Accession number
PML 731
Creator
Higden, Ranulf, -1364.
Object title
Policronicon.
Published
Emprynted at Westmestre : Wynkyn Theworde, the thytenth daye of Apryll ... M.CCCC.lxxxxv [13 April 1495].
Description
[50], I-CCCCxlvi (with mistakes), [1] leaves : ill., music ; 27.5 cm (fol.)
Credit line
Purchased with the Bennett collection, 1902.
Notes
Title from xylographic half-title page, leaf aa1r.
Imprint from colophon, leaf X7v: ... Ended the thyrtenth daye of Apryll the tenth yere of the regne of kyng Harry the seuenth. And of the Incarnacyon of our lord: M.CCCC.lxxxxv. Enprynted at Westmestre by Wynkyn Theworde.
Caxton's printer's mark, leaf X8r.
Printed in De Worde's types 2:114G and 5:95G.
Signatures: aa⁸ bb-hh⁶; a-y⁸ z⁶; A-S⁸ T⁶ V-X⁸: 398 leaves, leaf hh6 blank.
Paper format: Chancery folio.
Higden's work, divided into 7 books and extending to the year 1348, was originally written in Latin. The English translation was made by John Trevisa, who continued it to 1357. The 8th book, 1358-1460, was added by William Caxton, who in 1482 printed the work from Trevisa's translation, revising the antiquated text. Cf. Blades, Life and typography of William Caxton, v. 2, p. 125.
This edition is a reprint of Caxton's edition; the text is unaltered and unextended. De Worde's only additions were a better Table and the insertion of the woodcut music (spaces left blank in Caxton's edition).
First music printed in England, leaf n5r.
Leaf cccxxvii is numbered cccxxvi, so that the succeeding leaves are off by one number.
Woodcut music, the first musical notation printed in England, occurs on n5r.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 25.9 x 18.8 cm.
Imprint from colophon, leaf X7v: ... Ended the thyrtenth daye of Apryll the tenth yere of the regne of kyng Harry the seuenth. And of the Incarnacyon of our lord: M.CCCC.lxxxxv. Enprynted at Westmestre by Wynkyn Theworde.
Caxton's printer's mark, leaf X8r.
Printed in De Worde's types 2:114G and 5:95G.
Signatures: aa⁸ bb-hh⁶; a-y⁸ z⁶; A-S⁸ T⁶ V-X⁸: 398 leaves, leaf hh6 blank.
Paper format: Chancery folio.
Higden's work, divided into 7 books and extending to the year 1348, was originally written in Latin. The English translation was made by John Trevisa, who continued it to 1357. The 8th book, 1358-1460, was added by William Caxton, who in 1482 printed the work from Trevisa's translation, revising the antiquated text. Cf. Blades, Life and typography of William Caxton, v. 2, p. 125.
This edition is a reprint of Caxton's edition; the text is unaltered and unextended. De Worde's only additions were a better Table and the insertion of the woodcut music (spaces left blank in Caxton's edition).
First music printed in England, leaf n5r.
Leaf cccxxvii is numbered cccxxvi, so that the succeeding leaves are off by one number.
Woodcut music, the first musical notation printed in England, occurs on n5r.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 25.9 x 18.8 cm.
Binding
Modern English full brown goatksin, blind-tooled in a retrospective style, over paper boards (27.5 x 20 cm), sewn on 5 supports [by Francis Bedford, according to Bennett catalogue, but binding not signed]. Plain paper pastedowns and endleaves; decorative endbands; gilt edges.
Inscriptions/Markings
Occasional underlining and one or two marginal notes.
Provenance
[William Horatio Crawford (1815?-1888)?: cited in Bennett catalogue but no bookplate or copy in Lakelands Library sale;] Richard Bennett (1849-1930), armorial bookplate (front endleaf 1 recto) and purchase notes: No. 126, 22/4/96 and price code: wwl/-/- less 10% +com (front pastedown); Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), purchased with the Bennett collection, 1902.
Classification
Catalog link
Century
Department