The English provincial printers, stationers and bookbinders to 1557 — John Shaqi
The English provincial printers, stationers and bookbinders to 1557Duff, E. Gordon (Edward Gordon)
History
The English provincial printers, stationers and bookbinders to 1557
Duff, E. Gordon (Edward Gordon)
Book industries and trade -- Great Britain; Printing -- Great Britain -- History
The editions of Anwykyll’s grammar may be taken first, since in one
copy we find an inscription showing that it was bought in 1483. The
book consists of two parts, the Latin grammar, and a supplement
containing sentences of Terence with English translations, known as the
_Vulgaria Terentii_. The part containing the grammar is excessively
rare. Of one issue one fragment is known, consisting roughly of half
the book, now in the Bodleian Library. It was originally bound up
with other tracts, and the volume was found along with some other old
books in an attic at Condover Hall, Shropshire, by Mr Alfred Horwood
when engaged in an examination of family archives for the Historical
Manuscripts Commission.
The other issue is known only from six leaves, all in Cambridge,
three in the University Library, two in Corpus, and one in Trinity
libraries. Two reprints of the grammar were issued on the Continent,
one by Richard Paffroet at Deventer in 1489, consisting of seventy-six
leaves, and another at Cologne by Henry Quentell about 1492, containing
sixty leaves. From a comparison of the various fragments with these
foreign editions certain conclusions may be drawn. Anwykyll had divided
his grammar into four parts, and in the edition represented by the six
Cambridge leaves these parts were arranged in their proper sequence,
one, two, three, and four. In the edition, however, represented by
the Bodleian fragment, and in both foreign editions, the parts are
arranged, one, three two, four. The last quire of the Bodleian edition
was signed m, and it was followed by the _Vulgaria Terentii_ signed
n to q. The Cambridge edition of the grammar extended at any rate to
signature n.
Since in reprints the tendency is generally to compress, it is most
probable that the Cambridge edition was the earlier, a conclusion
rendered more likely from the arrangement of the books in their correct
order. For some reason this order was altered in the fresh issue, the
printing was compressed, and the _Vulgaria_ printed to go at the end.
It would be natural for the foreign printers to take the most recent
issue as their model, in this case the edition represented by the
Bodleian fragment.
We may conclude then that the first Oxford issue consisted of
Anwykyll’s grammar alone, the second the grammar re-arranged and
compressed, with the _Vulgaria Terentii_ added as a supplement.
The _Vulgaria_ was, however, certainly sold alone, for two of the
five copies known were bound up with other tracts and without the
grammar in original bindings. A copy in the Bodleian has an interesting
inscription stating it was bought in 1483 by John Green out of gifts
made by his friends.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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