Department of Printed Books: Acquisitions from the ... - British Library

Department of Printed Books
Acquisitions from the Broxbourne Library
Albert Ehrman was born in London on 6 February 1890. He was educated at Charterhouse
and served as a Territorial in the Royal Fusiliers during the First World War. He
succeeded his father in the family business and became a merchant in industrial diamonds.
During a holiday at Eastbourne in 1920, Ehrman started to assemble what was to
become one of the most important private collections of books in this country, with the
purchase of a 1472 Venice book in its original binding.
As a collector he was wide-ranging in his interests and sympathies, yet governed himself
by certain fixed principles. Perhaps the most important of these was, whenever possible, to
strike out in directions which particularly interested him, rather than blindly to follow the
fashionable collectors' line. Other people might and did collect incunabula, but the
majority of them acquired the most beautiful examples that they could afford. Ehrman
appreciated beauty in old books as much as any man, but one of his aims was to collect
incunabula or the earliest printed books from as many different cities and towns in Europe
as he could. His collection of books illustrating the spread of printing contained, in
addition to a blockbook and many fine illustrated books, examples from the astonishing
total of very nearly 250 cities and towns. Other aspects of the collection show
developments of the book trade, including type specimens, books recording the invention
of printing, and early book-trade catalogues.
Albert Ehrman's greatest interest towards the end of his life was collecting
bookbindings, and again he was able to apply the principle of acquiring what was different
rather than simply what was beautiful and fashionable. Indeed here his normal practice
was to refrain completely from buying books which fetched inflated prices because they
came from particularly famous collections such as those of Henry II of France, Grolier,
Mahieu, or Grimaldi. Only once did his principles completely fail him, and he used to
show with pride the result of this particular lapse, a book of which the first owner had been
the Marquise de Pompadour and the last F. E. Smith.
Albert Ehrman was for long in the habit of giving the British Museum a book every year
on the occasion of his birthday. His son has proved no less generous.
In 1977 John Ehrman presented the British Library with a superb collection of
incunabula and sixteenth-century printed books, and allowed the Department of Printed
Books to acquire several more treasures from his father's collection at, for the Library,
advantageous prices.
The splendid collection of bookbindings was given to the Bodleian Library and so was
the collection of early book-trade lists and catalogues described by Graham Pollard and
the collector himself in The Distribution of Books by Catalogue, presented to the
Roxburghe Club in 1965. Cambridge University Library has received the fine collection of
86

early type specimens and related material, and various other libraries have profited by Mr.
Ehrman's generosity.
The rest of the Broxbourne Library, so named after the little town of Broxbourne in
Hertfordshire where the Ehrmans lived when they started to collect books, was sold at
Sotheby's in two sales on 14, 15 November 1977 and 8, 9 May 1978. Several important
purchases were made by the British Library.
In what follows. Miss Jean Archibald, Dr. Lotte Hellinga, Mr. D. L. Paisey, Dr. D. E.
Rhodes, and Miss A. E. C. Simoni have described the books from the Broxbourne Gift
(marked with an asterisk) as well as the most notable purchases made before and at the two
sales.
INCUNABULA
The incunabula are arranged in ^.'VfC-order. The copies are identified by the number in Albert
Ehrman's own record of his collection. These consist of a figure preceded by AE.R. The figures
correspond to the ledger kept by the collector showing date and source of acquisition. This ledger is
now in the Bodleian Library.
GERMANY, POLAND, and
cerning elementary instruction in Latin, were
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
considered as one until they were recently
dissected. It was then established that the
REGULE CONGRUITATUM, constructiones et
volume was made up of copies of three distinct
regimina cum locali ordinatione constructibilium.
Nuremberg: Friedrich Creussner, 1493.
editions, two of which were unrecorded.
4°: 12 leaves, [ab^.]
AE.R.375. IA.7700.
Bound before IA.7699 and IA.7700.
Hain 13833.
AE.R.375. IA.7698.
DoNATUS MINOR. Nuremberg: Friedrich
Creussner, 1493. 4*^: 16 leaves, [ab^.] Leaves i,
8 wanting.
Unrecorded edition similar to Cesamtkatalog
8911. Bound between IA.7698 and IA.7700.
AE-R-375- IA.7699.
REGULA DOMINUS quae pars. Nuremberg:
Friedrich Creussner, [c. 1493.] 4°: 4 leaves, [a**.]
Bound after IA.7698 and IA.7699.
These three Nuremberg books, all con-
NEGLIGENTIE et defectus in missa contingentes.
Erfurt: [Printer of Hundorn, i.e.
Heulericus and Marx Ayrer], 1494. 4":
4 leaves, [a"".]
The subject matter of this little treatise destined
for officiants at Mass is graphically depicted in
the title-woodcut.
AE.R.1806. IA.12636.
VoCABULARius optimus Gemma vocabulorum
dictus. Magdeburg: Mauritius Brandis,
21 August 1497. 4"^: 240 leaves, the last blank.
a-z 7 A-Q^.
Moritz Brandis was quick off the mark to
reprint an edition of the Cemma vocabulorum in

I
JEglismtit tt itfmtia
in f[
IA. 12636
f

Low German in December 1495, only ten
months after this version had appeared in
Cologne for the first time in February of the
same year. His success is obvious from the
present edition, a reprint of his first within two
years. The earlier editions are not represented
in the British Library.
Borchling-Claussen 285.
AE.R.-^ IA.10958.
MiSSALE iuxta rubricam ecclesiae Misnensis.
Freiberg-in-Sachsen: Conrad Kachelofen,
9 November 1495. fol.: 269 leaves. # \*f
While the present Missal was being printed
an outbreak of the plague forced the wellestablished
Leipzig printer Conrad Kachelofen
to move his press a respectable distance out of
the city to the smaller town of Freiberg. He
completed here only the present Missal which
was commissioned by the Bishop of Meissen for
the use of his diocese.
Hain-Copinger 11327.
AE.R.1070. IC.14503.
*TuRRECREMATA, Joannes de. Expositio
Psalterii. Cracow: [Printer of Turrecremata,
i.e. Caspar Hochfeder? not after 1476.] fol.:
151 leaves, [a-c^^ f«; g'^^ h'—^' i-o'" p'-.J
The above collation applies to the copy of this
book bought by the British Museum in May
1931 (IB.51308). In the present copy quire h
collates simply h^"^, and it contains therefore 150
leaves. This is, however, far from being the only
difference between the copies. For about half
the book the two copies have different typesetting.
The variant typesetting has a curious distribution,
which shows that it was done virtually
simultaneously, as work shared between
two compositors. Comparison of the two copies
may therefore throw light on the practice of
parallel typesetting of which other instances are
known in the fifteenth century.
Bound together witb three sixteenth-century
books in a sixteenth-century quarter binding of
white pigskin over wooden boards, tooled in
blind and black with the arms of Hcsscn in the
centre.
Hain *
AE.R.1437-
IB.51309.
TwiNGER, Jacob, von Konigshofen. Martymiany.
[Translated into Czech by Benes z
Hofovic] Prague: [Printer of the 14SH Prague
Bible], 1488. fol.: 102 leaves, the first and last
blank. a-i»o k^^
This acquisition from the Broxbourne Library,
comprising the first purchase of a Czech incunable
by the British Museum (Library) since
1885, has already been noted in the British
Library Journal, v, no. i (Spring, 1979),
pp. 102-3.
AE.R.751. IB.51406.
ITALY
BuLLA suspensionis Indulgentiarum propter
tuturum Annum Iubilei. [Rome: Eucharnts
Silber, after 12 April 1498.] 4": 2 leaves.
The only copies of this papal bull of Alexander
VT recorded by theCJT arcat Einsiedeln,
Stiftsbibliothek, and Seville, Hiblioteca Colombina.
Cesamtkatalog 899.
AE.R.1277. IA.19030.
{a) HiSTORiA et descriptio urbis Romae.
Rome: Johannes Besicken and Sigismundus
Mayr, 16 June 1494. 8": 56 leaves, a-g^. Wants
eleven leaves.
IA.19372.
{b) MIR A BILIA Romae urbis. [Rome: Besicken
and Mayr, 1494 ?] 8": 8 leaves. [a».]
Hain 11186. IA.19373.

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FRAH.RHOL.TARVISANVS
GERAR. OE L!SA SCRTPTORI •
MEI COPIAM FECIT
VT IPSE CAETERIS
MAI ORE M COriAM
FAC£RET.
.TARVISII.
• M.CCCC.LXXI. NOVEMB
(c) DIVI s I o N E s decem nationum. [Rome:
Besicken and Mayr, 1494 f\ 8": 4 leaves, [a**.]
Cesamtkatalog 8572.
f/am 6308.
AE.R.1299. IA.19374.
These three small anonymous works were
printed over and over again m Rome: for
example, the CIV records twenty-two editions
of (

no copy of the present work recorded in Italy or
America.
Hain-Copinger 15748.
Proctor 6970.
AE.R.1550.
IA.31096.
HoMODEis, Signorolus de. Solemnes repetitiones.
'Senis' [Pavia: Francesco Cirardengo],
i6 February 1497. fol: 18 leaves, the last
blank. ab''c2;ab''.
The whole question of false Sienese imprints
used in incunabula printed at Milan and Pavia
has been discussed by D. E. Rhodes in
'More Light on Fifteenth-Century Piracies
in Northern Italy', Cutenberg Juhrbuch (1958),
pp. 96-8. Other copies are at Genoa University,
Milan Biblioteca Nazionale, and Trento Biblioteca
Comunale.
/G/4805.
AE.R. 1782. IC.3i4i8b.
CANARO, Antonius de. De executione instrumentorum.
Pescia: [Printer of Canaro] for
Bastianus and Raphael, sons of Jacobus
Cerardusde Orlandis of Pescia, 15 March 1491.
fol: 8 leaves, a^.
No other locations in
recorded by the CW.
Cesamtkatalog 5963.
AE.R.1275.
the British Isles are
IC.35038.
*PsALTERiUM Romanum. Castano Primo:
Johannes Antonius de Cornate, 12 January
i486. 4**: 164 leaves, a-u^ x^.
Apparently the only surviving copy of the only
book printed in the fifteenth century at Castano
Primo, about twent>- miles west of Milan. The
book was fully described in The Library (Fifth
series, viii, no. 2, June 1953, pp. 128-9) by
V. Scholderer, who suggested that the printer
may possibly be identical with Joannes
Antonius de Honate, who worked in Milan
from 1477 to 1489. The volume is imperfect.
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since the place of sheets 3 and 4 has been taken
by duplicates of sheets fi and f2.
AE.R.- IA.35160.
ANTONINUS, Florentinus. Confessionale:
Defecerunt. [Milan? c. 1473.] 4"; 86 leaves.
[a-d«e•'f-i«kM«m^]
The only other book printed in the same types is
Bartholomaeus de Sancto Concordio, Summa
de castbus conscientiae, 21 October 1473 {CW
3450), which B.MC vii, 1123 (IB.36835) tentatively
ascribed to Milan. Evidence which has
accumulated since then, mainly derived from
the early provenance of other copies, considerably
strengthens this attribution, making Milan
virtually certain as the place of printing; but the
printer's identity will probably never be known.
Cesamtkatalog 2102.
AE.R.1283. IA.36837.
FRANCE and SWITZERLAND
CoNSOBRiNUS, Joannes. De iusticia commutatiua.
[Edited by Jacobus Lupi.] Paris:

Cuiilo Mercator {Cuy Marchant), 14 November
i4()(). H": 48 leaves, a f^
The author, Joao Sobrinho, was a Portuguese
Carmelite wbo may have studied in Oxford as
well as in Bologna. Three editions of his tract
De iustitta commutativu were printed in the
fifteenth century, all in Paris. The British
Library already has the first (IA.39336, printed
in 1483). This is the third.
Cesamtkatalog 7439.
AE.R.658.
IA.39671.
*GRANOLLOACHS, Bernardus de. Lunarium.
[Lyons: Pierre Mareschal and Barnabe Chaussard,
not before 1499.] 8"*: 28 leaves. A-C^ D".
Bernardus de Granollachs, master of arts and
medicine at Barcelona, was a very popular
author of lunar almanacs calculated for the
years 1500-50. He was widely printed in Italy
and France, but the present edition appears to
exist in this single copy only.
AE.R.951. IA.41994.
DEGUILLEVILLE, Guillaumc de. El pelegrino
dela vida humana. [Translated from French
into Spanish b\ \ icente de Mav'uelo.]
Toulouse: Henricus Aleman [Heinrich Mayer],
1490. fol: 104 leaves, a n**. With many woodcuts.
The only Spanish version of the first of the
three 'Pilgrimages of the human soul' by the
fourteenth-century Cisterciati monk Guilclmus
de Deguilla-Villa or Guilleville.
Hain-Copinger 7848.
CoffG 639.
AE.R.893. IB.42453-
DE HAQUEVILLE [Christian name unknown].
Sermones dominicales. [Edited by Johannes
Qu'inunus.][.ingers: Jean de la Tour?c. 1480.]
4": 160 leaves, the first and last presumably
blank, a-v^.
The only known copy of this edition. The
92
variations of type make the identification of the
printer somewhat uncertain, although there is
no doubt as to Angers being the correct place of
printing, especially as this copy has a provenance
note of the Recollect Fathers of the
'Hospitium Duretalli', which is near Angers.
We know no more of the author, de Haqueville,
than that he was a Doctor of Theology
who preached and taught in Paris, where a few
other editions of his sermons were printed, all
now very rare.
AE.R.655. IA.42486.
XiMENES, Franciscus. Le livre des sains
anges. Geneva: [Adam Steinschaber], 24
March 1478. fol: 192 leaves, [a-z A^.]
The first book printed in Geneva by a printer
whose career ended abruptly and mysteriously
after only two years. The first text he chose to
print was a treatise on the nature of angels,
written in Catalan by Bishop Ximenes at the
endof the fourteenth century. For Steinscbaber's
remarkable typeface see fig. opposite.
Hain-Copinger 16230.
A. Lbkkos, Catalogue . . . Geneve I4y8-T^oo,
no. I.
AE.R.389. IB.38406.
*PoiTOU. Le coustumier de Poictou. Poitiers:
[Jean Bouyer], i486, fol: 122 leaves. A B« C'^
a-m
Printing began at Poitiers in 1479, but Jean
Bouyer was curiously reluctant to put his name
in a book until September 1491. A note by Mr.
A. Ehrman reads: 'Only 2 copies known, i at
Poitiers, i at Cour de Cassation, Paris.' There
is, bowever, also a copy in the Bibliotheque
Nationale, Paris.
Pellechet 4030.
AE.R.431. IB.42820.
MISS ALE ad usum Lausanensis diocesis.
Lausanne: Jean Belot, i December 1493. fol:
214 leaves. #^ a-h« i'"; K^ k-ZA^ B'^.

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baultcfTes condicions et e^cellencc8/a celle fin que pou» t to**
ceulf qui i>ien6zom apzes rouB puiflent voQ courages enflam
metenleutbonneat fetuicc amour et retictcnce.% la bit cc
mon fcijjneut que ceRe cboTc me foit fottc ? 6iffidllc/tant pour
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cc timputite bzutal.foutelh]»8 le atten6at U fontaine 6c pi&c
tt cicmcncc 6c nte fauucitt/auqiicl plaiff faite patlct lan^jues
6c bcRe ce quil plaid aufli a (bninmenfite.»l(tcn6ant cncozc
a la grant obli^anon quc bumame nature a auf6is glozieul;;
anjgeB.Ct enco:es pcnfam a la 6!de feruente 6cuocion q aueg
aujc6i9 fain9 aajes beneuree.it penfant auffique ce poura
eihe pzomocion ct occafion 6e pluficuts gfonncs 6euoted a Ic8
bonnouret etamer/etque pour ce meifme8 le pouroie acquctir
aaku meritc pout mon ame en leut faucur t a^6c en mce
IB. 38406

F
IB. 38600
• % • ,

The only incunable printed at Lausanne. This
was the beginning of a distinguished career
in printing for Jean Belot, who went from
Lausanne to Grenoble to settle finally in
Geneva and make his fame there. He was
himself a native of Rouen; the material he used
for the present Missal reflects his itinerary. The
printing types derive from Paris, while the
woodcut was used in i486 by Guillaume le Roy
in Lyon for Le Ltvre des sainctz Anges.
Coptnger ^i^^.
AE.R.1362. IB.38600.
HOLLAND and BELGIUM
GESTAROMANORUM. Gouda : Gheraert Leeu,
23 August 1480. fol: 144 leaves, a-q^ r^ W^]-
The Cesta Romanorum was probably compiled
in England in the fourteenth century, but by the
later part of the fifteenth century the text was
wide-spread, and was printed many times. By
then the subject matter—which later was to
furnish part of the plot of Shakespeare's
Merchant of Venice—was used to enliven
sermons. This was also the purpose of the
volume that usually accompanies the present
book, the Dialogus Creaturarum, printed a few
months earlier at the same press. The British
Library copy of this book, IB.47323, which is
adorned with lively woodcuts, is on permanent
exhibition in the King's Library.
Hatn-Copinger 282.
Campbell ^2^.
AE.R.2097. IB.47324.
CuLTRiFicis, Engelbertus. Epistola brevis ac
perutilis de symonia vitanda in recepcione
noviciorum ad religionem. Nijmegen: [Printer
of Engelbertus Cultrtficis, i.e. Cerardus de
Leempt?], 23 August 1479. 4°: 8 leaves, the
last blank, a®.
Two related tracts by the same author, botb
written in the summer of 1479 in the Dominican
monastery of Nijmegen, were the only books
printed in that town during the fifteenth century.
They were probably the work of the
95
itinerant typographer Gheraert de Leempt,
who was first known as one of the partners in
Holland's first press at Utrecht. The most
substantial of these tracts was a treatise on the
rights of the mendicant order. A copy was given
to the British Museum by Albert Ehrman in
1948 (IA.48050). It is an extraordinary coincidence
that the present book, the other very
rare tract printed in Nijmegen, also found its
way to the Broxbourne Library, and from there
to the British Library.
Cesamtkatalog 7851.
Campbell s^i-
AE.R.638. IA.48049.
AuGLiSTiNL'S, St. (Pseudo). De salute animae.
Alost: [Johannes de Westfalia and Thierry
Martens, c. 1473-4]. 4" (i" divided halfsheets)
: 22 leaves, a^ b*^ c^.
Arguments have been put forward which indicate
that the present book is the first printed in
the Southern Netherlands. These were based
on the paper in a number of copies (see
Quaerendo, iii (1973), pp. 70-2). The present
copy, which was not examined at the time,
conforms to the findings of 1973.
Cesamtkatalog 2962.
Campbell 197.
A.E.— IA.49004.
LiBELLUS de modo confitendi et penitendi.
Antwerp: Cheraert Leeu, 28 January 1485. 4":
28 leaves, a-c® d"*.
This copy of a not uncommon book bears a long
contemporary note in English which shows that
it was owned by a kinsman of Thomas Yard
who lived in the county of Westmorland and
who had severe disagreements with his motherin-law.
For us this is evidence that the book, like
so many products of the press of this Antwerp
printer, was sold to England soon after completion.
Of the present book there are three other
copies in Great Britain.
Hain-Copinger 11494.
Campbell 1129.
AE.R.1500. IA.49735.

SPAIN
THOMAS AQLIINAS, Saint. Commentum in
libros Politicorum Aristotclis. Barcelona:
Petrus Brun and Nicolaus Sptndeier, 19 December
1478. fol: 208 leaves, the first and last
blank, a h 1 k u'" x«.
After working togetber at Tortosa in 1477, Brun
and Spindclcr jointly signed at Barcelona two
works of .\quinas. In Ethica Aristotelis, 15 June
1478, of which the British Museum bought a
copy in October 1954 (IB.52506), and the book
catalogued here. Thus the British Library now
possesses both of the only two books signed by
these partners at Barcelona.
Bound in account-book style in contemporary
Spanish limp vellum, with three leather strips
across the spine, a flap covering the fore-edge
and two leather thongs.
Hum 1514b. HcU'bler hi^b.
f indel, vol. i, p. 28, no. 7. CoJfT 250.
AE.- ' IB.52507.
THOMAS AQUINAS, Saint. Pars tertia Summac.
J'ulemiti: Lambert Palmart, 18 August
1477. fol: 204 leaves, the first blank, a h'*"^
i^K-x'^SzS.
This, the first signed and dated book printed at
Valencia, may have been preceded by as many
as six undated books, of which the British
Library already has five. The first book
printed in Spain whicb contains the date of
printing is a Comprehensorium Johannis without
the name of the printer, completed at Valencia
on 22, February 1475 in Palmart's types
{Haebler 339, not in the British Library).
Only one copy of this edition of St. Thomas
Aquinas is recorded by Coff{T 220, in Puerto
Rico), and there are also copies in the Bibliotheque
Nationale, Paris, and the University
Library, \alencia.
Ham 1468a. Haebler fy^-j.
Cof/T 220.
AE.— IC.52010.
GuiDO, de Monte Rocherii. Manipulus curatorum.
Saragossa: Matthaeus de Flandria,
15 October 1475. fol: 109 leaves. [a-g'^h^^-M
K'o 18.]
The only book by this printer, and the first book
printed in Spain to contain not only the date
and place of printing but also the name of the
printer. Nothing further is known of Matthaeus
de Flandria. Other copies are recorded in the
National Library, Madrid, the Provincial
Library, Saragossa, and the Pierpont Morgan
Library, New York.
Hain 8174. Haebler 452.
I mdel, vol. iv, p. i, no. i. GoffG 569.
AE.— IB.52104.
*DiAZ DE MoNTALVO, Alonso. Repertorium
quaestionum super Nicolaum de Tudeschis.
Seville: Antonio Martinez, Bartolome Segura
and Alfonso del Puerto, 1477. fol: 244 leaves.
^ d-gio P his j^.^io ^n g.yio
Preceding by three years the book which was
hitherto the earliest Seville book in the Library's
collection, this may indeed be the first
book ever printed in that city, unless it followed
an edition of Sanchez de Vercial, Sacramental,
of I August 1477 {Haebler 597). From the same
press the Library previously possessed only
the Rolewinck, Fuscictilus temporum, of 1480
(IB.52305) and the Diego de Valera, Cronica de
EspaHa, 1482(18.52308).
By an error of imposition, the text on the
recto of leaf 93 (I5) is that proper to the recto of
leaf ioi (h5). The text prior to 93 recto is
therefore wanting in this copy. Similarly, the
text proper to leaf 93 verso is found by error on
leaf 100 verso, but with a variant setting of type.
The six copies recorded by tbe Gesamtkatalog
are all in Spanish libraries.
Gesamtkatalog 8302.
Ham 11568. Haebler 210.
AE.— IC.52300.

fficratarupcqjcoiffaMfftoracionoftra. C?w9
fft; ttC rcccpcui catiamua. feabc* H^rrbc fili; qnc
mattmeomimmo: quoiTiJtio imitan ocbcaa : bibcnc ma
quocpcjula prxcxpcOTCstcpam mfniPicniJifl poaia atqj
arv;:(crccnciiia9 uum tcncrc ; quomiXw coe toccrc: quomo
ctaimnarc: ct qii mdiora funtiprimie rratxrc &dxat.
SupcrcTt ac ronlMuim men toco animo rci:taarta: cr quart
turn fieri potcfc . mraria at> optima . duott fi ut; fpcro:
fccme non tniUto tt brcm tcmporc fupaifl i b
m rommiun uiron aufarain . U
ios jjrjmmaticjr opua ma^am prxdiromqf
DvTCuftc Ilraprcfium per ^dOa^ifcmm pctTum i?run Cc
bcnnia gcintnm l!Er Tlicotanm fpinodrr tx jC^idtaa g..T
maiwm JRnno Cbrifnanc faluna .

ENGLAND
*MlKK, John. Liber fcstivalis. London:
Richard Pynson, 6 July 1499. 4": 156 leaves.
7034 (pi. 1}. /)////315.
^ 171)66.5.
AE.R.6(i5.
*QjLiATTUOR SERMONES. London: Richard
Pynson, 1499. 4*': 38 leaves. A-E^ F^.
The combination of two independent homiletic
w^orks in English, John Mirk's Liber festivalis
ENGLISH
*A COLLECTION OF EIGHT SIXTEENTH-
CENTURY ALMANACS
MOORE, Philip. A fourtic yeres almanacke,
with a prognostication continuyng the same
space of t>'me (that is) from . . . 1567. vntill.. .
1606. W'herein is conteined and set forthe
many, and very necessary and fruitfull rules, to
be obserued and knowcn, not onely ot tbem
whichc professe, and practise . . . phisicke and
chirurgerie, or lawe, but also of marchauntes,
mariners, husbandmen, and handicrattes men.
And finally of all suchc, as be desirous to learne
and vnderstande, the course and order of the
yere, with the notable euentes, as warre,
straunge sightes in the ayre, discorde, dearth
and other calamities, etc. Imprinted, by Ihon
Kyngston, for Henry Saunderson, [1566]. 8°:
38 B_p8 (y ^gjg gj^ jj^ 2i^^ iiii signed bi, ii, and
iiii).
This is a much more elaborate work than the
annual variety. Moore based his predictions on
the work of Cyprian Leowitz but does not
include Leowitz's prediction of the end ot the
world in 1583. He is also careful to add in a
marginal note beside a prediction of calamities
in 1568 'Th' autbor hereof beyng an hye
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY BOOKS
with the Quattuor Sermones by an anonymous
author, was initiated by William Caxton in
1483. These books were so popular that they
were reprinted twelve times before the end of
the century, both by English printers and (in
English) by printers in Rouen and Paris. The
only other known copies of the present editions,
obviously issued together, are in the Bodleian
Library.
Hain 7034 (pt. 2). Duff},ib.
STC 17966.5.
AE.R.666. IA.55512.
Germaine prognosticateth this of the capitaines
and souldiours of his own contrie'. This copy
has a wrapper consisting of a folium of a
breviary written in England c. 1300. An imperfect
broadside headed '1569. A verie plaine
and perfecte table' {Bosanquet cxlix, British
Library only, shelfmark Harl 5937/9) may be
part of this almanac and has been accepted as
being so by the revisers of the STC.
Bosanquet clxxv.
MOORE, Philip. 1570. An almanack and prognostication
for .xxxvij, yeres, verie profitable
for all men . . . gathered out of Ciprianus
Leouicius workes with the reuolutions in the
ende, and all the moste necessarie rules that is
nedefull to be put in any almanack. Imprinted
by Ihon Kyngston, for Henry Saunderson,
[.569].
The same sheets as the previous almanac but
with the addition of the title-page mentioning
Leowitz quoted above. As three later issues are
recorded (for 1571, 1573, and 1580), the sheets
were evidently sold off for several years, in this
case without bothering to remove the original
title-page. One hopes that as the years passed
the price of the almanac decreased propor-

tionately. This is the only recorded copy of this
issue. It wants sig. a6 which is supplied in photocop).
Bosanquet A.xii.
[MOORE, Robert?] [An almanac and prognostication
for 1570.] Printed by Richard
Watkyns, for lames Robartes [1569]. 8".
Seventeen leaves only are present, comprising
eleven leaves of prognostication and six of
almanac. This almanac belonged to Bosanquet
and was attributed by him to Robert Moore as
only one entry was made by Roberts in the
Stationers' Register for an almanac during
1569-70, and that was for an almanac compiled
by Moore.
Bosanquet A.v.
C.i45.f.6.
FRENDE [or] FREIND, Gabriel An almanacke
and prognostication, for ... 1585 . . . Especially
made, and referred to the meridian and
eleuation of the north pole at Canterburie, but
may serue generally without any notable
errour for all Englande. Imprinted by Ruharde
Watkins and lames Robertes, [1584], 8": A-C**.
(fig. enlarged.)
The only known copy of the earliest recorded
almanac by Frende. The word 'almanacke' on
the title-page is in xylograpbic t>pe.
C.i45.fi2.
HARVEY, John. An almanacke, or annuall
calender, with a prognostication for ... 1585
. . . Astrologically calculated, and referred to
the longitude ... of... London. Imprinted by
Richarde Watkins and lames Robertes, [1584].
Three almanacs by Harvey are recorded, this
being the only known copy for this year. This
copy has copious manuscript notes in various
sixteenth-century hands on blank leaves at
the end.
1.10.
99
LLOYD, Evans. An almanacke and prognostication
for ... 1585. Wherein is plainly set
forth the disposition of the ayre with other
accidents that are like to happen this yeere:
supputated for the meridian of Shrewesbury,
and may serue for all the west parts of
Englande. Imprinted by Richard Watkins and
lames Robertes, [1584]! 8": A-B» C^
Two almanacs by Lloyd are recorded. One, for
London, 1582 and this for Shrewsbury, 1585.
The British Library now has the only known
copies of both.
Ho.s. C.i45.f.8.
PORTER, Thomas. An almanacke or prognostication
tor . . . M.D.LXXXV . . . Seruing
more particulerly for Berry, and generally
without any great difference for most part of
Englande. Imprinted by Ruharde Watkins and
lames Robertes, [i5(S4]. S": A-C^.
The only known copy of the only recorded
almanac by Porter. The 'Berry' in the title may
be Bury St. Edmunds or Bury in Lancashire.
Bernard Capp in Astrology and the Popular Press
(London, Boston, 1979), notes that Porter was
unusual among Tudor compilers in that he
included a brief history of England. This
developed into the 'chronology' in later Stuart
almanacs.
5rC2 501.32. C.i45.f9.
Bosanquet Aa.viii.
TWYNE, Thomas. [An almanac and prognostication
for 1585.] Imprinted by Ruharde
Watkins and lames Robertes, [1584]. 8": A-C^
(C^ blank; wanting Ai-6).
Only the prognostication and the final two
leaves of the almanac are present. The title-page
to the prognostication reads \\ prognostication
. . . rectified for the motions and aspectes of tbe
celestiall bodyes, within the meridian and
eleuation of the Uniuersitie of Oxforde'. The
only known copy of tbe only currently recorded
almanac by Twyne. Fragments of a broadside

Ihe Anatomie of mans
body^as thepattes thereof arc
gouernedbythe.xij.
G. Frende, Almanacke . . • ^S^S- ^- H5- *"•

issue for 1579 are listed in STC^ but are at
present untraced.
SiS.io. C.i45.f.ii.
* A L A N u S, de Insults. Parabol? Alani cum
comento. In ^dibus VVinandi de Vl'orde,
1525. 4°: A^B^C^.
Originally entitled 'Doctrinale altum, seu liber
parabolarum', this popular collection by the
twelfth-century Flemish theologian Alain de
Lille was published many times in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries. This is the only known
copy of the last of five recorded editions printed
in England. With a schoolmaster woodcut on
the title-page {Hodnett 921).
*MoRNAY, Philippe de. Seigneur du Plessis-
Marly. Christian meditations, vpon the sixt,
twentie fiue, thirtie, and two and thirtie
Psalmes. Written in the French tongue by
Phillip Mornay . . . and moreouer, a medita-
IOI
tion vpon the 137. Psalnie by P. Pilcsson. P.
translated into Englisb, by Iohn Feilde.
Printed by Iohn Wolfe, for I. Uatrison |sic| the
yonger, ["1587?!. 16": #« A^Y" Z\ (fig. enlarged.)
Mornay was an adviser and ambassador of
Henry, King of Navarre, and a devout Protestant,
who, despite Henry's later return to
Roman Catholicism as Henry IV of France,
remained a champion of the Huguenot cause.
These meditations are dedicated to Henry's
sister and the translation is dedicated to the
Countess of Warwick 'from tbe wearisome bed
of my sicknes' by Field, Nonconformist minister
at Wandsworth. The meditation by Pierre
Pilesson or Pellisson, another I'rench Protestant,
is in fact on the 127th Psalm. This is the
only recorded copy.
STC^ 18134.7. C.i45.f.i4.
*P A R R o N, W illiam. Ad serenissimu ac inuictissimu
omni q, genere virtutum prestantissimu
dominu Henricu . . . Regcm septimii Wilielmi
aono Doiiuni iii^.D.iiL
ti.miictUiintc mcTiDi
l)ou tnfuiBinutoiui
niDolt,Dne'ann(folcuiii
r C.iput p:imi'i eft rroTDlii OJurrfo? afmiDoirm 1
aUrib'TtgniPJiumciiBciurt.itib-'^lonfi.icDrclar.v
^ i
rD.aoMnt)ufl(rj
auib inrroim fotis in Mput arime. ut piuicipiu on
ni flb rtllrologifl iiotrtt quoD trt m ;i.D attiiDtin

4- •
CH RISTIAN
MeditAtionSy njfon
the fixt 5 twcnticfiire. thirtic^andtwo
andchirtic
Written in the French
tong\ieby Phillip Mornay,
Lord ot l^lclsis iViaily: and
y
moreowcr, a Mcdjtation
vuon th? IJ7, Plalme by i^
'pilflonTrP. rranflatcd
;o JEnj3:I'ih , by
IohnFcildc, ^j-f'
L O N D O N
Printed bv lolmVVolie
I* ilarrifon ihc
^. 4
C. 145- f- U

Parron . . . anni presentis millesimi quingentesimi
tercii pronsticon [sic] libellus.
[RichardPynson,]z^DGcembcr 1502. 4":a-c'^.
The only known copy of one of the earliest
surviving prognostications published in
England. Parron, an Italian, was attached on a
semi-official basis to the court of Henry VII and
produced a series of prognostications in Latin
and English in 1498-1503. Bernard Capp in
Astrology and the Popular Press (1979), notes
that Parron's prognostications are sycophantic
in tone but that he 'disappeared abruptly—
perhaps as a result of the embarrassing death of
the queen at the age of thirty-seven after he had
predicted that she would live to be eighty'. A
contemporary manuscript note after the colophon
reads 'a richardo pynson incorrecte impressa
ut patet per correctionem pennae': and
there are indeed several manuscript corrections
of misprints in the same hand.
494.10.
C.i45.f.i.
*A S u M or a brief collection of holy signes, sacrifices
and sacraments, euen since the beginnmg
of the worlde. And the true originall of the
sacrifice of the masse. Translated out of
French into Englishe by N. Lynge. Printed by
Rouland Hall, 1563. 8«: a" A-L^ M".
The French original of this work is untraced.
The translator in his preface explains his
intention of clearing away the accretions of
idolatry and superstition that surround the
Christian sacraments and purging 'the church
of England fro so many blinde and dumme
ceremonies'. The author ascribes the blame for
the gradual corruption of the early Christian
practices to the early Bishops of Rome wbo were
imposing the heathen practices of Numa Pompilius,
the pre-Christian King of Rome. This
edition is the first of four editions listed in the
STC. With Hall's device {McKerrow 142) on
the title-page.
23433.
103
*WHEATHILL, Anne. A handfull of holesome
(though homelie) hearbs, gathered out of
the goodlie garden of Gods most holie word;
for the common benefit and comfortable exercise
of all such as are deuoutlie disposed. Collected
and dedicated to all religious ladies,
gentlewomen, and others. Imprinted by
H. Denham, 1584. 12°: a-n^-^ (the first leaf in
each gathering is signed in the upper case).
Anne Wheathill describes herself on the titlepage
as 'gentlewoman' but nothing further is
known about her. This most attractively produced
book comprises forty-nine prayers, each
page within a woodcut border, and with Denham's
device {McKerrow 214) on the verso of
the last leaf. The prayers are remarkably readable,
clear and unpretentious, though whether
this is just an illusion caused by tbe clear type or
has something to do with the sex of the author
it is difficult to say. Only one other copy is
recorded (at the Folger library).
25329. C.i45.f 13.
*WHITTINGTON, Robert. Roberti Whittintoni
. . . lucubraitones [sic]. De synonimis . . .
De epithetis . . . De veterum romanorum
magistratibus. Impressiim p me wynandu dc
worde, 1519. 4^': A» B" C** D"^ E^
This is one of ten grammatical tracts by
Whittington which were used extensively in
schools in the early sixteenth century and which
were printed predominantly by Wynkyn de
Worde. Due to heavy use, all such grammars are
rare today. The Lucubrationes is a kind of
dictionary used by pupils in the second form to
learn Latin composition. The work is in three
main parts: the first lists Latin synonyms
alphabetically by their English equivalent (e.g.
softely/sensim, paulatim, lente, peditentim
[su]); the second lists Latin epithets or nouns
used for people or things as tbey occur in
classical literature (e.g. coluber/tortilis, gelidus,
intortus, tortuosus); the third gives Latin explanations
of terms in Roman government.

With Wynkyn dc Worde's device {McKerrow
20) on the verso of the last leaf.
'^7^C25528. C.i4S.f.^.
GERMAN
ANNOTAno seu Breviarium rerum memorabilium.
lurrelact: per I alcntinitni Kobian,
1530. 4": a-d**.
.\ world chronology; tbe first book acquired
by tbo Hritisb Library from this short-lived
Durlach press (1529 30). In the whole of the
sixteenth century, Durlach had only one other,
even more short-lived press, that of Nikolaus
Keibs (1512), from which the British Library
already has one example.
*G EI L E R, Johann, von Kaisersberg. Arbor
salutis anime. [Translated by Johannes
Schiplitz.] /// msiguita vrbc Franckenfordensi
CIS Oderam: impressum per Martmum tretter,
1502. 8"^: A^B^.
A httlc devotional compendium by the greatest
popular German preacher of his day, Jobann
Geiler (1445-1510), known as 'the trumpet of
Strasbourg Cathedral'. This was only the
second book printed at Frankfort on the Oder,
the first being the German original of this text,
Der bawm der selen heil vnd der seligkeit, of
which no copy survives. The translation was
undertaken at the request of the Secretary to
the Elector of Brandenburg. ^Martin Tretter
printed only these two books before moving to
Danzig, and it was not until after the establishment
of the university at Frankfort on the Oder
in 1506 that printing became firmly established
in the town. The link between printing and
education is never clearer than when the founding
of a scbool or university is accompanied by
the establishment of a press in a town which
previously had none, as the supply of copy and
the demand for texts become assured.
C.i45.e.i2.
104
K N AusT, Heinrich. In geometriam et sphaeram
isagogica introductio. Berlini: impressum per
Ioannem Weiss, 1541. 8*^: A-E^.
An illustrated school textbook of geometry and
cosmology (based on Euclid and Ptolemy), in
question-and-answer form, in an unusually fine
state of preservation: most schoolbooks show all
too obvious evidence of use. The author Knaust
(1521 ?-i58o.^), lawyer and poet, was at the
time this work was printed a remarkably young
headmaster in Colin (now part of Berlin). Berlin
was still far from being the metropolis it was to
become much later, and its first press, that of
Hans Weiss, who came from Wittenberg at the
invitation of the Elector Joachim II, lasted only
from 1540 until 1547, despite a monopoly position.
After that there was no press in Berlin
until r574. The British Library had previously
only three works from this press.
OsiANDER, Andreas, the Elder. Disputatio de
\\xs\.\^C3iUor\t.[Konigsberg:]ex officma hceredum
Ioannis Lufftij, [1550]. 4°: A B'*.
Not until the publication in 1971 of Gottfried
Secbass's Bibliographia Osiandrica was this first
edition of a key work of the German reformer
known (there are otherwise copies in Gdansk,
Nuremberg, and Wolfenbuttel). Especially
alter becoming professor of theology at the
new (1544) university at Konigsberg in 1549,
Osiander (1496-1552) enjoyed the protection of
the local ruler Duke Albrecht of Prussia, despite
his increasingly idiosyncratic theology and his
combativeness. His bitter conflicts with the
defenders of Wittenberg orthodoxy, of which in
his own eyes he was nevertheless still a proponent,
were to be solved only by his death.
The present disputation, publicly defended
on 24 October 1550, is devoted to a central
topic of the Reformation, that of justification by
faith, and develops his theory that belief makes
Christ himself, and hence divine justice,
present in the believer, a theory which extends
the orthodox doctrine of the Incarnation. He

verfus Srprcntrfoncm vel
fus Auftrum, Quandocp cciam dccurrunc
fub EcIyptica.Et proprerca vcccrcs Gclyp*
rice lahcudinem in vcramc^ parcem adm*
butrunc.
Quo modo intclligcndum eft,
cum didtur»Sol eft in aliquo q f
noC
Notandutneft prjpofirfonem. In, fig*
rificarc hie. Sub, Sol eft in Arietc.i. Sol
eft fub Aricrc. Nam Planet? dicuntur in
Cgnis Pyramidali figura cffc*
Quid funt poH
Polos Zodiaci nuncupamus, vndw
Cunq: ab Eclypcrca xquidi(lantes.Sunr.n»
poliEdypcic; AxisEclyptic^ cxcremita*
E
H. Knaust, /n geometriam et sphesram isagogica introductio.
C. 117. ff. 9
105

attempted, here ami in other works, to reconcile
tbe paradox {to which St. Paul also addressed
himself) of the apparent inadequacy of the
Divine Law, which God found it necessary to
supplement by giving man Christ and the
Redemption.
Tbe disputation was originally intended for
the professional theologians attending the event
and printed presumably in a small edition,
which is why so few copies survive. It created
such a stir, bowever, because Osiandcr's opponents
spread their accounts of it, that he felt
obliged to publish bis own German translation
in 1551 for a wider public, also printed at the
press of Hans Lufft, whose manager Aurifaber
was, by his second wife, Osiander's son-in-law.
.A. copy ot this translation, wbicb survives in
relatively large numbers, is here bound with the
rare original edition.
For the second Latin edition of 1550 {Seebass
4q.i), Osiander added a preface which vividly
exemplifies his pretensions and his sharpness. It
ends: 'Paratus enim sum, hanc synceram &
coelestem doctrinam, non solum contra simios,
&: apostatas, uerum etiam contra portas inferorum
defenderc. Nemo igitur bonus & pius,
illorum obtrcctationibus mouere debet, donee
sua probarint, &: mea legittime confutarint.
Quod facient ad Calendas graecas.' (I am ready
to detend this pure and di\ ine doctrine, not only
against apes and apostates, but against the very
gates of hell. Let no good and pious man
therefore be moved by their disparagements
until they can prove their case and fairly refute
mine. Which they may do at the Greek
Calends.)
OVELILS, Johannes. 'EXeyelov Kara ir
fiovi'Twv ovyy€ypafifj.€voi'. Dussehlorpii: apud
Inhan. Orulryum £5' Alb. Buysium affmes,
1563. 8^': a-c«.
A poem in Greek on the horrors of war, recited
by the author in the Gymnasium illustre at
Dtisseldorf, and printed there, with a Latin
translation bv the author. It becomes the
106
earliest work in the British Library from the
second press at Dusseldorf, that of Albert
Buyss, who had as his partner a teacher at the
school, Johann Oridryus (otherwise known as
the author of a textbook on music), from 1558
until he left to become headmaster in Wesel.
Buyss carried on alone until 1595, the year in
which he printed a Mercator atlas.
C.I 17.ff.10.
ScHOPPER, Jacob, the Elder. Monomachia
Davidis et Goliae. Tragicomoedia. Tremomae:
Melchior Soter excudebat, 1550. 8": A-F^
(-F8).
Melchior Soter, the son of a Cologne printer,
was attracted to Dortmund to set up its first
press by the prospect of work for the new
Lutheran school, and produced books there
from 1545 to 1551. The British Library had
previously only a Roman history of 1549 from
his press. This new addition is a biblical versedrama,
one of several written for performance
by the schoolboys, by the local pastor Jacob
Schopper (1514-54), of which the British
Library already has two examples. It is bound
with another school-drama by this author, Ovis
perdita, in a Cologne edition of 1562 printed by
Maternus Cholinus.
ITALIAN
EXPOSITIO pulcherrima hymnorum per annum
secundum Curiam non amplius impressa.
Ancona: Bernardinus Cuerraldus V ercellensis
for Hieronymus Soncinus, 13 August 1515. 8":
55 leaves. A-O^.
Bernardinus Oliva was the first printer at
Ancona (1512-13), and Bernardinus Guerraldus
was the second (1513-28). The British
Library already owns eight other books printed
by him, but none of the year 1515. He worked
partly on commission for the famous Soncino,
who had presses at Pesaro and Fano not far
away from Ancona.
C.115.C.24.

FiERA, Baptista. Hymni diuini. Insulae
Douariensium per Guidum de Bonazariis,
[c. 1520.] 8>': 24 leaves, [a''] bc^ d**.
The Hymni divini of Baptista Fiera (1469-
1538 ?) had already been printed in his native
Mantua in 1515.
The printer Guidus de Bonazariis, a native of
Cremona, printed a book in 1518 'in the
province of Brescia', and almost certainly in the
Franciscan convent on the Isola di Garda near
Salo. Isola Dovarese is a village in the province
of Cremona. It is not known why de Bonazariis
set up a press there, apparently to print only this
one small book. There is a copy in Cambridge
University Library, where the date [1521] is
suggested as its year of publication.
C.118.C.25.
JuvENALis, Decimus Junius. Iunii Iuuenalis
et A. Persii Satirae. Eporediae [Ivrea]: Apud
Philip. Ardizom, 1554. 8°: 80 leaves. A-K«.
pp. 160.
Printed in italic, with crude woodcut borders on
the title-page and several woodcut initial capital
letters in the text.
Filippo Ardizzone was the first printer at
Ivrea, near Turin, where his earliest book may
have been Antonio Mancinello, Speculum de
moribus et officiis. May 1554. The British
Library had no book from this press until the
present acquisition.
NETHERLANDISH
C.118.C.23.
STATUTA primse Synodi Dioecesanae Buscoducensis
. . . M.D.LXXI.. . Praesidente in ea
. . . Laurentio Metsio II. Episcopo Busco-
107
ducensi. Buscoducis, ex officina Ioannis a Turn-
A