Details
GOWER, JOHN (?1325-1408). DE CONFESSIONE AMANTIS. LONDON: THOMAS BERTHELET, 12 MARCH 1554.
2° IN SIXES (294 X 187MM). BLACK LETTER, TEXT MAINLY IN TWO COLUMNS. TITLE WITH WOODCUT GEOMETRIC AND FOLIATE BORDER (SKILFULLY REPAIRED AT LOWER MARGIN), WOODCUT INITIALS. (LACKING FINAL BLANK II6, LOWER OUTER CORNER OF K2 CUT AWAY, NOT AFFECTING TEXT, SIMILARLY CORNER OF M1 AND O2 TORN AWAY, HOLE CAUSED BY PAPER FAULT AT UPPER MARGIN OF Z3, PARTIALLY AFFECTING ONE LETTER OF HEADLINE, SHORT TEARS TO LOWER BLANK MARGINS OF O4 AND P2, NEATLY REPAIRED, SOME STAINING TO MARGINS, MAINLY LIGHT EXCEPT FOR N1.6, SMALL WORMHOLES AFFECTING SOME LETTERS.) LATER HALF MARBLED CALF OVER MARBLED PAPER BOARDS, SPINE WITH RED MOROCCO LETTERING-PIECE. PROVENANCE: THOMAS BROKE (CONTEMPORARY SIGNATURE ON TITLE).
THIRD EDITION OF THE MAJOR WORK OF ONE OF ENGLAND'S GREATEST MEDIAEVAL POETS. THE CONFESSIO AMANTIS IS GOWER'S ONLY POEM IN ENGLISH, AND REMAINS ONE OF THE GREATEST LITERARY LANDMARKS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. IT WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST OF RICHARD II, TO WHOM IT WAS FIRST DEDICATED, PROBABLY CA. 1383. A REVISED VERSION, OF CA. 1393, IS RE-DEDICATED TO THE KING'S RIVAL, HENRY OF LANCASTER (AFTERWARDS HENRY IV). THE POEM IS A COLLECTION OF APPROXIMATELY 112 STORIES, DRAWN FROM MAINLY CLASSICAL AND MEDIAEVAL LITERATURE, (PARTICULARLY OVID) WHICH TELL OF LOVE AMONGST BOTH HUMANS AND ANIMALS, AND, IN THE LATER BOOKS OF THE POEM, OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS. THE STORIES ARE SET WITHIN A NARRATIVE FRAMEWORK DESCRIBING HOW GOWER, AS A STRICKEN LOVER, CONFESSES HIS LOVE TO A PRIEST OF VENUS, NAMED GENIUS. IN THE FINAL BOOK OF THE POEM, GENIUS PLEADS WITH VENUS ON BEHALF OF GOWER, WHO FIRST MOCKS HIM FOR FALLING IN LOVE IN HIS OLD AGE, AND THEN ALLOWS CUPID TO REMOVE HIS DART AND MENDS THE POET'S BROKEN HEART. GENIUS ABSOLVES GOWER, AND VENUS ADJURES HIM TO FOLLOW REASON RATHER THAN LOVE IN THE FUTURE. GOWER SEEMS NOT HAVE FOLLOWED THIS ADVICE IN HIS OWN LIFE, HOWEVER, AS HE MARRIED AGNES GROUNDOLF ON 25 JANUARY 1397, WHEN HE WAS APPROXIMATELY 72 YEARS OLD.
THE CONFESSIO AMANTIS WAS FIRST PUBLISHED BY CAXTON IN 1483, AND THEN BY BERTHELET IN 1532. THE PRESENT EDITION IS A PAGINARY REPRINT, WITH SOME CORRECTIONS, OF THE 1532 EDITION, WITH THE PRELIMINARY TEXT COMPRESSED FROM 8 LEAVES TO 6. THE PRESENT COPY WAS OWNED BY THOMAS BROKE (FL. 1550), WHO WAS AN ALDERMAN OF CALAIS AND THE CHIEF CLERK OF THE EXCHEQUER. HE WAS AN ARDENT CALVINIST AND TRANSLATOR OF SEVERAL OF CALVIN'S WORKS FROM LATIN INTO ENGLISH. HE SPOKE STRONGLY AGAINST THE SIX ARTICLES BILL IN 1539, ALTHOUGH WARNED BY CROMWELL "TO FORBEAR DOING SO AS HE LOVED HIS LIFE", AND WAS TWICE IMPRISONED BY THE COUNCIL OF CALAIS FOR HERESY, (ONCE IN THE FLEET IN LONDON, FOR NEARLY TWO YEARS). BY 1550, AFTER MOST OF HIS TRANSLATIONS HAD BEEN PUBLISHED, HE IS LISTED AS BEING ONE OF THE CHIEF SECTARIES OF KENT. BROKE PERHAPS FOUND COMFORT IN GOWER'S CALLS (IN THE PROLOGUE OF THE CONFESSIO, AND IN GOWER'S LATIN POEM VOX CLAMANTIS) FOR A REFORMATION OF THE CLERGY, ALTHOUGH GOWER SPECIFICALLY DENOUNCED LOLLARDY, AND SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN A RELIGIOUS CONSERVATIVE. STC 12144; LANGLANDS TO WITHER 115; PFORZHEIMER 422.
2° IN SIXES (294 X 187MM). BLACK LETTER, TEXT MAINLY IN TWO COLUMNS. TITLE WITH WOODCUT GEOMETRIC AND FOLIATE BORDER (SKILFULLY REPAIRED AT LOWER MARGIN), WOODCUT INITIALS. (LACKING FINAL BLANK II6, LOWER OUTER CORNER OF K2 CUT AWAY, NOT AFFECTING TEXT, SIMILARLY CORNER OF M1 AND O2 TORN AWAY, HOLE CAUSED BY PAPER FAULT AT UPPER MARGIN OF Z3, PARTIALLY AFFECTING ONE LETTER OF HEADLINE, SHORT TEARS TO LOWER BLANK MARGINS OF O4 AND P2, NEATLY REPAIRED, SOME STAINING TO MARGINS, MAINLY LIGHT EXCEPT FOR N1.6, SMALL WORMHOLES AFFECTING SOME LETTERS.) LATER HALF MARBLED CALF OVER MARBLED PAPER BOARDS, SPINE WITH RED MOROCCO LETTERING-PIECE. PROVENANCE: THOMAS BROKE (CONTEMPORARY SIGNATURE ON TITLE).
THIRD EDITION OF THE MAJOR WORK OF ONE OF ENGLAND'S GREATEST MEDIAEVAL POETS. THE CONFESSIO AMANTIS IS GOWER'S ONLY POEM IN ENGLISH, AND REMAINS ONE OF THE GREATEST LITERARY LANDMARKS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. IT WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST OF RICHARD II, TO WHOM IT WAS FIRST DEDICATED, PROBABLY CA. 1383. A REVISED VERSION, OF CA. 1393, IS RE-DEDICATED TO THE KING'S RIVAL, HENRY OF LANCASTER (AFTERWARDS HENRY IV). THE POEM IS A COLLECTION OF APPROXIMATELY 112 STORIES, DRAWN FROM MAINLY CLASSICAL AND MEDIAEVAL LITERATURE, (PARTICULARLY OVID) WHICH TELL OF LOVE AMONGST BOTH HUMANS AND ANIMALS, AND, IN THE LATER BOOKS OF THE POEM, OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS. THE STORIES ARE SET WITHIN A NARRATIVE FRAMEWORK DESCRIBING HOW GOWER, AS A STRICKEN LOVER, CONFESSES HIS LOVE TO A PRIEST OF VENUS, NAMED GENIUS. IN THE FINAL BOOK OF THE POEM, GENIUS PLEADS WITH VENUS ON BEHALF OF GOWER, WHO FIRST MOCKS HIM FOR FALLING IN LOVE IN HIS OLD AGE, AND THEN ALLOWS CUPID TO REMOVE HIS DART AND MENDS THE POET'S BROKEN HEART. GENIUS ABSOLVES GOWER, AND VENUS ADJURES HIM TO FOLLOW REASON RATHER THAN LOVE IN THE FUTURE. GOWER SEEMS NOT HAVE FOLLOWED THIS ADVICE IN HIS OWN LIFE, HOWEVER, AS HE MARRIED AGNES GROUNDOLF ON 25 JANUARY 1397, WHEN HE WAS APPROXIMATELY 72 YEARS OLD.
THE CONFESSIO AMANTIS WAS FIRST PUBLISHED BY CAXTON IN 1483, AND THEN BY BERTHELET IN 1532. THE PRESENT EDITION IS A PAGINARY REPRINT, WITH SOME CORRECTIONS, OF THE 1532 EDITION, WITH THE PRELIMINARY TEXT COMPRESSED FROM 8 LEAVES TO 6. THE PRESENT COPY WAS OWNED BY THOMAS BROKE (FL. 1550), WHO WAS AN ALDERMAN OF CALAIS AND THE CHIEF CLERK OF THE EXCHEQUER. HE WAS AN ARDENT CALVINIST AND TRANSLATOR OF SEVERAL OF CALVIN'S WORKS FROM LATIN INTO ENGLISH. HE SPOKE STRONGLY AGAINST THE SIX ARTICLES BILL IN 1539, ALTHOUGH WARNED BY CROMWELL "TO FORBEAR DOING SO AS HE LOVED HIS LIFE", AND WAS TWICE IMPRISONED BY THE COUNCIL OF CALAIS FOR HERESY, (ONCE IN THE FLEET IN LONDON, FOR NEARLY TWO YEARS). BY 1550, AFTER MOST OF HIS TRANSLATIONS HAD BEEN PUBLISHED, HE IS LISTED AS BEING ONE OF THE CHIEF SECTARIES OF KENT. BROKE PERHAPS FOUND COMFORT IN GOWER'S CALLS (IN THE PROLOGUE OF THE CONFESSIO, AND IN GOWER'S LATIN POEM VOX CLAMANTIS) FOR A REFORMATION OF THE CLERGY, ALTHOUGH GOWER SPECIFICALLY DENOUNCED LOLLARDY, AND SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN A RELIGIOUS CONSERVATIVE. STC 12144; LANGLANDS TO WITHER 115; PFORZHEIMER 422.