1487-1491.
In December, 1487, Caxton issued an edition of the Sarum _Missal_,
though he was not himself the printer. The work was done for him by
a printer at Paris named Guillaume Maynial, about whom but little is
known. He is presumed to be a relation, son, perhaps, or nephew, of
George Maynial, the partner of Ulrich Gering in 1480. He printed only
three books, of which this _Missal_ is the earliest, the other two
being the _Statutes_ and the _Manual_ of the Church of Chartres,
issued in 1489 and 1490. The only copy of this book at present known
is in the library of Lord Newton. It is a folio, and when perfect
should have contained 266 leaves, but of these 23 are now missing. The
page is printed in two columns, with 39 lines to a column.
One point which gives this book a peculiar interest is, that in it is
found for the first time Caxton's well-known device. It consists of
his initials, divided by his merchant's mark, with a deep ornamental
border at top and bottom. Many ingenious writers have attempted to
read into this mark several items of information. The merchant's
mark they say is not a merchant's mark at all, but the figures 74
significant of the time when he began to print. Two small ornaments
shaped like an S and C stand for Sancta Colonia, where he learned the
art of printing. The mark is, however, merely an ordinary merchant's
mark, which in some shape or another all printers introduced into
their devices, and the letters S C merely ornamental flourishes.
[Illustration:
PLATE XVI
CAXTON'S DEVICE
(see page 70)
]
[Illustration:
PLATE XVII
LEGENDA AD USUM SARUM
(see page 71)
]
Another question has been raised as to whether this device was cut in
England or in France, but it has no resemblance to French work, and
is almost certainly a native production. As Mr. Blades justly remarks:
"Caxton, desirous of associating his press more directly with this
issue than by the colophon only, which many people might overlook,
probably designed his mark for the purpose of attracting attention. He
no doubt stamped this device on the last blank page of the books
after they had been received from abroad and before putting them into
circulation."
It seems not improbable that besides the _Missal_, Maynial printed for
Caxton another service-book, the _Legenda_ according to the Salisbury
use. The existence of this book is known only from a few odd leaves,
for the most part rescued from old bindings and preserved in different
libraries, but it agrees in every respect typographically with the
_Missal_. The type is identical, the number of lines and size of page
the same, and everything points to the same printer. Perhaps some day
a copy with the colophon may be found and our doubts on the subject
set at rest.
About 1488 appeared a new issue of the _Golden Legend_. It is not
an entire reprint of the first, but only of certain parts of it. It
contains 448 leaves, being one less than the first issue, and of these
256 are reprinted and 192 are of the original edition. It is difficult
to explain this reprinting, but it was probably caused by the
destruction of a large part of the stock of the original issue. Caxton
took the opportunity to make two improvements in the reprint. He
compressed the quires signed X and Y, which contained the awkward
number of nine leaves, into a single quire X of eight leaves, and
instead of having a blank leaf at the end of the book he added the
life of St. Erasmus. The parts of the book which are of the second
issue may be readily distinguished from the first by the head-lines.
In the first issue they are in the larger type No. 3; in the second,
in the smaller type No. 5.
On the 14th of July, 1489, Caxton finished printing a translation of
the work of Christine de Pisan, entitled the _Fayts of Arms and
of Chivalry_. This translation, as he tells us in the epilogue, he
undertook at the express desire of Henry VII., who himself lent him
the manuscript with the original French text. It is not improbable
that the identical manuscript which Caxton used is one which is now in
the British Museum, and which formed part of the old Royal collection.
It was written for John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, who died in 1453,
and by whom it was presented to Queen Margaret, and it agrees very
closely in every way with Caxton's English version.
Considerable doubt has been thrown on the authorship of Christine de
Pisan, but apparently unjustly. In the prologues of many manuscripts,
and in Caxton's edition, the writer apologizes as a woman for treating
of such warlike subjects, and appeals to the goddess Minerva, saying,
"I am, as thou wert, a woman Italian."
A complete copy should contain 144 leaves, the first being blank,
and over twenty copies are known. A perfect copy in the Cambridge
University Library contains a manuscript note showing that it was
bought in 1510 for three shillings and eight pence.
[Illustration:
PLATE XVIII
THE INDULGENCE OF 1489
(see page 73)
]
In 1489, also, Caxton issued two editions of an _Indulgence_ of John
de Gigliis, or rather a license to confessors, giving them power to
grant indulgences to any Christian person in England or Ireland who
should contribute four, three, two, or even one gold florin to assist
a crusade against the Turks. These _Indulgences_ are of peculiar
interest, as they were printed in a new type of Caxton's, the smallest
which he ever cut, and of which he never again made use. The first to
draw attention to them was Archdeacon Cotton, who in the second part
of his "Typographical Gazetteer" mentions one which he had found in
the library of Trinity College, Dublin, and which he considered to be
a product of the early Oxford press. Henry Bradshaw, the University
Librarian at Cambridge, obtained a photograph of it, and at once
conjectured from the appearance of the type that it must have been
printed by Caxton. He immediately communicated this discovery to
Blades, who, however, refused to accept it as the work of Caxton's
press without some further and more convincing proof, and never even
alluded to either the type or _Indulgence_ in later issues of his
book. The necessary proof was soon afterwards found, for Bradshaw
discovered at Holkham an edition of the _Speculum Vitae Christi_,
printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1494, which had the side-notes printed
in this type, and as De Worde inherited all Caxton's materials, this
fount must have belonged to him.
The _Statutes_ of the first, third, and fourth years of Henry VII. may
also be put down to the end of 1489, for the fourth year of Henry VII.
ended on August 21, 1489, and the _Statutes_ would no doubt be printed
at once.
With the exceptions just given, none of Caxton's books printed between
May, 1487, and his death in 1491 bear any date, so that although all
may be approximately dated, their exact order cannot be determined.
One very common error in the method of arranging Caxton's books may be
pointed out here, which arises from the method adopted by Blades. In
his _Life of Caxton_ the books are arranged according to types,
which would be an excellent plan if the use of one type had been
discontinued as soon as a newer one was made. This, however, was not
the case, for several were often in use at one time, and thus Blades's
system, though correct in one way, is very misleading to a superficial
reader. For instance, Caxton started at Westminster with types Nos. 2
and 3, and both are used in his first books, but Blades puts the
books in type No. 3 after all those in type No. 2, and thus the Sarum
_Ordinale_, certainly one of the earliest books printed in England,
comes thirty-sixth on his list, and while one book with the printed
date of 1481 is number 33, another with the printed date of 1480 is
number 39. It will thus be seen that Blades's arrangement was not
a chronological one, though most writers have made the mistake
of thinking so, and have followed it as such, as may be seen, for
instance, in the list appended to Caxton's life in the _Dictionary
of National Biography_, which blindly follows Blades's arrangement
without any reference to his system or mention of the types.
Two interesting romances were printed about 1489, the _History of the
Four Sons of Aymon_ and the _History of Blanchardyn and Eglantine_.
The first was an extremely popular story both at home and on the
continent; indeed, it still circulates abroad in the form of a
pedler's chap-book, which perpetuates in a very mutilated state the
story of Renaud, Alard, Richard, and Guichard, with their famous horse
Bayard, on which all four rode at once. The early English editions of
this book almost suffered extermination. The earliest edition of which
a complete copy is known is that printed at London by William Copland
in 1554. The colophon of this book speaks of an edition printed by
Wynkyn de Worde in 1504, of which no trace remains except perhaps some
fragmentary leaves in the Cambridge University Library; while of the
edition printed by Caxton only one copy, and that imperfect, is known.
It is in folio, and probably contained when complete 278 leaves. The
unique copy, wanting some leaves at the beginning, was obtained by
Lord Spencer from Triphook, the bookseller, and is now, with the rest
of the Spencer Library, in Manchester.
The _History of Blanchardine and Eglantine_ is also known only from an
imperfect copy which was in the Spencer Library. It is impossible to
settle what the correct collation may have been, as the book breaks
off abruptly at leaf 102 and all the remainder is wanting. As,
however, the last chapter of the work is just beginning on the last
remaining page, it seems probable that only the last quire is missing.
On the fly-leaf is a curious note in Lord Spencer's handwriting
relating to its purchase. "This book belonged to Mr. G. Mason; at
whose sale it was bought by John, Duke of Roxburghe. The Duke and I
had agreed not to oppose one another at the sale, but, after the book
was bought, to toss up who should win it; when I lost it. I bought it
at the Roxburghe sale, on the 17th of June, 1812 for £215 5_s._"
At the earlier sale the Duke had paid £21 for it. This book was
undertaken at the request of Margaret, Duchess of Somerset, who
brought to Caxton a copy of the French version, which she had long
before purchased from him, commanding him to translate it into
English.
During the last two years of his life at least half of Caxton's books
were merely new editions of some of his earlier works, and therefore
hardly call for much detailed notice. The _Dictes or Sayings_ was
reprinted for the third time, and the _Directorium Sacerdotum_,
_Reynard the Fox_, and the _Mirror of the World_ for the second.
Of the _Directorium_ but one copy is known, which is in the Selden
collection in the Bodleian. Blades remarks about it that it is "still
in the original parchment wrapper as issued from Caxton's workshop."
All evidence goes to prove that Caxton never made use of parchment or
vellum as a binding material, and in the case of the present book it
is quite clear, on close examination, that it has been made up from
two imperfect copies, and that the binding is not earlier than the
seventeenth century.
The _Reynard the Fox_ is also unique, and buried in that almost
inaccessible collection, the Pepysian Library at Magdalene College,
Cambridge. It wants, unfortunately, the last two leaves, so that the
colophon, if it had one, is wanting.
The _Mirror_ is a fairly common book, and is an exact reproduction,
though in different type, of the first edition. In the interval
between the printing of the two editions one wood-cut had been lost or
destroyed, so that the illustration for Chapter II., "Why God Made
and Created the World," instead of being the correct picture of the
Almighty with the globe in his hand (which Blades strangely calls
"the figure of a philosopher"), is the inappropriate cut of the
Transfiguration of Christ.
The _Doctrinal of Sapience_, a translation from a French version of
the _Manipulus Curatorum_, was doubtless printed in the latter half of
1489, as the translation had been finished on the 7th of May of
that year. The book itself is not of much interest, though one copy
deserves special mention. It is preserved in the Royal Library at
Windsor Castle, to which it was presented by a Mr. Bryant. It is
printed throughout upon vellum, and contains three leaves found in no
other copy. In the text of the book, Chapter 64 is not printed, but
the following heading is inserted: "Of the neclygences of the masse
and of the remedyes I passe over for it apperteyneth to prestes and
not to laie men. C. Lxiiij."
In the Windsor copy this chapter is printed at the end of the book
on three extra leaves, and ends as follows: "This chapitre to fore
I durst not sette in the boke by cause it is not convenyent ne
aparteynyng that every laye man sholde knowe it."
[Illustration:
PLATE XIX
THE BOKE OF ENEYDOS
(see page 77)
]
[Illustration:
PLATE XX
ARS MORIENDI
(see page 77)
]
In June, 1490, Caxton finished the translation of two books, _The Art
and Craft to know well to die_ and the _Eneydos_. The first is not
a translation of the complete book, but merely a small abridgment,
running to thirteen printed leaves in folio. Blades mentions only
three copies, and curiously enough makes no mention of the peculiarly
fine one which belonged to Lord Spencer, though he made a careful
examination of all the Caxtons at Althorp.
The _Eneydos_ is not, as might be expected from the name, a
translation of Virgil's _Aeneid_, but is more in the nature of a
romance founded upon it. Caxton's version was translated from "a lytyl
booke in frenshe, named Eneydos," probably the work called _Le
Livre des Eneydes_, printed at Lyons in 1483 by G. le Roy. The most
interesting part of the work is the prologue, for in it Caxton sets
out at length his views and opinions on the English language, its
changes and dialects. He notes that it was rapidly altering. "And
certaynly our langage now used varyeth ferre from that whiche was used
and spoken when I was borne." While some were anxious to preserve the
old style, others were equally wishful to introduce the new. "And thus
bytwene playn rude and curious I stande abasshed, but in my judgemente
the comyn termes that be dayli used ben lyghter to be understonde than
the olde and auncyent englysshe."
In order to make the style as good as possible, Caxton obtained the
assistance of John Skelton, lately created a "poeta laureatus" at
Oxford, who revised the work for the press.
A second edition of the _Speculum Vitae Christi_ and the _Liber
Festivalis_ belong probably to 1490. The latter book is not a reprint
of the first edition, but another version, and is reprinted from the
Oxford edition of 1486.
The last five books printed by Caxton are theological or liturgical.
The _Ars Moriendi_, a unique little quarto of eight leaves, was
discovered in a volume of early tracts in the Bodleian by Henry
Bradshaw, and is described by Blades in the second edition of his
book. He there states that no other edition in any language is known;
but it was certainly reprinted by Wynkyn de Worde. The _Fifteen Oes_,
a little quarto containing fifteen prayers, each commencing with O, is
known from a unique copy in the British Museum. The book was no doubt
intended as a supplement to the Sarum _Book of Hours_, but no edition
agreeing with it typographically is known. It differs from all other
of Caxton's books in having wood-cut borders round each page of text.
It also contains a beautiful wood-cut of the Crucifixion, one of a
series intended for a _Book of Hours_. No doubt Caxton possessed the
set, and we find it later on in the hands of Wynkyn de Worde.
The _Servitium de Transfiguratione Jesu Christi_ and the _Commemoratio
lamentationis Beatae Mariae Virginis_ are special issues of new
services to be incorporated into the _Breviary_. The first contains
10 leaves, and is one of the very few books in which Caxton introduced
printing in red. The only copy known, bound up with a unique tract
printed by Pynson, and some foreign books, was formerly in the
Congregational Library, London, but was purchased by the British
Museum in 1862 for £200. The _Commemoratio_, a quarto of 34 leaves, is
known only from the unique copy, wanting two leaves, presented to the
University of Ghent by the learned librarian, Dr. Ferdinand Vander
Haeghen. This little book was purchased for a trifle at a sale in
Ghent and remained unrecognized for many years, until M. Campbell of
The Hague identified it as a production of Caxton's press.
The book generally considered to have been the last printed by Caxton
consists of three treatises printed with separate signatures. These
are the _Orologium Sapientiae_, the _Twelve profits of Tribulation_,
and the _Rule of St. Benet_.
[Illustration:
PLATE XXI
SERVITIUM DE TRANSFIGURATIONE JESU CHRISTI
(see page 78)
]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXII
THE CRUCIFIXION
(see page 78)
]
A writer in the British Museum speaking of these three books, says
that they "are in most of the known copies bound together, and have
been usually treated as a single volume under the title, probably
dating from the eighteenth century, _A Book of Divers Ghostly
Matters_. There is, however, no reason to suppose the connexion to be
due to any other cause than similarity of subject and form, combined
with nearly simultaneous publication."
No doubt this idea commends itself to the Museum authorities, since
they possess only one of the three portions, ruthlessly abstracted by
a thief some years ago from a perfect copy in a private library, but
unfortunately it is quite incorrect. The compiler distinctly speaks
of the books having been printed together, and on account of their
treating different subjects, his wish that the compilation should be
called the _Book of Divers Ghostly Matters_.
When complete the book consisted of 148 leaves in quarto. It contains,
at the end of the second tract, a wood-cut which belongs to the series
specially cut for the _Speculum Vitae Christi_, though it was not used
in it.
The number of books actually printed by Caxton in England, counting
separate editions, is ninety-six, and with the three printed at Bruges
and the _Missal_ makes altogether one hundred genuine Caxtons. Blades
describes ninety-nine books, but amongst these he includes two which
were certainly printed at Bruges after Caxton had left, and three
printed by Wynkyn de Worde after Caxton's death, so that the number of
genuine books which he describes is ninety-four. The finest collection
is now, as is right, in the British Museum, which by judicious
purchases in recent years has quite outstripped any possible rival.
Five more books remain to be described, which although not printed by
Caxton himself, were printed with his types, and have therefore often
been ascribed by different writers to his press. These are the _Life
of St. Katherine_, the _Chastising of God's Children_, the _Treatise
of Love_, the _Book of Courtesy_, and the third edition of the _Golden
Legend_.
The first of these books is a small folio of 96 leaves, and contains,
besides the Life of St. Katherine of Siena, the Revelations of St.
Elizabeth of Hungary. The type used is a modification of Caxton's
type No. 4*, recast on a slightly smaller body and with several new
additions. Unlike Caxton's books which were made up in quires of eight
leaves, this has been made up in quires of six. Another point which
distinguishes it and the remaining books from Caxton's work is
the introduction of several remarkable capital letters. These were
obtained along with a fount of type and some wood-cuts from Godfried
van Os, apparently about the year 1490, when he moved from Gouda to
Copenhagen. The fount of type was not used until 1496, and then only
for one book.
The _Chastising of God's Children_, a folio of 48 leaves, printed in
Caxton's type No. 6, is notable as being the first book issued at the
Westminster press with a genuine title-page. It is printed in three
lines, and runs as follows: "The prouffytable boke for mannes soule,
And right comfortable to the body, and specyally in adversitee and
trybulacyon, whiche boke is called The Chastysing of goddes Chyldern."
Why so obvious an improvement as a title-page never commended itself
to Caxton it is hard to say. It could not have been for want of
examples, for, introduced in Germany as far back as the year 1468,
they had at any rate during the last ten years of Caxton's life been
in common use abroad. Even the London printer, William de Machlinia,
had prefixed one to an edition of the _Treatise on the Pestilence_, by
Canutus, Bishop of Aarhaus, which he printed about the year 1486. Of
the _Chastising_, about twelve copies are known.
[Illustration:
PLATE XXIII
THE LYF OF SAINT KATHERIN
(see page 80)
]
The _Treatise of Love_ is also a folio of 48 leaves, and agrees
typographically with the _Chastising_; indeed, the two were often
bound together, and are quoted by Dibdin as two parts of one book. The
introduction tells us that it was translated in 1493 from French into
English by a person "unperfect in such work," but no mention is made
either of the original author or the translator. It was most probably
printed also in 1493, for at the end of that year De Worde introduced
his own type and ceased the use of Caxton's for the text of his books.
At the end his first device is found, consisting of Caxton's initials
and mark, much reduced in size, in black on a white ground, and
apparently engraved on metal. Blades quotes four copies of this book,
all of them perfect, but does not mention the copy in the University
Library at Göttingen, and there are probably at least two other copies
in private libraries in England.
Of the _Book of Courtesy_, which, like the earlier editions, was in
quarto, nothing now remains but two leaves printed on one side in the
Douce collection at the Bodleian. These two leaves, which have been
used at some time to line a binding, are waste proof of the beginning
and end of the second and last quire of the book, which probably
consisted, like the earlier edition, of 14 leaves. On the last page,
under the colophon, "Here endeth a lytyll treatyse called the booke
of curtesye or lytyll John. Enprynted atte westmoster," is De Worde's
device printed upside down, the reason no doubt for the rejection of
the sheet.
The last book, the _Golden Legend_, is a small, thick folio of 436
leaves, with a number of illustrations which had been used in previous
editions. The colophon is reprinted verbatim from the first edition,
with the simple alteration of the date and regnal year. It ends, as
do those of the preceding editions, "By me William Caxton," a
circumstance which gives Blades the opportunity of remarking on the
carelessness of Wynkyn de Worde. "This is only another instance," he
writes, "of the utter disregard of accuracy by Wynken de Worde, who
has here reprinted Caxton's colophon, with the date only altered, and
thus caused what might have been a puzzling anomaly."
This is, I think, hardly fair criticism. The book is the largest which
Caxton translated, and the words "By me William Caxton" may apply
quite as much to the translation as to the printing, and it is no
doubt that De Worde retained it as applying to the former. As Caxton
was but recently dead, and well known to every one, he could not
possibly have intended to signify that he was the printer.
One point in connexion with this book is curious. How was it that this
third edition was printed when the stock of the earlier edition was
not exhausted? Caxton, by his will, bequeathed a certain number to
the churchwardens of St. Margaret's, to be sold for the benefit of
the church, but these were not exhausted even by 1498, when a fourth
edition was printed. In 1496 Caxton's son-in-law received twenty, and
a number still remained in possession of his daughter.
A solution of this difficulty has occurred to me, which, though it may
be considered as improbable, is by no means impossible. This is, that
the "legends" mentioned in the various documents were not copies
of the _Golden Legend_ at all, but were copies of the _Legenda_ of
Salisbury use, which, as pointed out on page 71, were probably printed
for Caxton. Being a book printed specially for the use of the clergy
in church, such a bequest would be very suitable. In 1496 these
"legends" were valued in the law-court at thirteen shillings and
four pence apiece, but the twelve copies sold by the churchwardens of
Westminster between 1496 and 1500 gradually decreased in price from
six shillings and eight pence in the first year to five shillings in
the last.
[Illustration:
PLATE XXIV
THE METAMORPHOSES OF OVID
(see page 83)
]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXV
THE METAMORPHOSES OF OVID
(see page 83)
]
Considering the number of Caxton's productions that are now known to
us only from mere fragments, it is probable that many have disappeared
altogether. Amongst these may be reckoned one of considerable
importance, the _Metamorphoses of Ovid_.
In the introduction to the _Golden Legend_ Caxton writes: "Whan I had
parfourmed and accomplisshed dyvers werkys and hystoryes translated
out of frensshe into englysshe at the requeste of certeyn lordes,
ladyes and gentylmen, as thystorye of the recuyel of Troye, the book
of the chesse, the hystorye of Jason, the hystorye of the myrrour of
the world, the xv bookes of Metamorpheseos in whyche been conteyned
the fables of ouyde, and the hystorye of godefroy of boloyn ... wyth
other dyuers werkys and bookes, etc."
These, like all Caxton's translations, were done for the press, so
there is every reason for believing that the _Ovid_ also was printed.
Fortunately we have further evidence, for in the Pepysian collection
at Magdalene College, Cambridge, is a manuscript on paper bought by
Pepys at an anonymous auction, which contains the last six books of
the _Metamorphoses_, with the following colophon: "Translated and
fynysshed by me William Caxton at Westmestre the xxij day of Apryll,
the yere of our lord. M. iiijc iiijxx. And the xx yere of the Regne of
kyng Edward the fourth."
Though the point can never be settled, it is not unlikely that this
manuscript has preserved for us a genuine specimen of Caxton's own
writing, not, of course, the ordinary current hand, but the book hand
used in copying manuscripts. At that time there was still a prejudice
amongst the nobles against printed books, so that the presentation
copy to the patron generally took the form of a neatly written
manuscript.
There is another interesting point to be noticed about this
manuscript. It contains the autograph of Lord Lumley, who inherited
the library formed by the Earls of Arundel. Now, William Fitzalan,
Earl of Arundel, was one of Caxton's patrons, so that it seems
extremely probable that this manuscript was presented to him by Caxton
himself.
Another translation of which no trace remains is mentioned in the
prologue to the _Four Sons of Aymon_. The only known copy of Caxton's
edition is imperfect, and wants the earlier part containing this
prologue, but it occurs in full in the later edition printed by
William Copland in 1554, from which the following quotation is taken:
"Therefore late at the request and commandment of the right noble
and virtuous Earl, John Earl of Oxford, my good singular and especial
lord, I reduced and translated out of French into our maternal and
English tongue the life of one of his predecessors named Robert Earl
of Oxford tofore said with divers and many great miracles, which
God showed for him, as well in his life as after his death, as it is
showed all along in his said book." What this romance may have been is
difficult to say, but it probably refers to the favourite of Richard
the Second, the Duke of Ireland, who was killed in France while
engaged in a boar-hunt.
Caxton, like all other printers at that time, numbered bookbinders
amongst his workmen and issued his books ready bound. Every genuine
binding from his workshop is of brown calf, ornamented with dies. His
general method of covering the sides of his bindings was to make a
large centre panel contained by a framework of dies. This panel was
divided into lozenge-shaped compartments by diagonal lines running
both ways from the frame, and in each of these compartments a die was
stamped. The die most commonly found has a winged dragon or monster
engraved upon it. The framework was often composed of repetitions of a
triangular die pointing alternately right and left, also containing
a dragon. This die is interesting, not only because the use of a
triangular die was uncommon, but because it was an exact copy of one
used by a London binder of the twelfth century.