Accession number
PML 776
Object title
Mirrour of the world.
Uniform title
Image du monde. English (Middle English)
Published
[Westminster] : [William Caxton], [1481, after 12 August]
Description
[100] leaves : ill. (woodcuts) ; 24 cm (fol.)
Credit line
Purchased with the Amherst collection, 1908.
Notes
Title from incipit of tabula (leaf a2r): Here begynneth the table of the rubrices of this presente volume named the Mirrour of the world or thymage of the same.
Translator from Prologue (leaf a4v-5r): ... And emonge alle other this p[re]sent booke whiche is called the ymage or myrrour of the world... And now at this tyme rudely translated out of ffrensshe in to Englissh by me symple p[er]sone William Caxton/ at the request. desire. coste and dispense of the honourable [and] worshipful ma[n] Hugh Bryce Alderman [and] Cytezeyn of london/ ... And emprised by me ryght unable and of lytil connyng to translate [and] brynge it in to our maternal tongue [the] second day of the moneth of janyuer the yer of oru said lord. M.CCC lxxx in thabbay of Westmestre by london... . Epilogue (leaf n4r): ...whiche book I began first to tra[n]slate the second day of Janyuer the yere of our lord .M.CCCC.lxxx. And fynysshyd the viii day of Marche the same yere/ And the xxi yere of the Regne of the most Crysten kynge/ kynge Edward the fourthe, under the Shadowe of whose noble proteccion I have emprysed [and] fynysshed this sayd lytil werke and boke...
Printed in Caxton's type 2*:135B.
Date based on paper, see BMC XI 121.
Caxton translated the work from French between 2 January and 8 March 1480/1 in Westminster.
Collation: a-m⁸ n⁴: 100 leaves, leaf a1 blank.
Paper format: Chancery folio
32 woodcuts in text.
Gossuin or Gautier de Metz was named as author in some of the manuscript sources (ISTC).
PML copy leaf dimensions: 23.5 x 15.8, trimmed.
Checklist enters under: Vincentius Bellovacensis. Imago mundi. In English.
Translator from Prologue (leaf a4v-5r): ... And emonge alle other this p[re]sent booke whiche is called the ymage or myrrour of the world... And now at this tyme rudely translated out of ffrensshe in to Englissh by me symple p[er]sone William Caxton/ at the request. desire. coste and dispense of the honourable [and] worshipful ma[n] Hugh Bryce Alderman [and] Cytezeyn of london/ ... And emprised by me ryght unable and of lytil connyng to translate [and] brynge it in to our maternal tongue [the] second day of the moneth of janyuer the yer of oru said lord. M.CCC lxxx in thabbay of Westmestre by london... . Epilogue (leaf n4r): ...whiche book I began first to tra[n]slate the second day of Janyuer the yere of our lord .M.CCCC.lxxx. And fynysshyd the viii day of Marche the same yere/ And the xxi yere of the Regne of the most Crysten kynge/ kynge Edward the fourthe, under the Shadowe of whose noble proteccion I have emprysed [and] fynysshed this sayd lytil werke and boke...
Printed in Caxton's type 2*:135B.
Date based on paper, see BMC XI 121.
Caxton translated the work from French between 2 January and 8 March 1480/1 in Westminster.
Collation: a-m⁸ n⁴: 100 leaves, leaf a1 blank.
Paper format: Chancery folio
32 woodcuts in text.
Gossuin or Gautier de Metz was named as author in some of the manuscript sources (ISTC).
PML copy leaf dimensions: 23.5 x 15.8, trimmed.
Checklist enters under: Vincentius Bellovacensis. Imago mundi. In English.
Binding
18th-century gilt-stamped English sprinkled calf over paper boards (24 x 17 cm), sewn on 5 supports; repaired by Sanford & Clarke. Marbled paper pastedowns and fly leaves with plain paper fly leaves; plain endbands.
Variant title
Myrrour of the worlde
Inscriptions/Markings
Hand decoration: Rubricated, red lombards and paragraph marks. Annotations: Woodcut maps labeled (by Caxton's rubricator?). Contemporary English and Latin inscriptions (leaf a1r-v and n4v).
Provenance
Thomas D., signature (leaf a1v); Bryan Fairfax (1676-1749), his sale, Prestgate (London), 6 April 1756, lot 2024, entire library purchased prior to sale by: Francis Child (d. 1763), through inheritance to: Victor Child Villiers (1845-1915), 7th Earl of Jersey, Osterley Park armorial bookplate (front pastedown), Osterly Park shelf mark: I.s. 4.4. (2 prior shelf marks abraded, front marbled paper fly verso), Osterley Park sale, Sotheby's, 6 May 1885, lot 1146, to Quaritch for: William Amhurst Tyssen-Amherst, Baron Amherst (1835-1909), armorial bookplate (front pastedown), his price code(?): kea/-/- (third rear fly leaf recto), his sale, Sotheby's London, 3 Dec. 1908, lot 607, purchased prior to sale by: Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), purchased with the Amherst collection, 1908.
Classification
Catalog link
Century
Department