.
So far Caxton had worked entirely with his own materials and without
any assistance from outside. His work had been confined to the most
ordinary kind of printing, which required no special trouble and no
great variety of type or ornament. The close of the year, however,
saw a change in this respect, and the first influences of the French
press, which were gradually later on to assume such large proportions,
began to make themselves felt.