_Fol. 1, blank._ _Fol. 2^a_: Prohemye. [G]Rete thankynges lawde &
honoure we merytoryously ben bounde to yelde and offre vnto wryters of
hystoryes, whiche gretely haue prouffyted oure mortal lyf, that shewe
vnto the reders and herers by the ensamples of thynges passyd, what
thynge is to be desyred. [Fol. 4-20, alphabetical table; 21, blank;
22-24, dialogue between the Clerke and the Lorde on translation,
Trevisa's epistle to Lord Berkeley; 25, blank.] _Fol. 26^a_:
Prolicionycion. Prefacio prima ad historiam. [A]Fter solempne and wyse
wryters of Arte and of scyence.... _Fol. 389^b_: God be thanked of al
his dedes. This translacion is ended on a thursdaye the eyghtenth daye
of Apryll the yere of our lord a thousand thre hondred and .lvij. The
xxxj yere of Kyng Edward the thyrd after the Conquest of Englond, the
yere of my lordes age Syr thomas lord of berkley that made me make this
translacion fyue and thyrtty. [390^a, Caxton's epilogue to Trevisa;
390^b, blank.] _Fol. 391^a_: Jncipit Liber vltimus. _Fol. 449^a_: Ended
the second day of Juyll the xxij yere of the regne of kynge Edward the
fourth & of the Incarnacion of oure lord a thousand foure score and
tweyne. Fynysshed per Caxton. _Fol. 449^b, 450, blank._
Folio. Sign. a-b^8, C^4, 1-28^8, [28*^2], 29-48^8, 49^4, 50^8,
52-55^8, 450 leaves, of which five (a, 1; 1, 1; 1, 5; 28*,2; 55, 8)
are blank. The folios of sign. 1,2-55,7 are numbered 1-ccccxxviii
(blanks 1, 5 and 28*,2 counted as iv and ccxxvi), with many errors
which are mostly corrected on the following leaves, but in the case
of fol. ccxli on the verso of the same leaf. There is, however, no
clx, and ccccxiii is duplicated, errors which balance each other
and do not disturb the final numeration. The omission of a
signature 51 is accidental, the text continuing without a break.
The purpose of the unsigned single sheet following sign. 28,
consisting of one printed and one blank leaf, was evidently to
carry the last remaining leaf of the fourth book and thereby make
possible a division of the volume at this point into two nearly
equal parts. Advantage has apparently been taken of this division
to bind the Grenville copy (Brit. Mus. IB. 55060) in two volumes.
Wynkyn de Worde, who reprinted the Polychronicon in 1495, followed
in this particular Caxton's example and in order to begin the fifth
book with a new signature left at the end of the fourth book nearly
a whole leaf blank, though he separated the other books by a blank
space of no more than three or four lines. Caxton's use of arabic
figures for signatures was confined to the years 1481-1483; after
that date he used letters only. The first few chapter-headings of
each book have Latin ordinals (Capitulum primum, secundum, etc.)
which are soon dropped for arabic figures. Gothic letter, Caxton's
fourth font, forty lines to the page, with headline. Two- to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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