Wynkyn de Worde reproduced the exact letter of the original edition of 1484. The leaves supplied in MS. are the first and fourth preliminary, folios 140, 141, 425-428; and the last leaf, 429, is the one supplied in facsimile. Thomas Pownall, of Hampshire, owned this book about 1750. His engraved book-plate is in it, with a motto from St. Luke, "Videte et cavete ab avaritia," to which an amusing English parallel is appended: "The wicked borroweth and payeth not again." 37909 THE GOLDEN LEGEND, a reproduction from a copy in the Manchester Free Library, with an introduction by Alfred Aspland, folio, cloth, £2. 10s Holbein Society (1484)-1878 Facsimile of an imperfect copy of Caxton's first edition with its woodcuts; a similar facsimile of part of a Dutch Passionael (Antwerp, 1505) being added at the end. 37910 PRICE (F. C.) Fac-similes of examples from the Press of William Caxton at Westminster (with a Memoir, and Bibliographical Particulars), 4to. 10 facsimiles, sd. 10s Privately printed, 1877 37911 BLADES (William) Life and Typography of William Caxton, England's first printer, with evidence of his typographical connection with Colard Mansion, 2 vols. 4to. numerous plates and facsimiles, hf. bd. £3. 10s ("1468" [1478]) Oxford. Unknown Printer. 1861 37912 [HIERONYMUS] Incipit exposicio sancti Jeronimi in simbolum apostoloru; ad рараз laurētiū. Colophon: Explicit exposicio sancti Jeronimi... [as above] Impressa Oxonie Et finita Anno domini. M.cccc.lxviij.xvij. die | decembris. | First book printed at Oxford, octavo, Gothic letter, 40 leaves including one blank at end, quite perfect, large copy (84 × 54 in.), the lower margin of several leaves uncut, a few pages slightly stained in margin, unbound, £150. Oxford, 1468 [1478] No. i in the Caxton Exhibition list of Rood's eleven books. This is one of eleven copies known of the famous Oxford book with the printed date Mcccclxviii (1468), six of which are locked up in public libraries (Bodleian, All Souls' College, Oxford University archives, British Museum, Cambridge University library, and the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris), the others being in Lord Spencer's, the Earl of Pembroke's and Sir Henry Dryden's, and one which went to the West Indies about ten years ago. No library in America yet possesses ... this precious volume, the printer of which disputes with Caxton the honour of introducing printing into England. It was to account for the date as printed in this book that Rich. Atkyns in his Origin and Growth of Printing (Lond. 1664) introduced a forged story about Corsellis. S. W. Singer in his Account of the book printed at Oxford in Mcccclxviii. in which is examined its claim to be considered the first book printed in England (Lond. 1812), strenuously maintained the genuineness of the date, though he subsequently altered his opinion. Modern bibliographers such as Mr. Blades (Antiquary, No. 13, Jan. 1881) and the late Mr. Henry Bradshaw, have in general pronounced that the true date is 1479, but the subject is not yet exhausted, and a very high degree of interest must always be attached to a book so full of typographical problems. Almost throughout the Q is reversed (9), as in ornamental manuscript Q's, H was mistaken for P, some of the printed pages have even right hand edges, some not, while the use of signatures has to many seemed decisive in favour of the later date. A bibliographical reputation may still be built up on a close study of this and the succeeding book, and no such opportunity as the present for securing the two has ever presented itself. The work, although bearing the name of Hieronymus, was really written by Rufinus. 37913 AEGIDIUS ROMANUS. Incipit tractatus solēnis fratris Egidij de ordine fratrum Augustinensiu de peccato originali. The third book printed at Oxford, of extreme rarity, octavo, Gothic letter, 21 leaves, wanting sign. ai (blank leaf), as, and the greater part of c8 (blank leaf), otherwise a large copy (81 × 51⁄2 in.), with some of the lower and outer edges UNCUT, a few leaves stained, unbound, £100. [IN RED INK:] Explicit tractatus breue [altered to -is] et vtilis de | origiali peccato Editus a fratre Egidio Romano ordinis fratru heremita san | cti augustini. Impresso et finito [altered to -ssus, -tus] Oxonie. A natiuitate dni. M.cccc.lxxix.xiiij.die mensis marcij No. iii in the Caxton Exhibition list of Rood's eleven books. EDITIO PRINCEPS, and the only separate edition ever issued. Of this extremely rare production of the first Oxford press only two other copies are known to exist, both in Oxford, one at the Bodleian, the other at Oriel College. Probably no copy has ever occurred for sale, or will again occur. Unfortunately the blank leaf at the beginning (al) has been torn off, loosening thereby the eighth leaf (a8) which is also lost but with this copy will be given a perfect facsimile of the missing leaf in photolithography from one of the perfect copies. The greater part of the last leaf (c8, blank) is also wanting. The colophon exhibits the only printing in red ink to be found in the early Oxford Press, with the curiously ungrammatical errors noted above. The type is identical with that of the preceding book, and has remarkable resemblances to that of Ter Hoernen at Cologne. On the first leaf is "Codex A. Hilton, pret. xxd" in a hand of the XVth century. Theodore Rood. 37914 LATTEBURY (John). (Last colophon :-) Explicit expositio ac moralisacio tercij capituli trenoru Iheremie pro | phete. Anno dni M.cccc.lxxxij.vltima die mensis Julij. Gothic letter, folio, 372 leaves in double columns, size 111×71 in., with ENGRAVED ORNAMENTAL BORDER on second leaf, many lower edges uncut, some wormholes in the first thirty leaves, but in general a sound copy, bound in brown leather about 1700, £75. [Oxford, printed by Theodoric Rood of Cologne], 1482 No. viii in the Caxton Exhibition list of Rood's eleven books. One of ten copies known to exist, all in England, eight of them in public libraries (Bodleian, All Souls', Corpus at Oxford, the University library and Trinity College in Cambridge, the British Museum, Lambeth and Westminster Chapter libraries, in London), the other being in Lord Spencer's library at Althorp: no copy has been recorded as existent outside England. The work is a commentary on the Lamentations of Jeremiah. The ornamental border on the second leaf which completely fills the wide margins of the text is composed of birds, flowers and leaves, and is identical with the one used to decorate the Alexander ab Ales., Oxf. 1481, fol., pronounced by Mr. Bradshaw to be the earliest engraved border found in English printing. As in all known copies of either work the outer edges of the border are slightly cut into. A curious error has been made by the original binder of the volume: he read the signature Hiij as Lj, and bound in H3 and H6 (one sheet) in the place of L1 and L8 (the latter being properly a blank leaf: so that L1 and a blank leaf are wanting, but two printed leaves occur in their place. The two types used in this volume are entirely different from those of the preceding articles, one being a large special one used only in the Ales, Lattebury and Phalaris (1485) and generally reserved for head-lines. **The three Oxford books will be sold together for £300, or separately as above. 37915 [ ANWYKYLL (John) ] [Compendium totius Grammatices cui accedunt Vulgaria quedam abs TERENTIO in Anglica linguam traducta], sm. 4to. gothic letter, wanting sheets a-e and i; blue morocco extra, gilt edges, from the Condover Hall library, £120. (Oxford, Theodore Rood, 1483) There is a copy in the Cambridge University library, apparently very imperfect; the British Museum library contains the Vulgaria Terentii only which forms sheets n-q in this volume. No other is known. This therefore is an article of the most signal value and rarity. It is No. x in the list of Rood's eleven books specified in the Caxton Exhibition catalogue. Collation of this copy: f, 8 leaves; g, 8 leaves; h, 6 leaves; k, 6 leaves; l-q in eights, Every page is printed on; and there are two types used, the larger for the Latin, the smaller for the English. (1480) St. Albans. 37916 ST. ALBANS' CHRONICLE. [Colophon:] Here ende the Chroniclis of englōde with the frute of timis, Small folio, with a woodcut representation of London; fifteen leaves in facsimile and leaves 2-7 of table deficient, bound in red morocco extra, gilt edges, by Bedford, £300. Sanctus Albanus [no date, but about 1484] No perfect copy of this excessively rare book is known to be in existence. Of the half-dozen recorded copies, all are more or less defective; that in the Grenville library being the only one which has ever been completed even by the aid of facsimiles. The woodcut marked "London" on reverse of C iv (but which is in reality only a picture of the Tower of London) is the first engraved representation of the city which has become the capital of the world. There are few books so rare as those which were printed by the anonymous Schoolmaster of St. Albans, whose impressions were far more limited than those of his contemporary Caxton. He issued, according to Mr. Blades, only eight volumes, and worked from 1480 to 1486. The St. Albans' Chronicle contains the Brute Chronicle as current in the Middle Ages, from the story of Geoffrey of Monmouth and others; but the text is more ample than that in the so-called "Caxton's Chronicle." It is a curious thing, hitherto unknown, that folios D4 and D5 (in the second series of signatures) were reprinted by the Schoolmaster. They contain an account of the rival papacies of Rome and Avignon, beginning with the following words : "And here began the xxii strifte in the chirch. And it wos more wors than euer was ony other befor, for it wos so sotil that the wisest men that wer and the best conciencied colde not discerne with whom it was best to say and hold." Since the reprinted leaves contain no alteration of the text, as one might have expected, it is probable that those leaves were destroyed in several copies at the very time of issue by order of some scrupulous ecclesiastic, and that the printer was authorized to reproduce them without change by the wiser Abbot of St. Albans, William of Wallingford. Any one who wishes to compare his copy with another may be informed that the obverse of D4 ends with This in one edition and with This bone- in the other. 37917 ST. ALBANS CHRONICLE, another copy, wanting 23 leaves, and including several in facsimile; old russia, from the libraries of Ames and Lord Crawford, £100. (1484) 37918 another copy, wanting 70 leaves and having five leaves in facsimile; blue morocco extra, a bargain, £50 This copy exhibits the peculiarity referred to above. 37919 THE BOOK OF ST. ALBANS. (Colophon :) 1484 Bokys of Haukyng and Huntyng with other plesuris The first printed English Armorial (second European). This is a better and larger (11 inches) copy than that of Lord Devon (10 inches) which was so unpleasantly washed, having previously been in very soiled condition, that portions of the impression had faded almost out of sight. This copy has also some original blank leaves which are not in that. The second part is a rhymed treatise on Hunting written for the instruction of the Bairns of St. Julian's school at St. Albans, and addressed to them as from the Dame or school mistress. The author did not intend it, as many persons have imagined, for scions of the aristocracy, but for simple foresters who aided in the chase. This is evident from the nature of many of the instructions. Such a work we can have little difficulty in believing to be the original composition of the mysterious "schoolmaster of St. Albans," personifying in a supposititious authoress the affiliated establishment called the Domus Juliani. As for the use of the word Barnes or bairns, for children, it occurs frequently in old English books and MSS., and the |