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HIGDEN, Ranulphus (d. 1364). Polycronycon. Translated from Latin into English, with additions, by John de Trevisa (1326-1412), edited by William Caxton (d. 1491). Southwark: Peter Treveris at ye expences of John Reynes, 16th May 1527.
Ordinary 2o (280 x 190 mm). Collation: aa8 bb-hh6 (aa1r second state of the title-page printed from five blocks: crown, medallion portrait of Henry VII with royal arms and those of the City of London in red and black, xylographic title in red, large illustration of St George and the Dragon in red and black, John Reynes' printer's mark in red (McKerrow 55), aa1v An Introductorie verse, incipit: What thynge may sowne, to gretter excellence, aa2-3r Prohemye, aa3v blank, aa4r-hh5r tables of content, hh5v-6 blank); a-y8 z6 (text bks 1-4); A-S8 T6 U-X8 (bks 5-8, X8r colophon). 398 leaves: COMPLETE. Black letter 95mm, double column, 44 lines, headlines and signatures. Reynes' full-page woodcut on last page printed in black, an earlier state (McKerrow 61) of the title-illustrations (Hodnett 2489, state 2) before the block was cut up; woodcut border of hunting scenes around colophon (McKerrow & Ferguson 12); full-page woodcut of a battle between English and French armies (Hodnett 2491) on z6v, woodcut border pieces at the top and bottom of the same page; woodcut musical notation illustrating diapason on n5r (same block as used in Wynkyn de Worde's 1495 second edition [STC 13439]); woodcut portraits of kings, queens and saracens, printed from 6 blocks (Hodnett 2490, 2492-6), with repetitions. Numerous woodcut historiated and decorative initials. (Crown cut at top of title shaved, marginal repair to ff1 and X6, some very minor soiling). English binding of c. 1620, sprinkled calf over pasteboard, triple blind fillets, gilt morocco lettering-piece on spine, red leaf edges, original endpapers and flyleaves.
Provenance: "Lyveriche" Foster, mercer of London (purchase inscriptions, one dated 1545) -- Simon Ashpoole (inscriptions dated 1579 and 1583), sold to -- Alexander Evesham (purchase inscriptions dated 1590), who may be identified with the translator of A most straunge, rare and horrible murther committed by a Frenchman nere Roane, in Normandy 1586 (STC 11377); the identification on the title of the author as Ranulphus, monk of Chester, and the marginal notes in manuscript (cut into) are apparently his -- Heught Godbeheare (? Godber, 17th-century inscription, imploring God to make him a good man) -- Robert Worsley (18th-century inscription) -- "APP." (19th-century booklabel) -- purchased at Christie's, New York, 2 April 1970, lot 172, through Seven Gables Bookshop.
Third edition--FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION--of Higden's universal history, including additions by Trevisa, Caxton and others. Caxton had included an extract, The Description of Britain (Duff 113), in his 1480 edition of Chronicles of England (Duff 97), before printing the complete text in 1482 (Duff 172). The second edition was published by Wynkyn de Worde in 1495 (Duff 173). The woodcut illustrations appear for the first time in this third edition by Peter Treveris, except for the diapason block taken over from Wynkyn. Wynkyn first used the block in the 1495 second edition, in which it was the earliest printed musical notation in an English book.
Trevisa's translations of Bartholomaeus Anglicus and Higden "may reasonably be considered the corner-stones of English prose," and his addition of The Description of England is the "first delineation of England and her story in native English" (CHEL). VERY FINE COPY. Pforzheimer 490; STC 13440.
Ordinary 2o (280 x 190 mm). Collation: aa8 bb-hh6 (aa1r second state of the title-page printed from five blocks: crown, medallion portrait of Henry VII with royal arms and those of the City of London in red and black, xylographic title in red, large illustration of St George and the Dragon in red and black, John Reynes' printer's mark in red (McKerrow 55), aa1v An Introductorie verse, incipit: What thynge may sowne, to gretter excellence, aa2-3r Prohemye, aa3v blank, aa4r-hh5r tables of content, hh5v-6 blank); a-y8 z6 (text bks 1-4); A-S8 T6 U-X8 (bks 5-8, X8r colophon). 398 leaves: COMPLETE. Black letter 95mm, double column, 44 lines, headlines and signatures. Reynes' full-page woodcut on last page printed in black, an earlier state (McKerrow 61) of the title-illustrations (Hodnett 2489, state 2) before the block was cut up; woodcut border of hunting scenes around colophon (McKerrow & Ferguson 12); full-page woodcut of a battle between English and French armies (Hodnett 2491) on z6v, woodcut border pieces at the top and bottom of the same page; woodcut musical notation illustrating diapason on n5r (same block as used in Wynkyn de Worde's 1495 second edition [STC 13439]); woodcut portraits of kings, queens and saracens, printed from 6 blocks (Hodnett 2490, 2492-6), with repetitions. Numerous woodcut historiated and decorative initials. (Crown cut at top of title shaved, marginal repair to ff1 and X6, some very minor soiling). English binding of c. 1620, sprinkled calf over pasteboard, triple blind fillets, gilt morocco lettering-piece on spine, red leaf edges, original endpapers and flyleaves.
Provenance: "Lyveriche" Foster, mercer of London (purchase inscriptions, one dated 1545) -- Simon Ashpoole (inscriptions dated 1579 and 1583), sold to -- Alexander Evesham (purchase inscriptions dated 1590), who may be identified with the translator of A most straunge, rare and horrible murther committed by a Frenchman nere Roane, in Normandy 1586 (STC 11377); the identification on the title of the author as Ranulphus, monk of Chester, and the marginal notes in manuscript (cut into) are apparently his -- Heught Godbeheare (? Godber, 17th-century inscription, imploring God to make him a good man) -- Robert Worsley (18th-century inscription) -- "APP." (19th-century booklabel) -- purchased at Christie's, New York, 2 April 1970, lot 172, through Seven Gables Bookshop.
Third edition--FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION--of Higden's universal history, including additions by Trevisa, Caxton and others. Caxton had included an extract, The Description of Britain (Duff 113), in his 1480 edition of Chronicles of England (Duff 97), before printing the complete text in 1482 (Duff 172). The second edition was published by Wynkyn de Worde in 1495 (Duff 173). The woodcut illustrations appear for the first time in this third edition by Peter Treveris, except for the diapason block taken over from Wynkyn. Wynkyn first used the block in the 1495 second edition, in which it was the earliest printed musical notation in an English book.
Trevisa's translations of Bartholomaeus Anglicus and Higden "may reasonably be considered the corner-stones of English prose," and his addition of The Description of England is the "first delineation of England and her story in native English" (CHEL). VERY FINE COPY. Pforzheimer 490; STC 13440.