A History of the Cambridge University Press, 1521-1921Roberts, S. C. (Sydney Castle)
History
A History of the Cambridge University Press, 1521-1921
Roberts, S. C. (Sydney Castle)
Cambridge University Press -- Bibliography; Cambridge University Press -- History
Bradshaw pointed out that the type used for the printing of the
_Oratio_ appears to be quite new. Many of the lines are wavy and
irregular and there are no woodcut initials or ornaments of any
kind. The second imprint, at the end of the book, runs: _Impressa
est haec oratiūcula Cantabrigiae, per me Ioannem Siberch, post
natum saluatorem, Millesimo quingentesimo uicesimoprimo. Mense
Februario._ A second impression was printed a few months later and
issued with Siberch's third book.
Four libraries possess copies: the British Museum; the Bodleian
Library; Lambeth Palace; and Archbishop Marsh's Library, St
Patrick's, Dublin. Cambridge unfortunately has no copy.
II The second Cambridge book is the rarest of all those printed by
Siberch, only one copy (John Selden's, bequeathed to the Bodleian
Library in 1659) having been preserved.
It contains a letter addressed by a 'certain faithful Christian' to
'all Christians' and a sermon of Augustine _De miseria ac brevitate
vitae_, of which the full title may be read in the facsimile. In
addition to its uniqueness, the book has a further interest in
that the Greek motto on the title-page was printed from the first
genuine moveable Greek type used in England. Woodcuts depicting
scenes from the Last Judgment and probably copied from a German
_Book of Hours_ are also used on the title-page.
[Illustration: TITLE-PAGE OF THE SECOND CAMBRIDGE BOOK]
III The next book contains Lucian _περὶ δωδιψάδων_ translated by
Henry Bullock, together with a reissue of the _Oratio_. On the
title-page there appears for the first time the elaborate border
with the Arma Regia (the sign of the house in which Siberch lived)
at the foot. No other ornament is used, but Greek type appears on
the title-page, in the dedication, and at the end of the book.
Four copies are known: two in the British Museum, one in St John's
College, Cambridge, and one at Lambeth Palace.
IV The fourth book, Archbishop Baldwin's _Sermo de altaris
sacramento_ (1521), contains for the first time a woodcut initial
and the Arma Regia in another form. The book is dedicated to
Nicholas West, Bishop of Ely, and in the dedication Siberch claims
to be the first printer to use Greek type in England--"Ioannes
Siberch primus utriusque linguae in Anglia impressor."
Nine copies have survived: two in the Bodleian, two in the
University Library, Cambridge, one in Trinity College, Cambridge,
one in Magdalene College, Cambridge, one in All Souls' College,
Oxford, one in Lincoln and one in Peterborough Cathedral Library[8].
V The next book has many points of interest. In the first place,
it is by the printer's friend, Erasmus, and its title gives a
brief survey of the manner of its composition: _Libellus de
Conscribendis epistolis, Autore D. Erasmo, opus olim ab eodem
cœptum, sed prima manu, mox expoliri cœptum, sed intermissum, Nunc
primum prodit in lucem...._ MDXXI.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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