ун INTRODUCTION. SIR THOMAS MALORY AND THE VARIOUS EDITIONS "Le HE cycle of stories of King Arthur and the little must be gleaned from Caxton's preface and colophon. There we read that Thomas Malory was a knight, that he completed his work in the ninth year of the reign of King Edward IV.-i.e., 1470-twenty-five years before it saw the light of day in print. Caxton further states that Malory "reduced" his work from certain books in French, and that he was the servant of Jesu both day and night, which fact and the general tone of the "Morte Darthur," have sometimes given rise to the hypothesis that he was a priest. The name "Malory" occurs in Leland's time in Yorkshire, and is quoted in the next century in Burton's "Description of Leicestershire," but no clue can be found to connect the 1 The name 66 2 John Leland's "Itinerary," 2nd ed., Oxford, 1744, vol. viii. p. 22: "There be two Lordshipps lyenge not very far from Ripon, that is Norton Conyers and Hutton Coniers. Norton hathe Northeton Coniers, and Malory hathe Hutton Coniers. Thes Lands cam to their Aunciters by two doughtars, Heirs Generall of that Coniers. Malory hath another Place caullyd Highe Studly, a litle from Fontaines." 3 W. Burton, "Description of Leicestershire," 1st ed. 1622, 2nd ed. Lynn, 1777, folio, p. 140, Thomas Malory; p. 262, Sir Thomas Malory, knyght of Winwick, Newbould and Swinford, 19, 27. VOL. II. A 66 author of the "Morte Darthur" with the bearers of his name. The Bibliographia Britannica” 1 says that Leland, and others after him, stated Malory to be a Welshman, but I can find no reference to this fact in Leland's works. The "Morte Darthur" has been in all twelve times printed or edited previously to the present edition: seven times in black letter and five times in Roman type. W. Caxton's impression was finished, according to his own statement, in 1485. He was induced to print the book "by many noble and dyuers gentylmen of thys royame." This edition was brought out in folio and printed in black letter. Only two copies of this first and original edition are known to exist. Of a third copy the second leaf of the table of contents of the book is alone preserved.3 One of the two above-mentioned copies is throughout perfect and in good condition. and is unanimously considered one of the finest specimens of early printing. Belonging originally to the Harleian Library, this copy was sold to the Earl of Jersey for his library at Osterley Park. In 1885 it became the property of Mrs. Abby E. Pope, of Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1 46 'Bibliographia Britannica," vol. iii. p. 372, "Caxton:" "If this Sir Thomas Malory was a Welshman, as Leland and others after him assert, he was most likely a Welsh priest." 2 (a) W. Blades, "The Life and Typography of William Caxton." London, 1861-3, folio, vol. ii. p. 178. (b) "Bibliotheca Spenceriana, or a Descriptive Catalogue of the Books printed in the Fifteenth Century, in the Library of George John, Earl Spencer, K.G., &c." by T. F. Dibdin. London, 1815, folio, vol. iv. pp. 403-9. (c) Dibdin, "Typographical Antiquities, or the History of Printing in England, Scotland, and Ireland." London, 1810-19, 4to, vol. i. pp. 241-85. (d) Lowndes, "Bibliographer's Manual." London, 1864, 8vo, p. 74. (e) W. Carew Hazlitt's "Hand-book to the Popular, Poetical, and Dramatic Literature of Great Britain, from the Invention of Printing to the Restoration." London, 1867, 8vo p. 13. 3 Bagford, "Fragments," vol. viii. No. 58. John the United States.' The other copy is No. 1194 of the famous library Jo of Earl Spencer, Althorp, Northampton. This copy, too, is in good Rylands? condition, and not, as some sources say, very much damaged. It wants eleven leaves (not twelve), which are, however, replaced by facsimiles from the Osterley Park copy, due to the skilful hand of Mr. Whittaker: which indeed resemble the original pages so much, that, at first sight, one might easily mistake them for the latter; but on close and careful examination one cannot help noticing many very characteristic, though small, differences in the single letters. Dibdin in his Spencerian Catalogue only mentions that the copy wants eleven leaves, and refers to his "Typographical Antiquities," where he describes the Osterley Park copy. According to a written note by Messrs. Longman attached to the Althorp copy, and to Mr. Blades' account3 of the book, these leaves were the following: 1. Sig. lj (fol. 98); 2. Sig. r, (fol. 152); 3. Sig. r, (fol. 153); 4. Sig. T, (fol. 357); 5. Sig. T, (fol. 358); 6. Sig. ee, (fol. 427); 7. Sig. ee, (fol. 428); 8. Sig. ee, (fol. 429); 9. Sig. ee, (fol. 430); and 10. Sig. ee (fol. 431). This statement proved to be not throughout correct, as I discovered when I had done about two-thirds of the text. 1o. There are only nine leaves accounted for. 2°. Sig. ee. (fol. 427) is no reproduction, but the original. 3°. Sig.` N, (fol. 307) and Sig. N ̧ (fol. 312) are facsimiles, though not stated as such. The present edition is based on this copy. 5 4 1 At the Osterley sale, in May 1885, the British Museum gave a commission of £1800 to their agent, but the copy was sold for £1950. It is very much to be regretted that the English nation lost this splendid specimen of Caxton's printing, containing, as it does, the traditional history of their King Arthur, a national epic. 2 This note reads thus: Leaves wanting in Caxton's Morte d'Arthur left with Messrs. Longman & Co. 21 Feb. 1816. The whole of 1; Part of r, The whole of r Part of T The whole of T, Part of eeij A few leaves following to the end of the Work.-LONGMAN & Co. The parts of the leaves in question alluded to in this note must have been removed I was unable to discover where the "note at N," refers to. 2 3 Blades, vol. ii. page 178: "Imperfect, wanting lj; r, 7 and 8; Tiiij and 5; ee ij. iij, 4, 5 and 6 all of which have been supplied in beautiful facsimiles. Neither copy has a title.' According to Mr. Blades' treatise on Caxton's Typography, the type is No. 4*. The volume is 11 inches high and 8 inches broad. The lines are all 4 inches long. Thirtyeight lines make generally a full page, but pages occur with a few lines less, and some with thirty-nine lines. Neither folios nor catchwords are given. Books and chapters commence with woodcut initials, the former with ornamental ones, five lines high; the latter with plain ones, three lines high. The first leaf of the book is blank. Caxton's preface commences on the second recto, with a three-line woodcut initial. This preface consists of two paragraphs, and finishes on signature iiij. On the verso the table of contents, or "rubrysshe," as Caxton styles it, begins, and runs without interruption through thirtyfour pages, terminating on the eighteenth verso. The history itself commences on signature a, with an ornamental five-line woodcut initial. The leaves are distinguished by three sets of alphabets, each in eights, intended merely as a direction to the binders, only half of each sheet being marked, in the beginning, alternately, one page with a signature and one without, afterwards four leaves with signatures and four without, these latter being the halves of the signed sheets. the first alphabet, after z, follows &, also in eights. The second alphabet concludes with Z, and then follow aa, bb, &c., to ee, in eights, but ee has only six leaves, as the book finishes on the verso of R iij is misprinted for sig. S iij, and S ij for T ij. The Althorp copy is beautifully bound in olive morocco by Lewis. ee6* In Caxton's helpmate and successor, Wynkyn de Worde,' printed the next two editions of the "Morte Darthur:" the second in 1498, and the third in 1529, both in folio and black-letter. Only two copies 66 1 The title of the present edition is literally repeated from Caxton's colophon (comp. sig. ee, p. 861*, lines 12-18). "Title-pages," says Mr. Blades (vol. i. p. 33), are purely typographical in their origin, the scribes having satisfied themselves with heading their first page with the Hic incipit and name of the treatise. Caxton followed the manuscript practice in this particular; for, with one single exception ('The Chastising of God's Children,' plate Lii. vol. ii.), where the title of the book is printed alone in the centre of the first page, his books appear without any title-page. Wynkyn de Worde adopted title-pages immediately after the death of his master." 2 Compare the photographic facsimile specimen page, selected because it illustrates both sorts of initials, as well as some other particulars referred to later on. 3 The title which W. de Worde is supposed to have given to his editions, for his copies also want the title-page, runs thus: "The Booke of Kynge Arthur and of his noble Knyghtes of the Rounde Table. Printed at Westmestre 1498 folio. of his impressions are known to exist, fortunately one of each edition. That of 1498 is in Earl Spencer's library, No. 907, and that of 1529 in the Grenville Collection of the British Museum. The first copy, though lacking ten leaves,' and having thirteen partly injured by smaller or greater portions of the text being torn away, is of particular interest, as an example of the first attempt ever made of illustrating a text throughout with engravings. These are very coarsely executed woodcuts. Dibdin, who has reproduced several of them in his Spencerian Catalogue,' says: They are very little superior to the 1 The first leaf of the table; signatures a,; r2; E,; E.; T,; W ̧; B1; C.; D1; and E. The damaged leaves are those: a,; i,; n; n; 0; P3; 9; 2; V1; V、; N; S1 and D. Dibdin also mentions r, as wanting, but that I found preserved and not damaged. 2(a) Dibdin, "Bibliotheca Spenceriana," vol. vi. 403 ff. Lord Spencer's copy has been bound in a very elegant manner in dark-red morocco by C. Lewis. On a visit to Lord Spencer's library on February 1, 1889, at Althorp, I examined this copy and copied as a specimen the last 26 lines, which run thus: For ye tranflacon of this booke was fynysshed. the. ix. yere of the reygne of kynge Edwarde the fourth by Syr Thomas Maleore knyght / as Ihefu helpe hym' for his grete myght. as he is the feruaunt of Ihefu bothe daye and nyghte. Thus endyth this noble & Ioyous .lxxx xviij. and ended the. xxv The points denote that the ends of the lines are damaged. (b) Dibdin, "Typographical Antiquities" (vol. i. pp. 248–52), gives some of the variations from Caxton. (c) W. C. Hazlitt's "Handbook," &c., p. 13. |