A DESCRIPTION OF BOOKS PRINTED IN TYPE No. 3.
Reading edition
BOOKS PRINTED IN TYPE No. 3.
35. An Advertisement 1477-78?
36. Directorium. First Version 1477-78?
37. Horæ. Second Edition 1480?
38. Psalterium, &c. 1480-83?
BOOKS PRINTED IN TYPE No. 3.
No. 35.—An Advertisement. Long Octavo. Westminster. No Date. (About 1477-78.)
Typographical Particulars.—The type is all No. 3, the whole advertisement being comprised in seven lines, unevenly spaced, the longest measuring five inches. The verso is blank.
Jf it plese ony man spirituel or temporel to bye ony pyes of two and thre comemoracios of salisburi vse enpryntid after the forme of this preset lettre whiche ben wel and truly correct ⸝ late hym come to westmo- nester in to the almonesrye at the reed pale and he shal haue them good chepe.·.·
Supplico stet cedula
Remarks.—This is an interesting relic, not only as giving us the name of the house inhabited by our first printer—the Red-pale (“reed” was commonly used by Caxton for “red”)—but also as a specimen of advertisements in the fifteenth century. Although small in size, it may also be considered as the earliest instance known of a “broadside” printed in this country.
Our printer was not alone in advertising his books, although, from the fugitive nature of such productions, specimens are very rarely to be found. An interesting list of books printed by Coburger, at Nuremberg, in the fifteenth century, is in the British Museum (C. 18. e. 2. 27), to which is attached the following heading:—“Cupientes emere libros infra notatos venient ad hospicium subnotatum Venditorem habituri largissimum,” &c.
The “Pye”[16] was a collection of rules to show the priest how to deal (under every possible variation in Easter) with the concurrence of more than one office on the same day. In reading Caxton’s Advertisement the question arises,—In what respect did the “pyes of two and three commemorations of Salisbury use” differ from the ordinary pyes of Salisbury use? The Very Reverend Canon Rock, D.D., has kindly placed at my disposal an explanation which confines the “pye of two commemorations” to the rules for Easter and Whitsuntide, and the “pye of three commemorations” to the rules for Easter, Whitsuntide, and Trinity.[17] Caxton’s Advertisement, therefore, refers to separately published portions of the common “Directorium seu Pica Sarum,” applicable, perhaps, to the current year only. In the succeeding article is described a “Pica,” which, in some particulars, agrees entirely with Caxton’s description.
A poor copy is among the Doucé fragments in the Bodleian; and a good one, formerly in Dr. Farmer’s library, at Althorpe.
It has been suggested that the first line being very short, the syllable co has accidentally dropped out, and that the text should read “to buy any copies,” &c.; but the word “copy,” in that sense, was unknown in the fifteenth century.
No. 36.—Directorium, seu Pica Sarum. First Version. Quarto. Sine ullâ notâ. (About 1477-8.)
No perfect copy of this book being known, the Collation is necessarily omitted. The four fragments from the covers of the St. Alban’s “Boethius” are four separate half sheets in quarto, making a total of sixteen pages.
Typographical Particulars.—Only one type, No. 3, is used in these fragments. The lines are not spaced out to one length. The longest measure 3⅝ inches. A full page has 22 lines. Without signatures, or catchwords, or printed folios to the leaves. There are no initial letters, nor is there any space left for them. The whole is in very contracted Latin.
Remarks.—There can be no doubt that this was the product of Caxton’s press, as all the circumstances connected with it tend to prove. It was extracted from the covers of a book which was evidently bound in Caxton’s workshop, and for the binding of which he had used waste sheets from the press (see ante, page 215). The fragments belonging to known books were all printed by Caxton before 1481; while the “Advertisement” and “Directorium,” reasoning from the measurement of the lines and their uneven length, were certainly printed before 1480, and probably about the same time as the later set of quarto poetic pieces, i.e., about 1478.
This “Directorium” is not the same version as that printed by Caxton, about 1486, in type No. 5, and a second edition of which was issued a few years later in type No. 6. These last are the text revised for Bishop Rotherham, founded upon an earlier version, of which latter the leaves under notice appear to be a portion.
Formerly in the library of the St. Alban’s Grammar School; they are now in the British Museum.
No. 37.—Horæ ad usum Sarum. Second Edition. Quarto. (1480-83.)
No perfect copy being known, the Collation is of necessity omitted. The following remarks are made from three fragments rescued from the St. Alban’s “Boethius,” already noticed.
Typographical Particulars.—The only type used, judging from these fragments, was No. 3. The lines are spaced out, and measure 3⅜ inches. A full page has 20 lines. The initials and paragraph marks are not inserted.
The first fragment, a quarto leaf printed on both sides, but very defective, contains part of the “Suffragia of the Three Kings,” which are among the additions to the first part of the “Primer;” and in an early edition by Wynken de Worde, immediately precede the Latin “Fifteen Oes.”
The second fragment is also but one leaf, and contains the commencement of Part II of the “Horæ,” the “Ne Reminiscaris” being the anthem belonging to the Seven Penitential Psalms.
The third fragment consists of two pages of prayers, containing the first of the “Fifteen Oes” in Latin, and some prayers near the end of the Litany.
Remarks.—As all the “Fifteen Oes” and the Litany, as well as other prayers, intervene between the two pages of the third fragment, it is evident they were not intended to be printed on one sheet; this, added to the fact that the paper is printed only on one side, makes it clear that these are proof pages.
This edition of “Horæ” is entirely unknown to any of our bibliographers, and was doubtless a second edition of that already noticed at p. 191.
These fragments, now in the British Museum, were purchased in 1874. They were formerly in the library of King Edward VI Grammar School, St. Alban’s.
No. 38.—Psalterium, etc. Quarto. Sine ullâ notâ. (1480-83?)
Collation.—a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u x y are 4ns, with a 1 blank; but as only one copy is known to be in existence, and that imperfect, no complete collation can be given.
Typographical Particulars.—There is only one type, No. 3, used throughout the work, excepting for the signatures, where the Arabic numerals belong to type No. 2. The lines, which are spaced out, measure 3⅜ inches, and a full page has 20. Without printed folios or catchwords. Space for the insertion of 2 to 4-line initials, generally without director, is left at the beginning of paragraphs. The signatures are in letters and Arabic numerals, a mode of signing used by Caxton only between the years 1480 and 1483.
The book doubtless commenced with a blank leaf for a 1, which is wanting in this copy.
The Text begins at the head of a 2 recto, thus:—
Jheronimus de laude dei super psalterium
n
Jchil enim est in hac vita mortali in quo possumus fa- miliarius inherere deo q’ di- uinis laudibus. Nullus e’m mor-
“Jheronimus super Psalterium” ends on a 6 recto, and is followed by two prayers and a metrical hymn.
The Psalter finishes on sig. t 3 recto, and is followed by the Canticles, Te Deum, Athanasian Creed, a general Litany, including most of the prayers now in use, and ends imperfectly on sig. y 7 verso. There is an eighth leaf, which at first sight is very defective, seeming to be y 8; in fact it is an intercallary leaf, consisting of two pages accidentally omitted between r 7 and x 8, and bound up wrongly after y 7, the real y 8 being absent.
As these typographical blunders suggest that the compositor worked from a printed and not a manuscript copy, we may well believe that this is not the first edition of the work.
The only copy at present known is in the British Museum, having formed a portion of the old Royal Library. It has the initials M. R. (Queen Mary I.) on the back of the volume, and was recognised as being printed with Caxton’s types by Mr. Bullen of the British Museum, through whose hands it passed for re-cataloguing.