Note 15 — A DESCRIPTION OF BOOKS PRINTED IN TYPE No. 2.

An account of this discovery may be found interesting, showing strongly the importance of examining the covers of old books before rejecting them. In the summer of 1858 I inspected the old library in the Grammar School attached to the Abbey of St. Albans. I found a few valuable books all contained in an old deal cupboard, upon which the leakage from the roof had dripped apparently for years. It must have been long since any one had touched a book there, and the amount of dust and decay was certainly enough to deter even a bibliomaniac from so doing. After examining a few interesting books I pulled out one which was lying flat upon the top of others. It was in a most deplorable state, covered thickly with a damp sticky dust, and with a considerable portion of the back rotted away by wet. The white decay fell in lumps on the floor as the unappreciated volume was opened. It proved to be Geoffrey Chaucer’s English translation of “Boecius de Consolatione Philosophiæ,” printed by Caxton, in the original binding, as issued from Caxton’s workshop, and uncut!! On examining the amount of damage it had sustained, I found that the wet, which had injured the book, had also, by separating the layers of paper of which the covers were composed, revealed the interesting fact that several fragments, on which Caxton’s types appeared, had been used in their manufacture. After vexatious opposition and repeated delays the Acting Trustees were induced to allow the book, which they now prized highly, to be deposited in the care of Mr. J. Winter Jones, of the British Museum, for the purpose of rebinding. On dissecting the covers they were found to be composed entirely of waste sheets from Caxton’s press, two or three being printed on one side only. The two covers yielded no less than fifty-six half-sheets of printed paper, proving the existence of three works from Caxton’s press quite unknown before. The following is the list of the fragments, all genuine specimens of England’s first printer, though unfortunately mostly in very poor condition:⁠—

1. The English “Jason,” ten leaves.

2. “Dictes,” three leaves.

3. “Chronicles,” six leaves.

4. “Description of Britain,” eight leaves.

5. “Curia Sapientiæ” (extremely rare), two leaves.

6. “Tulle,” seven leaves.

7. Lydgate’s “Life of our Lady,” two leaves.

8. “Temple of Brass,” fourteen leaves.

9. “The Chorle and the Bird,” two leaves.

10. “The Horse, the Sheep, and the Goose,” four leaves.

11. “Horæ beatæ Virginis” (unique), four leaves.

12. “Pica Sarum” (unique), eight leaves.

13. “An Indulgence of Pope Sixtus IV,” two slips of parchment (unique).