Early Printed BooksDuff, E. Gordon (Edward Gordon)
History
Early Printed Books
Duff, E. Gordon (Edward Gordon)
Incunabula -- Bibliography; Printing -- History -- Origin and antecedents
In 1480 the schoolmaster printer issued the _Rhetorica Nova_ of
Laurentius de Saona, a book which Caxton was printing about the
same time, and very soon after it the _Questiones Alberti de modo
significandi_. These were followed by three more works in Latin,
the _Questiones super Physica Aristotelis_ of Joannes Canonicus,
the _Exempla Sacræ Scripturæ_, and Antonius Andreæ _super Logica
Aristotelis_. The remaining two books from this press, in contrast to
those that had preceded them, are of a popular character. These are the
_Chronicles of England_, and the treatise on hawking, hunting, and coat
armour, commonly known as the _Book of St. Alban’s_.
All the eight St. Alban’s books are of the greatest rarity. More than
half are known only from single copies; of some, not a single perfect
copy remains.
The very scholastic nature of the majority of the books from this press
renders it more or less uninteresting; but the two latest works, the
_Chronicles_ and the _Book of St. Alban’s_, appeal more to popular
taste. Editions of the _Chronicles_ were issued by every English
printer, and there is nothing in this particular one to merit special
remark. The _Book of St. Alban’s_, on the other hand, is a book of very
particular interest. It consists of three parts; the first is devoted
to hawking, the second to hunting, and the third to coat armours or
heraldry. Naturally enough it was a popular book--so popular that no
perfect copy now exists. It also possesses the distinction of being the
first English book which contains specimens of printing in colour; for
the coats-of-arms at the end are for the most part printed in their
correct colour. Later in the century, in 1496, W. de Worde issued
another edition of this book, adding to it a chapter on ‘Fishing with
an angle.’
In these eight St. Alban’s books we find four different types used. The
first is a small, clear-cut, distinctive type, but is only used for the
text of one book and the signatures of others. Type NO. 2, which is
used for the text of the two English and one of the Latin books, is a
larger ragged type, with a strong superficial resemblance to Caxton’s.
Type No. 3, which is used in four Latin books, is a smaller type, full
of abbreviations and contractions; while the last type is one which had
belonged to Caxton (his type 3), but which he gave up using about 1484.
This use of Caxton’s type has led some people to imagine that there was
a close connection between the Westminster and St. Alban’s press; and
a writer in the _Athenæum_ went so far as to propound a theory that
Caxton’s unsigned books were really printed at St. Alban’s.
CHAPTER X.
LONDON.
JOHN LETTOU, WILLIAM DE MACHLINIA, RICHARD PYNSON.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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