In the new page of the castrated edition the clause "And
laſtly, the memorable defeate of the Spaniſh huge Armada,
Anno 1588. and the famous victorie acheiued at the citie of
Cadiz, 1596." is made to read: "As alſo the memorable defeat
of the Spaniſh huge Armada, Anno 1588."; and the date is
changed to 1599. But, as Oldys remarks, through oversight or
indifference the reference in the preface still remains to
show that the edition is doctored, and not a new one. It
reads: "An excellent diſcourſe whereof, as likewiſe of
the honourable expedition vnder two of the moſt noble and
valiant peeres of this Realme, I meane, the renoumed Erle of
Eſſex, and the right honorable the lord Charles Howard,
lord high Admirall of England, made 1596, vnto the ſtrong
citie of Cadiz, I haue set downe a double epiphonema to
conclude this my firſt volume withall...." The reference
also remains in "A Catalogue of the Voyages," "39 The
honourable voyage to Cadiz, Anno 1596. [p.] 607." and at
page 606 the catchword "A briefe" still bears witness to the
curtailment of "A briefe and true report of the Honourable
voyage vnto Cadiz, 1596." The original leaves ended on page
619, with a large woodcut representing two winged figures
supporting a crown and rose. They have been twice reprinted,
but both reprints are easily distinguishable from the early
work.
The second volume was issued by the same printers in 1599, and
the third in 1600. Hakluyt is characterized on the title-page
of the first volume, as on that of the first edition, as
"Master of Artes, and sometime Student of Christ-Church in
Oxford," but in the second and third volumes he is called
"Preacher, and sometime student of Christ-Church in Oxford."
He had been made rector of Wetheringsett in Suffolk in 1590.
In its general make-up, the new work resembles the old one.
The archer head-bands have not been used, and only one of the
pictorial initials signed [symbol: A; or "SA" monogram],--that
at the beginning of the Dedication,--is retained in volumes
one and two. These pictorial initials belong to an alphabet
illustrating stories from Greek mythology. Mr. Pollard, in a
chapter on _Pictorial and Heraldic Initials_, states that the
first appearance of any of the set known to him occurs in a
proclamation printed by Berthelet, and dated 1546. He finds
that a similar monogram was used by Anton Sylvius, who worked
for Plantin from 1550 to 1573, but he is doubtful about
ascribing these initials to that artist.
The first and third volumes have the "The" of the title in a
long panel (made of type-metal ornament in the first case, and
a woodcut cartouche in the last one); the printer's ornaments
on the title-pages of the second and third volumes are alike,
and are the same as that in the first edition. "A Table
Alphabetical," printed at the end of the first edition, was
not undertaken for the second; but a new, engraved map of the
world, unsigned and without a title, is found in some copies
of the third volume. It was used also in two states.
This map is exceedingly rare, and interest attaches to it
for two reasons. It is the first map of the world engraved
in England, on Wright's (Mercator) projection, having been
published the year after Wright had explained the principles
of the projection in his _Certain Errors in Navigation_. A
legend in a cartouche on the engraving says: "Thou hast here
gentle reader a true hydrographical description of ſo much
of the world as hath beene hetherto diſcouered, and is comme
to our knowledge: which we have in ſuch ſort performed,
y^t all places herein ſet downe, haue the ſame poſitions
and diſtances that they haue in the globe...." The second
source of interest is this: the map is, without much doubt,
the one Shakespeare referred to in _Twelfth Night_ when he
made _Maria_ say of _Malvolio_, "he does ſmile his face into
more lynes then is in the new Mappe, with the augmentation of
the Indies."
A curious error has existed with regard to the map. The
reference in the 1589 volume, already quoted, has been taken
to mean that Hakluyt intended to issue a map by Molineux with
that work, but, that map not being ready in time, he used the
one from Ortelius. What more natural than that the new map in
the 1598 edition should be supposed to be Molineux's, now at
length finished? This was the conclusion jumped at, and the
plate is usually called "Molineux's map." As a matter of fact,
Hakluyt did not refer to Molineux as a map-maker, but as a
globe-maker. He was a friend of that rare gentleman, and he
knew that the mathematician was at work on a large terrestrial
globe embodying all the very latest geographical information
in the most exact way, according to Mercator's projection. He
used the Ortelius map in his book only until the globe should
be ready, when it could be easily adapted to the plane surface
of a map by the engraver.
The globe, measuring two and a half feet in diameter, was
issued in 1592, and is now preserved in the Library of the
Middle Temple.
Folio. Black letter.
COLLATION: Volume I, *, _six leaves; **, six leaves; A-Fff{4},
in sixes_.
Volume II, *, _eight leaves; A-Ccb, in sixes; Aaa-Rrrb, in sixes_.
Volume III, _(A), eight leaves; A-I, in sixes; K, eight leaves;
L-Cccc, in sixes_.
GEORGE CHAPMAN
(1559-1634)
15. The | Whole Works | Of | Homer; | Prince Of Poetts | In his
Iliads, and | Odyſses. | Translated according to the Greeke, | By
| Geo: Chapman. | De Ili: et Odiſſ. | Omnia ab, his: et in his
ſunt omnia | ſive beati | Te decor eloquij, | ſeu rer[~u] pondera
| tangunt. Angel: Pol: | At London printed for Nathaniell Butter.
| William Hole ſculp:
Though Butter was the publisher of Dekker's _Belman of
London_, and, with John Busby, of Shakespeare's _Lear_, he is
chiefly to be remembered for two things, for his success as a
compiler and publisher of pamphlets of news,--a success which
entitles him to the place of father of the London press--and
for his connection with Chapman.
In 1609 (?) Samuel Macham brought out, in small folio form,
_Homer, Prince of Poetts, in Twelve Bookes of his Iliads_,
embellished with an engraved title-page by William Hole, who
was one of the earliest English engravers on copper-plates.
Inflated with his subject, the artist crowded the title into
a small central panel the better to present his conception of
Vulcan, Apollo, Achilles, Hector, and Homer, in a composition
which, if topheavy, was more dignified and better drawn than
many of the borders ascribed to him.
Under date of April 8, 1611, we find in the Stationers'
Register that Butter "Entered for his Copy by consente of
Samuell Masham, A Booke called Homers Iliads in English
contayning 24 bookes." With his right to print, he also
received the right to use the Hole frontispiece, which he had
reëngraved on a larger scale for the new book. The date of
issue is not given, but it could not have been later than
November 6, 1612, the date of the death of the Prince of
Wales, to whom the book is dedicated, and it was probably
published soon after the date of copyright. The printer's name
is also lacking; but reasons exist for thinking that more than
one worked on the book, and that there were several issues.
There are copies whose signatures agree with those of the
volumes of our issue, but these are printed with different
type, on poorer paper, and the initial letters and other
ornaments are of a much cruder sort.
After Chapman had published his translation of the Iliad, he
turned his attention to the Odyssey; and, as in the case of
the Iliad, he went to press with half of it first, Butter
being the publisher. The volume ends with the words "Finis
duodecimi libri Hom. Odyſſ. Opus nouem dierum," and begins
with one of the most charming and perfect title-pages of the
period, the greater pity therefore that it is unsigned.
Its composition shows the poet in the midst of a company of
laurel-crowned spirits, whose ethereal forms are expressed
in stipple, with legends which read: "Solus ſapit hic homo,
Reliqui vero," and "Umbræ mouentur." Above, the title is
supported by two cupids, and below are seated figures of
Athena, and Ulysses with his dog. The whole plate was very
delicately drawn.
The remaining twelve books having been finished, we find
Butter entering the whole twenty-four for copyright, November
2, 1614; and, although the volume is not dated, it was
probably issued soon afterward. The title reads: _Homer's
Odysses. Tranſlated according to y^e Greeke. By George
Chapman At Miki q^d viuo detraxerit. Inuida Turba Post obitum
duplici foenore reddet Honos. Imprinted at London by Rich:
Field, for Nathaniell Butter._
The same engraved title-page was used, but its fine lines had
now grown fainter, the stippled shades seeming to justify the
statement in the inscription. The dedication to the Earl of
Somerset, as it appeared with the first twelve books, was
somewhat altered in the opening lines, necessitating the
resetting of the first page and the consequent change of the
head-band and initial letter; but the rest of the first
half is precisely the same as in the first issue. The words
"Finis," etc., were dropped from the end, in some copies, and
a blank leaf marks the division of the first half from the
last.
The present book is made up of the complete Iliad, and the
complete Odyssey, sewn together. The enterprising Butter
made the engraved title of the Iliads answer for the general
title-page of this book also, only, of course, changing the
wording in the central panel. Some copies have the engraved
title of the Odyssey, but more lack it. Its omission was
probably due to its having become too faint from continued use
to be of service. Butter added one or two new features to some
copies of the volume, and among them a fine large portrait
of Chapman, which he printed in a very unusual place, on
the verso of the title-page. It represents the head of the
translator, surrounded by clouds, and bears on the circular
frame the inscriptions: _Haec est laurigeri facies diuina
Georgi_; _Hic Ph[oe]bi Decus est_; _Ph[oe]binumqz Deus_;
_Georgius Chapmanus Homeri Metaphrastes_. _Æta: LVII.
M.DC.XVI; Conscium Evasi Diem._ The date of the inscription
is usually given as the date of issue of the book. Below the
frame are ten lines beginning with two quotations, one in
Latin, and one in English, and followed by this interesting
statement: _Eruditorum Poetarum huius Æui, facile Principi,
Dno Georgio Chapman; Homero (velit nolit Inuidia) Rediuiuo.
I.M. Tessellam hanc_ Χαριϛήριον [Greek: Charistêrion] _DD._
It would be a gratifying thing to know the name of the friend
who thus added so much to the embellishment and interest of the
book. Could it have been John Marston?
The engraving is ascribed to Hole, though without any very
good reason, except that he had made the title-page of the
Iliad, some four years earlier. It seems hardly probable that
his awkward hand could have drawn the title for the Odyssey,
and, while the same holds true of the engraver of the
portrait, a comparison of the three plates perhaps would show
that Butter employed more than one engraver.
Besides the portrait, our publisher added after the
title-page, on a separate leaf, an engraved dedication "To the
Imortall Memorie, of the Incomparable Heroe, Henrye Prince
of Wales," who died in 1612. Two columns labelled "Ilias"
and "Odyssæa," bound with a band inscribed "Musar: Hercul:
Colum:," have below them lines ending:
"... Thow, dead. then; I
Liue deade, for giuing thee Eternitie
"Ad Famam.
"To all Tymes future, This Tymes Marck extend;
Homer, No Patrone founde; Nor Chapman, friend:
"Ignotus nimis omnibus;
Sat notus, moritur ſibi:"
This affecting tribute precedes the other dedication to the
same prince, issued with the Iliad when it first appeared.
Such constancy to the memory of a prince, now some years dead,
and from whom no favors could be expected, argues well for
Chapman's affections; but, on the other hand, one might see
in it a reason for believing that the work was issued before
1616.
Folio.
COLLATION: _Title-page and dedication, 2 ll.; *2,*3, 2 ll.;
A4-A6, A, 5 ll.; B-Z, in sixes; Aa-Ff, in sixes; Gg, 7 ll.;
A3-O, in sixes; R, 7 ll.; S-Z, in sixes; Aa-Hh, in sixes;
Ii, 7 ll._
THE HOLY BIBLE
16. The | Holy | Bible, [Two lines] ¶ Newly tranſlated out of | the
Originall Tongues: and with | the former Tranſlations diligently
| compared and reuiſed by his | Maieſties ſpeciall Com- |
mandement. | ¶ Appointed to be read in Churches. | ¶ Imprinted | at
London by Robert | Barker, Printer to the | Kings moſt excellent |
Maieſtie. | Anno Dom. 1611.
Few books present greater difficulties to the bibliographer
than this, the first "Authorized" or King James Version of the
Bible. Many copies bearing the same date, and seemingly alike,
have distinct differences in the text, in the ornamental head-
and tail-pieces, and in the initial letters. But the most
striking difference lies in two forms of the title-page. One
of these, a copper-plate engraving, signed _C. Boel fecit in
Richmont_, represents an architectural framework having large
figures of Moses and Aaron in niches on either side of the
border and seated figures of St. Luke and St. John, with
their emblems, at the bottom: above are seated figures of St.
Matthew and St. Mark, and St. Peter and St. Paul holding the
Agnus Dei, while behind them are various saints and martyrs.
The title reads:
_The | Holy Bible, | Conteyning the Old Teſtament, | And The
New. | Newly Tranſlated out of the Originall | tongues:
& with the former Tranſlations diligently compared and
reuiſed by his | Maiesties ſpeciall C[~o]mandement. |
Appointed to be read in Churches | Imprinted at London by
Robert | Barker, Printer to the Kings moſt Excellent
Maiestie. Anno Dom. 1611._
The style of Boel's work is quite like that of the Sadelers,
to whose school he belonged, and it resembles in its general
effect some of the title-pages made by those artists for
Plantin's famous Antwerp press.
The other title-page is seen in the facsimile. It is printed
with a woodcut border which represents above, the Evangelists
Matthew and Mark, the Adonai, Lamb, and Dove in cartouches,
while below are found St. Luke and St. John, the Lamb on the
altar, and the cherub's head, Barker's ornament. The tents and
shields of the Twelve Tribes are represented in twelve round
panels on the left side, and the Twelve Apostles, similarly
framed, on the right. The signatures RL [monogram
reverse-R&L] and CS [monogram over semi-circle] are seen
at the bottom of the title panel. This border, like the great
primer black letter of the text, had been previously used
by Christopher Barker, in an edition of the "Bishops Bible,"
published in 1585, and by Robert in 1602; afterward, in an
edition of the New Testament (Royal Version) published
in 1617, and also in other works. While more finished in
execution, the design is similar in idea to one often used
by Barker, notably in a Bible printed in 1593, and bears some
resemblance to a border found in Plantin's "Great Bible."
The copper-plate title is sometimes found with what is called
the first issue of the work, sometimes with the second, and
sometimes with the editions of 1613 and 1617. It has been
suggested that it was intended to be used with the woodcut
border always found with the New Testament in both issues, and
usually ascribed to the second, although "there is no ground
for supposing that it was always issued with it." That Boel
took the motive of the tents and shields of the Tribes for
a minor detail in his border, is a point worthy of notice
because this fact might, with some reason, be used to prove
that inasmuch as his engraving was made some time after the
unknown wood-engraver's border, it could hardly have appeared
with the first issue.
We quote the following from W. I. Loftie's _A Century of
Bibles_:
"Mr. Fry has compared together 70 copies of the Bible of 1611.
By observing how many of them were exactly alike he was able
to determine their order of publication. Twenty-three copies
were found to present the same peculiarities. Two only varied
from the 25 and from each other, in 8 leaves, 2 in one and 6
in the other. Of the remaining 45, 40 were mixed with leaves
from other editions, but 38 contained leaves of the same
edition. Mr. Fry's conclusions were as follows:--One issue is
unmixed except 2 copies in 25: the other is made up (1)
with reprints, (2) with parts of the first issue, (3) with
preliminary leaves from 3 other editions: he therefore infers
that the two issues were distinct and that the issue which
presented the fewest instances of admixture was the first. His
conclusions seem unassailable; it is therefore assumed to be
proved in this list, that the issue of which he examined 25
copies so nearly alike, is the first, and is entitled to the
honour of being called the _Editio Princeps_ of the version."
The chief differences in the collation of what is called the
second issue with the first are these: "The fifth leaf is
Sig. B. in the preliminary matter: Kalendar C, C2, C3, and
followers. In the first page of the Dedication OE is printed
for OF and in the eighth line CHKIST for CHRIST. In the 'Names
and order of the Bookes' there are three lines printed in red:
I Chronicles, is misprinted I Corinthians, and II Chronicles,
II Corinthians. The chief errors of the first issue are
corrected, but the repetition in Ezra iii. 5, remains. Exodus
ix. 13, Let my people goe that they may ſerve thee, _for_
serve me. S. Matthew xxvi. 36, Then commeth Judas with them
unto a place called Gethſemane, _for_ Then cometh
Jeſus. The initial P. in Psalm 112, contains a woodcut of
Walsingham's crest."
Robert Barker's name calls for more than passing notice, since
he it was who, more than any one else after the forty-seven
translators, was responsible for the production of the
Authorized Version. On January 3, 1599, the court of
assistants of the Stationers' Company recognized the letter
patent of Queen Elizabeth granting Robert Barker the reversion
for life, after his father's death, of the office of Queen's
Printer, with the right of printing English Bibles, Books of
Common Prayer, statutes and proclamations. Christopher Barker,
the father, who was also Queen's Printer, made an interesting
report in December, 1582, on the printing patents which had
been granted from 1558-1582, and in it he speaks of his own
rights. Mr. Edward Arber, in quoting the report, calls it a
masterly summary, whose importance and authority as a graphic
history of English printing, it would be hardly possible
to exaggerate. In "A note of the offices and other speciall
licenses for printing, graunted by her maiestie to diuerse
persons; with a coniecture of the valuation" he says: "Myne
owne office of her Maiesties Printer of the English tongue
gyven to Master Wilkes, (and which he had bought) is abbridged
of the cheefest comodities belonging to the office, as shall
hereafter appeare in the Patentes of Master Seres and Master
Daye: but as it is I haue the printing of the olde and newe
testament, the statutes of the Realme, Proclamations, and the
booke of common prayer by name, and in generall wordes, all
matters for the Churche."
If the monopoly of printing the Bible brought its gains it
also brought its risks. Christopher Barker in his report goes
on to speak of this:
"The whole bible together requireth so great a somme of money
to be employed, in the imprinting thereof; as Master Jugge
kept the Realme twelve yere withoute, before he Durst
adventure to print one impression: but I, considering the
great somme I paide to Master Wilkes, Did (as some haue termed
it since) gyve a Desperate adventure to imprint fouer sundry
impressions for all ages, wherein I employed to the value of
three thousande pounde in the term of one yere and a halfe, or
thereaboute: in which tyme if I had died, my wife and children
had ben vtterlie vndone, and many of my frendes greatlie
hindered by disbursing round sommes of money for me, by
suertiship and other meanes...."
Robert was not without a like experience. The King, it is
claimed, never paid a penny towards the great work. Indeed,
William Ball, writing in 1651, says: "I conceive the sole
printing of the bible, and testament, with power of restraint
in others, to be of right the propriety of one Matthew Barker,
citizen and stationer of London, in regard that his father
paid for the emended or corrected translation of the bible,
3,500 l.: by reason whereof the translated copy did of right
belong to him and his assignes."
Whether the great expense connected with its production ruined
him, or whether, as Mr. Plomer suggests, he had been living
beyond his means, Barker's last days were involved in
financial difficulties, and he died in the King's Bench
prison.
Some of the ornament in the book, particularly that used with
the coat-of-arms of the King, the genealogical tables, the
map, and some few head-bands and initial letters, again recall
the work done for Plantin, and lead us to think that that
great printer's books had not been without their influence
upon the Barkers. The Tudor rose, the thistle, harp and
fleur-de-lis are combined in different ways in initials and
head-bands; the head-band of the archers, which was afterward
used in the folio edition of Shakespeare's works, and is found
in many other books, appears; and a large number of unrelated
and commonplace initials and type-metal head-bands bring to
mind the fact that Barker had come into the possession of
material formerly belonging to John Day and Henry Bynneman.
Folio. Black letter. Double columns.
COLLATION: _A, six leaves; B, two leaves; C, one leaf; A2-A6;
D, four leaves; A-C, in sixes; two leaves without signatures;
A-Ccccc6, in sixes; A-Aa6, in sixes_.
BENJAMIN JONSON
(1573?-1637)
17. The | Workes | Of | Beniamin Jonson | --neque me ut miretur turba
| laboro: Contentus paucis lectoribus. | Imprinted at | London by |
Will Stansby | An^o D. 1616.
This book, especially as we see it in the copies printed on
large paper, is a handsome specimen of typography. It reflects
great credit upon its printer, Stansby, who was an apprentice
and then successor to John Windet, and himself a master
printer. Such work entitles him to a front rank among the
printers of the reign of James I.
Jonson is said to have prepared the plays for the press,
himself, and one or two matters of editing, which seem
unusually careful when compared with other folio collections,
certainly appear to show the author's hand. At the end of each
play, for instance, is a statement telling when it was
first acted, and by whom, whether the king's or the queen's
servants. The names of the actors are also given, as well
as the "allowance". The volume embraces nine plays, and
_Epigrammes_, _The Forest_, _Entertaynements_, _Panegyre_,
_Maſques_ and _Barriers_. There is no introductory note by
the printer, and we are not told how Stansby came into the
right to print those plays which had been previously issued by
other printers or publishers.
In some copies all of the plays have separate printed titles,
while in others there are one, two, or more wood-cut borders
showing a lion and a unicorn, a lily, rose and thistle, and a
grape-vine twined around columns at the side.
All of the works not included in the first were intended for
a second volume, which, however, did not appear until after
Jonson's death, in 1640, when it was printed for Richard
Meighen, the bookseller, by Bernard Alsop and Thomas Fawcet.
The title reads: _The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The second
Volume Containing These Playes, Viz._ _1 Bartholomew Fayre.
2 The Staple of Newes. 3 The Divell is an Asse_.... This title,
it will be seen, mentions only three plays, which are thought
to have been issued somewhat earlier than 1640, perhaps as
a supplement to the first volume. The book, as it is usually
bound, however, contains three more plays and a fragment of a
fourth.
There are variations in the imprint of the first volume,
some reading, _London, Printed by William Stansby_, and again
others, _London printed by W. Stansby, and are to be ſould
by Rich: Meighen_. The imprints of the large paper copies in
the British Museum and Huth libraries both read like that
of the copy facsimiled. The large paper copies, it should be
noted, are on whiter and finer paper of an entirely different
water-mark. The copies with Meighen's name show traces of the
erasure of our form; a fact leading to the supposition that
they are later in issue. This matter is complicated, however,
by certain striking variations in the text itself. The last
two pages of Meighen's copies, containing _The Golden Age_,
show a transposition of parts affecting the whole literary
value of the ending of the masque.
Mr. Walter Wilson Greg, in his _List of English Plays_, 1900,
gives the Stansby-Meighen copies the place of the first
issue, calling the Stansby copies a reissue, with the imprint
reëngraved.