Category: Antiquarian

Gideon and his Fleece, A depiction of late 15th century armour

Post author By RickaroBooks
Post date 22nd April 2022

The study of medieval armour uses many sources, amongst the most informative for fifteenth century armour are principally the sculptured and latten (brass) representations on tombs across Europe. We are also fortunate to have a small number of surviving examples of armour (principally helmets) from the period, many deposited in churches connected to monuments as heraldic achievements or as votive offerings. However, a further highly significant resource are the references to and depiction of armour in contemporary manuscript sources. These have long been used to good effect by writers on armour, a pioneer of this being John Hewitt in the nineteenth century(1). Also from the fifteenth century we are fortunate to have finely detailed examples of manuscript illustrations depicting armour in some intricate detail. Some of these will be briefly discussed below.

The particular subject of this note is a previously un-noted, delicately executed illustration on parchment, showing Gideon and his fleece (sheep-skin), in a small oval topped miniature, surviving from the corner piece of a decorated border of a large choir book or Gradual, a chant or hymn in the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist. It has been cut from the volume in the 19^th century and trimmed down. It shows Gideon dressed as a young man in a detailed and correct representation of late 15^th century armour. He is kneeling and gazing at the sky as a blue-winged angel descends towards him holding a ribbon shaped scroll, his fleece, helm and shield lie before him, behind is a landscape. The fragment now has a thin wooden frame, is rubbed, with small tear to lower left hand edge, six small pinpricks can be seen to the reverse around the angel. The size is small, 134mm by 80mm.

The original substantial manuscript was illuminated for Ferdinand of Aragon (1452-1516) and his wife Isabella of Castile (1451-1504), joint rulers of a united Spain, the ‘Catholic Monarchs’, patrons of Christopher Columbus, founders of the Inquisition. Based on the heraldry on other surviving pieces, the manuscript can be dated to before the conquest of Granada in 1492 and from the style of the armour and by comparison with other objects a date to the late 1470s to mid 1480s appears likely. The original choir book was presented by Ferdinand and Isabella to the Dominican convent of Santo Tomás Aquino, in Ávila, in Old Castile, founded in 1478 and still in existence. Ferdinand and Isabella endowed it massively and paid for the construction of the convent’s chapel, built between 1482 and 1493. Their only son, Prince Juan, was buried there and has a splendid effigial tomb, the first Grand Inquisitor, Tomás de Torquemada (d.1498) was also buried within the chapel. The enormous royal Gradual created at this time, probably for the chapel remained on view for almost 400 years at the building.

In the nineteenth century the Gradual came into the possession of Manuel Rico y Sinobias, (1819-1898), Doctor of Medicine and Physical Sciences at the Central University of Madrid and something of a manuscript collector, who dismembered it, cutting out miniatures and distributing leaves. Some cuttings are in the Museo Arqueológico in Madrid (2) Two were acquired in 1918 by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, MS.293 a-b. (3) Another has been acquired by the Pierpont Morgan Library from Professor J.J.G. Alexander, now their M. 1141. Finally, two leaves appeared in Pirages, Cat.51 (2004), no.72, illustrated in colour, sold and cut up by the buyer into smaller pieces. Others pieces have come on to the market at various times and some can be traced in the Museo Arqueológico in Madrid. (4) Bordona, (5) describes the manuscript as “one of the most sumptuous and artistic series of choir-books in all Spain”, and he tentatively ascribes them to the royal illuminator Juan de Carrion, documented in Ávila from the 1470s. Although the present image is rather rubbed and mutilated, the detail of the illumination and the quality of its execution are abundantly clear.

The known provenance of the “Gideon” fragment is as follows:
1 Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile c1482.

2 The Dominican Convent of Santo Thomas Aquino , Avila c 1490.

3 Bought by Manuel Rico y Sinobias 1819-1898 (scientist and bibliophile) who cut up the manuscript.

4 This particular cutting, Pirages Auction House 2004 bought by Bruce Ferrini (dealer of Medieval and Rennaissance Manuscripts, Ohio USA).

5 Auction in the UK to private collector.

The story of Gideon and the fleece comes from the Old Testament, Judges 6,7;

“And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.” Judges 6:36-40.

In the image we can see Gideon kneeling in prayer, looking more like a knight from an Arthurian quest by Malory than an Old Testament military leader and prophet. He is shown clad in full armour, possibly of an Italianate style, although this is obviously a Spanish depiction of the subject matter. In his article on Spanish armour, Mann (6) says that from the mid-15^th century “the tombs of the wealthy show Milanese armours”. Although it must be said that armour in the 15^th century was developed across Europe with much cross fertilisation of styles. Here it is finely shown with pauldrons protecting the shoulders and elaborate couters at the elbow, his neck protected by a dagged edged standard of mail with a further dagged pattern on the mail depending from the bottom of the lower lames of his body armour. These features bear comparison to effigial monuments in England and the continent (7). His hands, which are in prayer are bare although his armoured gauntlets may just possibly be seen on the shield next to the helm. His legs are fully armoured although his feet appear to be clad in soft shoes rather than armoured sabatons. At his belt he wears a sword, rather corresponding to Oakeshott’s (8) Type XVIIIa, especially 6 &7. His helm is a form of sallet with raised visor and small feathered plume, this is placed on the floor before him. He has cast his shield, which is a‘bouché (that is with the cut out for a lance rest), to one side and it lies face down showing the carrying straps to the inside. His Fleece is laid upon the grass as indicated in the account in the Bible. The landscape in which he kneels is surrounded by greenery with a wooded rocky hill to the left, surrounding what seems to be a walled town; in the distance appears a towered building. A blue winged angel finely drawn is above holding a scroll bearing an inscription now too rubbed to read in full.

Despite obviously being from a different national background and artist, in attempting to find comparable images of delicately drawn accurate 15^th century armour one might look to the Rous Roll (9) and the Beauchamp Pageant (10). Both of these manuscripts can be firmly dated to the mid-1480s and both artists show a familiarity with the detail of armour as does the artist of the fragment discussed here. In particular from the Beauchamp Pageant we might look at a detail of fo12b showing Richard Beauchamp being armed in what appears to be a comparable armour. If we look at the Rous Roll we see the figure of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick “The Kingmaker”(1428-1471) but of course drawn in the later 1480s again in a comparable armour contemporary to the 1480s with similar sallet and shield a’bouche. This image was adapted by the Arms and Armour Society for its badge.

As an aside, an Order of the Golden Fleece was established in Burgundy in 1430 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy generally said to be based on the story from the classical period, of Jason and his golden fleece. With its considered pagan origin the Bishop of Châlons, chancellor of the Order, identified it instead with the fleece of the biblical Gideon, that received the dew of Heaven. Mirroring somewhat the Order of the Garter the Order of the Golden Fleece contained a limited number of knights, initially 24 but increasing to 30 in 1433 and 50 in 1516 plus of course the Duke. It had an elaborate collar with a pendant of the Fleece.

References

1 John Hewitt, Ancient Armour and Weapons in Europe from the Iron Period of the Northern Nations to the end of the Seventeenth Century with illustrations from Contemporary Monuments, 3 Volumes, London, 1855-60.

2 Bordon, J.D., Exposición de códices miniados Española’s, Catálogo, Madrid, 1929, nos. CIV-CVII and fig 68.

3 Wormald and Giles, Descriptive Catalogue, 1982, I, pp.269-70). Leaves appeared in the Mettler sale, Mensing, 22 November 1929, lot 98, with full-page plate, and in H.P. Kraus, cat.112 (1965), no.45, with colour frontispiece. J.D. Bordona, Spanish Illumination, 1930, pl.141, describes one leaf then in private hands in Madrid. There is a cutting in Austria (cf. F.G. Zeileis, ‘Più ridon le carte’, Buchmalerei aus Mittelalter und Renaissance, II, 2002, citing and illustrating examples for comparison on pp.414-5.

4 Exposición de codices miniados Españoles, 1929, nos. civ-cvii and fig. 68) and the Zeileis collection (see Più Ridon le carte, II, 2002, pp. 414-15).

5. Bordona, J.D. Op.cit, p.61.

6 Mann, J.G.: a series of articles in Archaeologia, particularly; Notes on the Armour worn in Spain from the Tenth to the Fifteenth Century, Archaeologia 83 (1933) pp. 285-305, The Sanctuary of the Madonna della Grazia with Notes on the Collection of Italian Armour during the 15^th Century, Archaeologia, 80 (1930), pp.117-142 and ‘A Further Account of the Armour preserved in the Madonna della Grazia’, Archaeologia, 87 (1938), pp. 311-351.

7 For a full account of the detail of the armour from this period see; Capwell, Tobias, Armour of the English Knight 1450-1500, London, 2021.

8 Oakeshott, Ewart, Record of the Medieval sword, London, 1991.

9.Rous, John, The Rous Roll, London, 1859, reprinted with a new Introduction by Charles Ross which makes no mention of armour, The Rous Roll, Gloucester, 1980. The original manuscript Rous Roll is British Library Additional MS 48976. This manuscript shows a number of historical figures including some in contemporary late 15^th century armour.

10 Sinclair, Alexander, (ed.), The Beauchamp Pageant, Donington, 2003. The original British Library MS is Cotton MS Julius EIV. This too shows late 15^th century armour. But f .12v shows Richard Beauchamp dressing in armour, the armour of course an anachronism to the period shown of Henry V, being a later 15^th century armour. Other folios show similar armours, notably see f .4v and f. 25.

The author thanks Geoffrey Wheeler for his assistance.

Richard Knowles FSA.

The 1976 Scolar Press William Caxton facsimiles

Post author By RickaroBooks
Post date 5th April 2022

Incunabula, is the plural of the Latin word incunabulum, a cradle, in bibliographical terms it refers to the cradle of printing, an early printed book, especially one printed before 1501.

It was in 1976 that the Scolar Press produced three facsimile volumes to mark the 500 years since 1476 when Caxton returned to England and set up the first printing shop in England, close to Westminster Abbey. From here he issued over a hundred books between 1476 and 1492, which was the year of his death. Having initially been involved in commerce in London he then moved to Bruges, the centre of the wool trade, where he operated from and had connections with the Yorkist dynasty. It was in fact at the request of the Duchess of Burgundy, sister of Edward IV, that he translated The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye. Caxton was the first person to bring printing to England, initially having royal and aristocratic patronage that to some extent influenced the volumes that he both edited and printed, however he appears to have had a real eye for sales, being a bookseller as well as publisher and found support from the merchant and ecclesiastical classes.

There were three titles chosen to be produced by Scolar Press in facsimiles and these are indeed handsome volumes worthy of the quincentenary. Significantly limited to just 500 numbered copies each, they have themselves become highly collectable items. They are bound in a rough linen cloth with a brown leather title label that really suits the period feel of these volumes. Of the five hundred limitation fifty copies were bound in full leather by the Eddington bindery.

The three original volumes all date to the 1480s, that period of strife in England between the death of Edward IV in 1483 and the usurpation and death at Bosworth of Richard III in 1485. This period of political turmoil meant that Caxton tended to move away from his aristocratic patrons and operate more independently, creating volumes that were being asked for. Many noble and dyuers gentylmen of thys royame of England camen and demaunded me many and oftymes…

The three volumes are in chronological order as follows:

The Game and Playe of Chesse, 1483 is reproduced in facsimile from the copy at Trinity College, Cambridge. The second edition with woodcuts, the first being dated 1474. Although it bears the title, The Game and Playe of the Chesse it should not be regarded as an instructional book on Chess. It is in fact a translation of Jacobus de Cessolis’ thirteenth-century political treatise, the Liber de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium ac popularium super ludo scachorum (The Book of the Morals of Men and the Duties of Nobles and Commoners, on the Game of Chess).

The History and Fables of Æsop, 1483 is reproduced from the unique copy in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle. This volume contains a Life of Æsop and is illustrated with woodcuts, the translation by Caxton from Macho’s 1482 French edition.

This is a facsimile of the Pierpont Morgan Library copy of Caxton’s Morte d’Arthur, 1485, the only surviving complete copy. (A nearly complete copy is kept at the Rylands Library, Manchester and a single leaf was at Lincoln Cathedral.) The facsimile has a preface discussing and illustrating the watermarks in the Pierpont Morgan Library copy. If one wishes to own a copy the facsimile is probably as close as anyone can aspire, unless in an unlikely event, a third copy should be discovered! It was an interesting time for Caxton to edit and print Thomas Malory’s tales of chivalry, a time of political turmoil and conflict, so it is perhaps fitting that in his Prologue he entreats; And I, accordyng to my copye, haue doon sette it in enprynte to the entente that noble men may see and lerne the noble actes of chyualrye, the jentyl and vertuous dedes that somme knyghtes vsed in thos dayes, by whyche they came to honour, and how they that were vycious were punysshed and ofte put to shame and rebuke, humbly bysechyng al noble lordes and ladyes wyth al other estates of what estate or degree they been of, that shal see and rede in this sayd book and werke, thagh they take the good and honest actes in their remembraunce, and to folowe the same; wherein they shalle fynde many joyous and playsaunt hystoryes and noble and renomena actes of humanyte, gentylnesse, and chyualryes.

There is a curious and much debated point contained within Chapter V on the Roman War rewritten by Caxton for his 1485 edition. It has to be stated that there are many academic debates around the text of the rediscovered “Winchester” manuscript and the Caxton edition. The significant point here is that the printing of the Caxton edition was completed on the last day of July, as stated in the Epilogue, seven days before Henry Tudor landed at Milford Haven and just a few weeks before Bosworth. An article by P.C.J. Field in The Arthurian of 1995 on the “Roman War”, the well-known chapter fully revised by Caxton, raises this matter. Field reported an interesting alteration to the text between the “Winchester” and “Caxton” versions, which he states could have been made only by Caxton. The bear –som tyraunte that turmentis thy peplem– in Winchester (Malory, 1976b: 75v) is killed by a dragon that represents King Arthur, but in the Caxton edition, the ‘bear’ is turned into a ‘boar’ some six times. Field states: “The change must have been deliberate, and it created a bold political allusion: the boar was the badge of King Richard III and the dragon that of Henry Tudor. The allusion would only have made sense in or just before 1485 and it is difficult to see who could have been responsible for it but Caxton himself”. (Field, 1995: 37). This particular statement is complicated to understand, why would this only have made sense before 1485, surely it would have been truer and safer to state after Bosworth? The change from “bear” to “boar” is in itself rather strange, but it seems to me rather unlikely that Caxton would make such a “bold” political point BEFORE Bosworth (August 1485) and why? If it was a political point, it dates the writing of it to after October of 1482 and the printing in July 1485. It certainly would have been a risky tactic, perhaps Caxton or someone in the print shop was a Tudor supporter? Field argues that Caxton may have hated Richard III following the execution in 1483 of Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, a Caxton patron and translator with whom he had a particular relationship, indeed it has been suggested Rivers may have aided his move from Bruges to London in 1476. Of course the change to “boar” from “bear” could be merely a co-incidence and have no connection to the badges of Henry VII and Richard III? It must be recalled that Caxton was a man of commerce, a bookseller and publisher and his first instinct would be to protect his business interests, keeping a low profile and printing what he could. However, certainly by July of 1489 when Caxton completed Feats of Arms concluding his epilogue with a prayer for the king’s success in his enterpryses as wel in Bretagne, Flaunndres and other placis, his place at the top of society was re-established. Caxton died in 1492.

See below the 1485 Caxton edition and the 1901 Dent edition.

One further point of interest for us regarding this volume, is that T.E. Lawrence carried a copy of the Everyman’s edition of Morte D’Arthur with him on his desert campaign in WWI and it can be seen represented on his effigy at Wareham. There are also some parallels with Seven Pillars in the academic discussions of the 1922 and 1926 editions in its changed textual versions and the lengthy catalogue of names contained in the text of both Morte and SP. If we wish to further this connection we might briefly consider a book printed by TE’s friend Vyvyan Richards in 1927. This is William Caxton’s Prologues and Epilogues produced by Richards to, as he states in the Colophon, “display the character of Caxton”. TE and Richards first became friends at Jesus College, Oxford and long planned to print together. This never happened and the small booklet was the only work printed by Richards, who became a teacher. One further interesting connection (those things that we so love) is that Robert Graves purchased the printing press and paper from Richards and set up the Seizin Press with Laura Riding in 1928.

Selected further reading;
Richards, Vyvyan, William Caxton’s Prologues & Epilogues, Privately Printed, Oxford, 1927.

Bennett J.A.W. (Ed.), Essays on Malory, Oxford, 1963.

Blake, N.F., Investigations into the Prologues and Epilogues by William Caxton, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Vol. 49. No. 1, Autumn, Manchester, 1966.

Harris, Graham, The Marvellous Dream of King Arthur, The Ricardian, Vol III, No 44, March, London, 1974.

Takamiya, Toshiyuki & Brewer Derek, (Eds), Aspects of Malory, Woodbridge, 1981.

Hellinga, Lotte, Caxton in Focus, London, 1982.

Field, P.J.C. Caxton’s Roman War, contained in Arthuriana, Volume 5 Number 2, Summer, Dallas, 1995. .

Matthews, William, William Matthews on Caxton and Mallory, contained in Arthuriana, Volume 7 Number 1, Spring, Dallas, 1997, Special Issue.

Sutton, Anne, William Caxton king’s printer, contained in Medieval Merchant, Harlaxton Medieval Studies, Volume XXIV, Donington, 2014.

Antiquarian Book News Rickaro Books

A Triple Pleasure. Pageants of the Birth, Life, and Death of Richard Beauchamp

Post author By RickaroBooks
Post date 29th January 2022

The Pageants of the Birth, Life, and Death of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, is an illustrated biography of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick (1382–1439), (British Library MS Cotton Julius E. iv. The Pageants of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick – Medieval manuscripts blog. The manuscript dates to the 1480s and constitutes a truly splendid series of fifty-three exquisite line drawings in a brown ink on twenty-eight parchment folios delineating the life of the Earl. It does this by showing the various occasions in a series of vivid images of his life, depicting the Earl in settings contemporary to the period of the manuscript’s production. The original resides in the British Library and has been reproduced on three occasions in outstanding facsimile editions. It is known that the manuscript was later owned by the Herald, Robert Glover (1544 -1588), before passing into the hands of the renowned collector, Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (1571 – 1631). It was finally bequeathed to the nation by Cotton’s grandson, Sir John Cotton (1621 – 1702).

The manuscript is a unique resource for the study of costume, armour, architecture and customs of the period, all depicted in a collection of “pageants”, a series of interesting and varied highlights from the Earl’s life. However, the artist achieves more than this, capturing within the images a lively nature to his characters, a real sense of human presence, unusual for many other contemporary manuscripts.

The basic facts about the Pageants have long been established. As indicated it is made up of fifty-three-line drawings with brief accompanying comments describing each period in the Earl’s life. It would appear to date to the reign of Richard III, (certainly folio 28 shows Richard III with crown and sceptre) although the date of commissioning has been considered as somewhere between 1483 and 1492. The Earl’s daughter Anne Beauchamp (1426-1492) was the probable commissioner, widow of Richard Neville ‘the Kingmaker’, Earl of Warwick (1428 -1471), who may initially have viewed it as an exemplar for Prince Edward, her grandson (thus the Yorkist emphasis in the genealogical tables of folios 27b and 28). Although Edward was dead by early 1484, a further hypothesis has it being made after 1485 to impress the new king, Henry VII. This seems a little improbable due to the Yorkist emphasis, although indeed Henry VII did restore Anne’s inheritance in 1487 and was married to Elizabeth of York. Research has been undertaken on the possible artist of the manuscript, whilst this makes for a fascinating and scholarly study, they have never been identified. Clearly the content of the illustrations is informed by someone with a knowledge of or was well informed of the events portrayed. However, it is suggested that the style and composition of the drawings indicates the possibility of an artist trained in Flanders.

We have chosen one Folio (4b.) to illustrate each of the three facsimiles to make for a comparison. This shows the Earl being invested with the Order of the Garter. It well illustrates many of the facets of the illustrations in this manuscript.

The three facsimile editions commence with the lavish publication of 1908 by The Roxburgh Club. The Club was founded in 1812 and is the oldest society of bibliophiles in the world. It has a membership limited to just forty, chosen from among those with distinguished libraries or collections, or with a scholarly interest in books. The 1908 “Pageant” publication was undertaken by the then member, William, Proby, Earl of Carysfort (1836-1909) who provided an Introduction. The volume was printed by Horace Hart of Oxford University Press, establishing a link, for the first time, between the university presses and the Club. Hart was congratulated and presented with a volume by Carysfort. Hart inserted a letter from Carysfort, expressing his satisfaction at the printing, into his volume.

Each of the forty members was presented with a copy and a small number of extra copies were printed. As might be imagined this is an impressive and elusive publication, the fifty-three plates being printed in a tint matching the manuscript and each protected by tissue guards. Textually it contains the Introduction by Carysfoot and a history of Richard Beauchamp taken from ” The Baronage of England” by William Dugdale, the seventeenth century antiquary. It is bound in the standard Roxburghe binding maroon half leather with maroon cloth covered boards.

The manuscript was again printed in a more mundane but quite adequate, “trade” edition, published by Longmans, Green & Co in 1914. This time it has Introductions by two leading scholars of their day, Viscount Harold Arthur Dillon (1844-1932) and William Henry St John Hope (1854-1919). Dillon was a leading authority on armour, serving as curator of the Armouries at the Tower of London. St John Hope was a leading antiquary and published extensively. Amongst his major work was his Architectural History of Windsor Castle, which he began in 1893, and completed twenty years later in 1913, an undertaking for which he was knighted. So, for its time these scholars well served the “Pageant”.

The publication reproduces the manuscript in monochrome, photo-engraved by that eminent typographical expert, printer and antiquary Emery Walker (1851-1933), making for a clear image on the page, perhaps the clearest if not most refined of all of the facsimiles. The binding is of a grey printed paper covered boards with a grey cloth spine.

Certainly, this edition produced in 1914 at a moderate price increased the accessibility to students over the always elusive and expensive Roxburghe edition.

We had to wait some eighty-nine years for the next facsimile edition. This time published in 2003 by Shaun Tyas/ The Richard III Society and Yorkist Trust with a fine scholarly Introduction and “Life” of Richard Beauchamp together with an informative commentary on the illustrations by Alexandra Sinclair. This edition is the first full colour reproduction of the manuscript using modern printing technology, making for a better comparison to the original, whilst at the loss of some clarity but greater fidelity compared to the earlier editions. It is printed on a gloss clay stock paper which however reproduces the illustrations well. It is bound in green boards, a hardback binding with an attractive printed dust-wrapper. It may lack some of the tactile appeal of the earlier editions, but this is more than made up for in the scholarly advance and the still ready availability to modern readers.

Any one of these volumes is well worthy of study and handling, each has its own particular merit, certainly (if unable to visit the British Library to experience the original), more pleasurable than viewing images on a screen.

You can order a new copy of the Shaun Tyas edition here Beauchamp from Rickaro Books BA PBFA – AbeBooks

It is clear that Richard Beauchamp is a fortunate man to be still remembered seven centuries on by two superlative memorials. The first was the completion in 1450 of his chantry chapel in St Mary’s, Warwick, which contains the truly splendid tomb with its gilt cast metal effigy. Here the Earl is shown in possibly a Milanese armour, accurate to every last strap, buckle and hinge which is of a style certainly later than his time of death. The effigy is in full relief, as complete to the back as to the front. The images below being drawn and etched by Charles Alfred Stothard (1786-1821) in 1813. In his letters Stothard tells the account of turning the effigy over to be able to draw the rear detail. The effigy lies upon a tomb chest covered with its original gilt hearse, surrounded by his family in the form of cast metal “weepers”.

The second being this manuscript of his “birth, life and death” still admired and studied even if it may have been originally produced as a piece of political propaganda for the Beauchamp family in troubled times. Two truly memorable and sumptuous memorials of a life well lived.

Antiquarian Book News Fine Press T. E. Lawrence

Seven Pillars of Wisdom, A Triumph

Post author By RickaroBooks
Post date 19th December 2020

“Subscribers’ ” or “Cranwell “ edition of 1926

One of 32 “Incomplete” copies signed and dated by T.E. Lawrence (Shaw).

Laid in “Some Notes on on the Writing of Seven Pillars of Wisdom” 1927 O’Brien A039 (c.200 copies distributed to Subscribers)

This is a copy of one of the 32 “Incomplete” copies given by TE to “people mentioned in the book, or people who had been officially or personally useful to the Arab Revolt” (O’Brien A040). This makes these 32 copies of particular significance. These copies are textually complete only lacking a number of the plates bound at the rear of all the volumes. There were 170 “complete” copies for subscribers and 32 bound as here in half leather by De Coverley that were signed as incomplete.

Altogether an attractive and fine copy, housed in a custom-made half morocco solander box that echoes the binding of the volume, made by award-winning binder Stephen Conway.

Printing History

The text and publication have a complex history and have been well documented. It can be summarised here:

Seven Pillars was commenced in January of 1919, and the completed parts of the manuscript being reputedly “lost” on Reading Station in November of that year. He then re-wrote the text under some strain to his mental state, reliving the harrowing experiences of his desert campaign, “I nearly went off my head in London this spring, heaving at that beastly book of mine”. In 1922 TE had eight copies set in 6pt linotype by newspaper compositors and printed at the Oxford Times, in double column and some 287 sheets, hence the term Oxford edition. These copies of this lengthy work, some one third longer than the later published text of 1926 and 1935, were printed on a newspaper proofing press. He then distributed copies to key friends for comment.

There then followed the editing of the text and the plan to produce the sumptuous limited edition issued to subscribers. The publishing and printing of the 1926 edition in a private edition was a long drawn out and complex process. Robin Buxton formerly of the Imperial Camel Corps and now a manager of the Liverpool & Martins Bank, assisted with the financing of the project. At a meeting with Lawrence, David G. Hogarth of the Ashmolean, Lionel Curtis of All Souls, Oxford and Alan Dawnay (another wartime colleague) were present, a scheme was agreed upon whereby 120 copies could be printed, with all of the planned illustrations, for sale at 30 guineas per copy. The Eric Kennington pastels were being printed by Whittingham & Griggs at the then enormous price of around ten shillings per print.

There is interesting correspondence between Lawrence and Buxton that throws light upon the financing of the volume. It was Eric Kennington who put Lawrence in contact with an American, Manning Pike, who was a newly qualified printer, to undertake the printing, he was later joined by an experienced pressman, Herbert Hodgson. To assist in financing the scheme Lawrence offered the publication of an abridgement, Revolt in the Desert to the publisher Jonathan Cape. This was a straightforward abridgement completed in a brief period whilst Lawrence was at Cranwell, published in 1927. It was to run to five editions before being withdrawn.

The final cost of the Subscribers’ edition totalled a staggering £13,000 equating to a cost of around £76 for each complete copy, or just over £100 for each subscribed copy. In fact 211 copies were printed, 170 complete and 32 incomplete and 9 sets of proof sheets “more or less defective”.

Lawrence decided upon binding the volumes in an individual manner and sent sheets to a number of top quality binders, these included, Mcleish, De Coverley, Best & Co, Sangorski & Sutcliffe, Notary Binders as well as a number of others.

As the volume was completed in late 1926 and copies initialled and dated XII/26, with the final touches in place and just a few copies despatched, Lawrence arranged to be posted to India at the turn of the year leaving Manning Pike to send out the remainder of the large tomes.

So, here is one of the great books of the twentieth century, that really needs to be seen and handled to be fully appreciated.

Although even TE like Homer occasionally nods. In a letter to John Buchan dated 1 XII 26 sending a copy for the Prime Minster, Stanley Baldwin, he states the volume will “have no future” whilst acknowledging that it is a “rarity”!

Antiquarian Book News

American independence and the “Holster Atlas”.

Post author By RickaroBooks
Post date 2nd August 2020

Here we feature the elusive so called “Holster Atlas”, The American Military Pocket Atlas; being an Approved Collection of Correct Maps, Both General and Particular, of the British Colonies; Especially Those which Now Are, or Probably May Be the Theatre of War: Taken Principally from the Actual Surveys. This is the first edition, published in London, in the fateful year of 1776 by Sayers and Bennet, containing all the six maps as called for, all in first state. vi-viiipp. dedication letter and Advertisement + list of maps; with six folding engraved maps with original outline colour. Bound in original marbled boards with calf spine with green leather title label, the heraldic bookplate of Heinrich Johann, Freiherr von Gudenus dated 1891 on front pastedown.

Known as the ‘Holster Atlas’ this work was designed for British cavalry officers for use in the field during the American War of Independence. It was “calculated in its Bulk and Price to suit the Pockets of Officers of all Ranks” (from the Advertisement leaf).

The six maps here represent a distillation of what the British high command saw as the most pertinent topographical information for soldiers and, being issued at the war’s outset provides keen insight into how the British envisioned the war unfolding.

These comprise;

“North America, as divided amongst the European Powers”, and “A Compleat Map of The West Indies, containing Coasts of Florida, Louisiana, New Spain, and Terra Firma: with all the Islands” by Samuel Dunn;

“A General Map of the Northern British Colonies in America. Which comprehends the Province of Quebec, the Government of Newfoundland, Nova-Scotia, New England and New York” by Samuel Holland and Thomas Pownall (1776);

“A General Map of the Middle British Colonies, in America. Containing Virginia, Maryland, the Delaware counties, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. With the addition of New York, and of the Greatest Part of New England, as also of the Bordering Parts of the Province of Quebec, improved from several surveys made after the late War, and Corrected from Governor Pownall’s Late Map 1776” after Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson, and Lewis Evans;

“A General Map of the Southern British Colonies, in America, comprehending North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, with the Neighbouring Indian Countries…” after William de Brahm, Henry Mouzon, John Collett, and Bernard Romans;

“A Survey of Lake Champlain, including Lake George, Crown Point and St. John” by William Brassier.

It is a highly evocative volume, taking us back to the year 1776 and the American War of Independence and the army that crossed the Atlantic to take part in this conflict.

The volume was published by Sayer & Bennet of London in 1776. Robert Sayer had begun printing atlases in the 1750s and by the 1760s had developed a leading position in cartographic publications. With his business partner John Bennet, who had previously been his apprentice, they became significant publishers of maps and prints. They were ideally placed to publish this important series of maps for the British Army’s use in the American continent.

We are fortunate in being able to see a splendid “conversational” family painting of c.1781, by Johan Zoffany, now at the Paul Mellon Centre, showing Robert Sayer, his second wife, Alice and son James, outside their mansion, which is in the backgound, on Richmond Hill, London. The contrast of characters is interesting and perhaps pointed, Robert, the successful and wealthy publisher is nonetheless shown in a plain, rather older fashioned attire, his wife looking wealthy in dress and white muslin, holding her pet dog, whilst James looks quite the “modern” dandy in his stylish outfit.

David Wilson, *Johan Zoffany R.A. and the Sayer Family of Richmond*, Privately Published 2014-15

So here we see an evocative memento of the controversial and costly war of 1775-83 when the thirteen colonies rebelled against Great Britain over their objection to Parliament’s direct taxation and its lack of colonial representation. How many officers carried these maps and consulted them is unknown, but no doubt they nestled in many a holster and overcoat pocket, so here we have a direct and personal link to the actions of those turbulent years.

Antiquarian Book News T. E. Lawrence

David Garnett’s ‘The Letters of T.E. Lawrence’

Post author By RickaroBooks
Post date 24th May 2020

Should you wish to understand the enigmatic and multi-faceted character that made up T.E. Lawrence (or T.E. Shaw, as he became known after 1923), you can hardly do better than read the many letters that he wrote.

There are a vast number of these. TE was a prolific letter writer, he found them a means of expression and of communication with friends and acquaintances whom he might not be able or even wish to meet. I feel sure many wait, yet to be discovered in hidden places, tucked inside books or in old desk drawers. Indeed there are recent examples of letters hiding in both of these locations.

Many of his letters have been published and in more recent years Castle Hill Press (under the expert guidance of the late Jeremy Wilson) has produced scholarly and handsome editions, focusing on the letters to certain correspondents and key themes of his life.

However to obtain a rounded and intimate picture of TE one can do little better than exploring the 583 published in David Garnett’s selection The Letters of T.E. Lawrence first published in 1938. These letters give a fully rounded overview of the whole of TE’s life, treating it in a chronological manner that enables a biographical picture to be formed.

This collection was of course made available some three years after TE’s untimely death on his Brough Superior motorcycle in 1935. The volume was published by Jonathan Cape, who had of course been instrumental in publishing Revolt in the Desert (1927) and Seven Pillars of Wisdom” (1935). As might be expected from Cape at this period, it was a handsome volume, well produced and with the striking typographical dust-wrapper. It was originally to be edited by E.M Forster, but he planned to divide the book into sections of TE’s life dealing with the different interests, his brother A.W. Lawrence did not quite approve of this methodology and David Garnett, scientist, bookseller, publisher and writer took over treating the letters chronologically, making a splendid job of the project. David was eminently suited to the role, being the son of literary reader, Edward Garnett who was a friend and literary mentor of TE. David had himself become a friend of TE and an early reader of his legendary literary projects Seven Pillars and The Mint and himself the author of well received novels.

E.M. Forster letter to Sir Sydney Cockerell: ‘*I am editing a selection of his letters for the Trustees*‘.

The volume is not without its typographical errors, two notable ones corrected in later editions, “Baltic” on page 182, corrected to ‘Balkan” and the letter signed “T.E.L” later corrected to ‘T.E.S” on page 495 have become “issue points” for dealers and collectors. In a letter to TE collector Bradfer-Lawrence, David Garnett lamented a number of others.

David Garnett: ‘*The number of mis-prints is frightful – in spite of several proof readings’.*

The Garnett volume of Letters has been hugely influential on students and biographers of TE’s life being at once scholarly and entertaining. This influence extends to all those who have taken an interest and fostered the scholarly research into the man and his significance, be it the desert campaign of WW1 or his important and still underrated work on the RAF boats in the post WW1 period.

This can be illustrated by a volume of the Letters signed by Henry St John Armitage (1924-2004), and dated “Bradford May 1939″. This being the copy from the library of Arabist, TE scholar and diplomat, St John Armitage and indicates his early interest in TE. He was 15 when he signed and dated this volume, but went on in his long life to have a distinguished career, retain his interest and influence in TE circles and speak at a T.E. Lawrence Society Symposium towards the end of his life.

The Letters volume was also passed on by TE’s friends. An example here from his friend, Lt Col. Stewart Francis Newcombe (1878–1956) with whom he first met whilst surveying the Sinai Peninsula in 1914 and retained a life- long friendship, this copy being owned much later by TE scholar and biographer Jeremy Wilson.

No doubt this important volume in the T.E. Lawrence canon will continue to be acknowledged in bibliographies and inspire a host of fresh students.

Antiquarian Book News

Sylvia Beach of Shakespeare and Company blots her escutcheon!

Post author By RickaroBooks
Post date 12th May 2020

A Unique Volume

Here is a book with a fascinating history and provenance. An exciting association copy, signed by three of the, then, surviving original authors of essays contained within the volume, these being, Samuel Beckett, Marcel Brion and Frank Budgen.

In addition this particular edition contains a new Introduction by the original publisher and owner of Shakespeare and Company SYLVIA BEACH and this unique volume is also finely SIGNED by her at the head of the chapter, a clear signature with a couple of small ink blots below.

An important collection of essays on James Joyce (the title having been taken from Finnegans Wake). Originally published by Shakespeare and Company in 1929, they sold sheets to Faber & Faber, who then inserted their own title-page. This 1961 UK printing by Faber includes the new Sylvia Beach “Introduction”. The book consists of 12 studies of the published instalments of the experimental ‘Work in Progress’ which was to become (then as yet unpublished) ‘Finnegans Wake’. Those writers were Samuel Beckett [his first appearance in print], Marcel Brion, Frank Budgen, Stuart Gilbert, Eugene Jolas, Victor Llona, Robert McAlmon, Thomas McGreevy, Elliot Paul, John Rodker, Robert Sage, and William Carlos Williams.

This particular copy has a good provenance from the library of linguist David Enderton Johnson and with his typographic bookplate to front pastedown concealed by d/w flap. Johnson is best known for his work on relational grammar, especially the development with Paul Postal in 1977 of arc pair grammar. Altogether an enthralling association copy with elusive signatures, bringing together significant figures of 20th century literature.

Samuel Barclay Beckett 1906 –1989) the Irish novelist, Marcel Brion 1895 -1984 was the French essayist, Frank Spencer Curtis Budgen 1882 –1971 English painter and writer and of course Sylvia Beach 1887 –1962), best known for her Paris bookstore, where she published James Joyce’s controversial book, Ulysses in 1922, and encouraged a legion of literary figures of the 20^th century. She told her own story in “Shakespeare and Company” first published in 1959.

Antiquarian Book News T. E. Lawrence

Association copies

Post author By RickaroBooks
Post date 4th April 2020

Sometimes the book can mean so much more than just the physical object. It can have an association with a person or persons that lifts it above the ordinary edition.

We are always on the lookout for such items. Perhaps in our world of T.E. Lawrence the object all sublime might be a book from the Clouds Hill library, perhaps but not always bearing the “Clouds Hill” bookplate. They turn up from time to time. At present we have two such in our stock.

However occasionally a volume turns up that is unusual and exciting in its own right, one such is a copy of Suleiman Mousa’s, 1966 “T E Lawrence, An Arab View” being a copy from the library of Arabist, diplomat and TE Lawrence scholar St John Armitage, He had a fine library and was learned, especially on TE Lawrence and St John Philby. He was always helpful in the organisation of exhibitions and conferences. Laid in is a postcard from Mousa as well as other related material. In itself the book is not uncommon, but with the associated item a fascinating “association” copy.

Away from the field of TE, another fascinating item is “Lyric Poetry of Glees, Madrigals, Etc Being a Supplement to the Collection of Clark and Leete and Bellamy”. Published privately in 1911 for the Noblemen and Gentlemen’s Catch Club. This copy is beautifully bound in full black leather being the copy of Sir Edgar Speyer with his name in glorious gilt to the front cover. Speyer, elected to the club in 1903 was a supporter of the musical arts and a friend of several leading composers, including Edward Elgar, Richard Strauss and Claude Debussy. He was chairman of the Classical Music Society for ten years, and he largely funded the Promenade Concerts between 1902 and 1914. His non-musical charitable activities included being honorary treasurer of the fund for Captain Scott’s Antarctic expedition. For his philanthropy he was made a baronet in 1906 and a Privy Counsellor in 1909. Speyer is listed in the current membership in this volume. The Noblemen and Gentlemen’s Catch Club was founded in 1761 and became influential in the promotion of music with very many important members whom are listed in this volume. So a further attractive and significant association copy.

We hope to feature other such treasurers from our inventory in the future.

Antiquarian Book News Fine Press

A Private Press book?

Post author By RickaroBooks
Post date 25th March 2020

We are often asked what is the definition of a private press book? Well, this is not as easy a question to answer as you may think. The definition of private press printing is, in essence, a press run outside the normal rules of printing and publishing. It has the influence of one person, or at most a small team brought to bear on its productions with the intent to produce books of excellent, perhaps unique quality, without too much economic pressure. The ability to add real value without too much extra overhead cost.

The modern private press movement as we know it today, might well be said to have come to fruition with William Morris and his Kelmscott Press. The movement flourished after the First World War with presses such as Doves, Essex House, Ashendene and the Golden Cockerel Press. The commercial pressures on a private press were and are difficult. By their very nature, the books produced by such presses are relatively expensive and tend to appeal to specialist collectors. By definition they tend to suffer during harsh economic times. Certainly the late 1920s and 1930s were hard times for these presses and they suffered, as T.E. Lawrence stated “a bad season for rich books”. Some owned by more wealthy owners could circumnavigate the difficulties and one such, producing lavish and tiny editions was Viscount Carlow at his Corvinus Press.

The tradition carries on in the modern age with John Randle and his Whittington Press, John having a wide influence on presses operating today. These include The Fleece Press, The Reading Room Press and a substantial number of others. Some presses focus on academic texts. some mix lavish production with texts. A notable recent press has been Castle Hill Press, bridging the two worlds of academia and fine production with its scholarly T.E. Lawrence texts.

A further aspect of the private press movement is the production of a prospectus advertising an individual volume or a group of volumes, most presses produce these and they have become highly collectable in their own right, sometimes more difficult to trace than the books themselves. You will find private press material flourishing within our inventory so happy foraging!

So, as the Golden Cockerel Press declared “Spring, Sunshine and a Chanticleer from the Golden Cockerel Press”.

Antiquarian

Thomas Gent’s Ripon

Post author By RickaroBooks
Post date 28th January 2020

Thomas Gent was born to parents of ordinary background. His father was an Englishman, and he was baptised a Presbyterian. His parents ensured he educated himself during his childhold, and in 1707 he began an apprenticeship with Stephen Powell, a printer of Dublin.

Gent’s apprenticeship was an unhappy one, and in 1710 he absconded, and stowed way on a ship, arriving in Wirral, England, then travelled to London where he took up apprenticeship under Edward Midwinter. After completing his apprenticeship in 1713, he worked briefly for a Mrs. Bradford, and then for a printer named Mears, who involved him in a humiliating initiation rite, discharging him soon after, following which he subsisted by labouring. After arriving in York he obtained a post with John White in April 1714, King’s printer for York, at a rate of £18 a year, plus board and lodging. There he met Alice Guy who became the object of his affections and whom he would later marry.

Portrait of Thomas Gent by Nathan Drake