A PURCHASE OF BOOKS IN 1615

M. A. E. NICKSON

W H I L E making a study of manuscript annotations and marks of provenance in Englishincunabula for the forthcoming volume of B.M.G. xi, I was pleasantly surprised tocome upon a priced list of twenty-three books, transcribed below, in a copy of theEnglish translation of Cicero's De Senectute printed by Caxton in 1481 (Duff 103; BL,IB.55046 = C.io.b.6; fig. i). Few priced lists of books have survived from the beginningof the seventeenth century and the item is therefore interesting on its own account;this interest is, of course, greatly enhanced by the inclusion in the list of an identifiablecopy ofa book printed by Caxton (i.e. the 1481 Cicero itself).

The list, which is dated 16 December 1615, is written in a fluent italic hand on theverso of the last leaf. The writing is rubbed in some parts and some of the initialletters have been partly or wholly removed by cropping. The name of the purchaseris not given. The inscription 'of Gedney Nathanaell Wells' which appears after thecolophon was probably added by an earlier owner of the Caxton; however, the meaningof this inscription is not altogether clear for an 'r', written in the same latesixteenth-century hand, has been interposed between the letters ' C and 'a' of the nameCaxton so that the colophon now reads, with its manuscript additions, 'Explicit PerCraxton of Gedney Nathanaell Wells'. The books were purchased from 'goodman Ollitof downehaw*. Unfortunately, it is not possible to identify Downham with any certaintyas there are several parishes and hamlets of this name in England; the most likely onein this case is Downham Market in Norfolk, but Downham Santon in Suffolk andDownham in the Isle of Ely are also possibilities. These three are all within a forty-mileradius of the Lincolnshire parish of Gedney. It is most unlikely that 'goodman Ollit'was a bookseller by trade, and whether the books which had come into his possessionhad formerly been part of a bookseller's stock or had constituted the whole or part ofan individual's library is uncertain. If the latter hypothesis is the correct one then theowner of the hbrary (? Nathanaell Wells) must have had chiefly theological interests,for even in an age of religious controversy the predominance of theological books inthe list (at least seventeen out of the twenty-three) is striking. The proportion of booksin Enghsh printed abroad is also high (probably five out of seventeen).

Little more is known of the history of the Caxton Cicero until its appearance in thesecond half of the eighteenth century in King George I l l ' s library, which was presented

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. List of books purchased from 'goodman Ollit of downeham', 1615. C.io.b.6

in 1823 to the British Museum. The name 'Wm(?) Edwards', written on the bottomleft-hand margin of the first leaf in a late seventeenth- or early eighteenth-centuryhand is presumably a mark of ownership. This name is written in a brown ink whichresembles that used to make two crosses on the 1615 list, one against item 4 (theCaxton) and the other against either item 22 or 23; perhaps the two books indicatedthus were bought together by the same purchaser (? Edwards).

In the transcript which follows the items have been numbered for the sake ofconvenience. I should like here to express my thanks to the Bibliographical Societyfor permission to consult the typescript of the as yet unpublished revised first volumeof S.T.G. In a few cases I have quoted numbers from this typescript which may differfrom those in the final version.

1. Bernardi Sermones2. Epistolae Haddoni3. [A] replye to Fulke4. Tully de Senectute old english5. Iudocus Clitoveus de vit. et mor.

sacer.6. A forme of common prayer7. Examination of a certaine declar.8. The prayse of solitarinesse9. [Exjpositions of the word of god

10. Education of children11. A chronicle of old Cobham

1

2S vjd

8̂

8̂2 d

3^4<i

2 ^

15-i 6 .

17-i 8 .

19-2 0 .

2 1 .

2 2 .

23-

A discourse of Christian doctnneMartin Luthers last willA pearle for a princePownetts apologyePreachers proclamationPreparation to deathNichols recantationJesuitismi pars primaConversion of a gentleman out of

Pop^rie

Bought of goodman Ollit of downeham12. A booke to the noble men of Engl. 3*̂ 1615 December the 1613. Turkish chronicles vj14. A quaestion moved by high Parliament

j'^ Summa totalis 12̂

Most probably the Sermones de tempore et de sanctis et de diversts of St. Bernard of Clairvaux,wbich were first printed at Mainz in 1475 (see G.W., 3940-6). There were numerous latereditions by continental printers.Possibly Vita et obitus duorum fratrum Suffolciensium, Henrici et Caroli Brandom . . . duabusepistolis explicata (London: R. Grafton, 1551). 4°: 62 leaves. S.T.C. 25816. The first letteronly was by Haddon; his name appears in italic type at the head of a'h 'Gualteri Haddoni. . .'.The name of the writer of the second epistle, Thomas Wilson, occurs also in several places,but not quite so conspicuously. Haddon also wrote the following in epistolary form:

(a) Pro Reformatione Anglicana Epistola Apologetica adHier. Osorium Lusitanum(Psiris, 1563);see A. C. Southern, Elizabethan Recusant Prose (London and Glasgow, 1950), pp. 119-20.

(b) Contra Hieron. Osorium, eiusq; odiosas insectationes pro Evangelicae veritatis necessariaDefensione, Responsio Apologetica. Per . . . G. Haddonum inchoata: Deinde suscepta ^continuata per loan. Foxum (London: J. Day, 1577). 4*̂ : 422 leaves. S.T.C. 12593. TheB.L. copy of this book, press mark 697.e.9, was purchased by Joannes Walsallus for4s. dd. in 1579 according to a note on the title-page.

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3- Richard Bristow, A Reply to Fulke, in defense ofM. D. Allen's [i.e. Cardinal William Allen's]scroll of Articles, and booke of Pur gat or ie. The imprint is Louvain: J. Lion, 1580, but the bookwas probably printed secretly at Greenstreet House, East Ham; see A. C. Southern, op. cit.,PP- 393-4- 4": 45 ' PP- S.T.C. 3802.

4. Marcus TuUius Cicero, Cato major sive De Senectute. Laelius sive De amicitia. [With the 'Devera nobilitate' of Buonaccorso de Montemagno the Younger. In an English translation](Westminster: W. Caxton, 1481). Folio: 120 leaves. Duff, 103. S.T.C. 5293. See also S. DeRicci, Census of Caxtons (Oxford, 1909), 31:3.

5. Jodocus Clichtoveus, De vita et moribus sacerdotum, opusculum: singularem eoru dignitatemostedens, et quibus ornati esse debedt virtutibus explanans (Paris: H. Stephanus, 1519). 4*̂ :75 leaves. Subsequent editions were issued in Paris in 1520 and 1548.

6. Five special forms of prayer of which the title begins in this way are listed in S.T.C. (16505,16506, 16508, 16510, 16511) as appearing before 1615. The earliest was issued in 1563 andthe latest in 1572.

7. A briefe examination for the tyme, of a certaine Declaration lately put in print in the name anddefence of certaine Ministers in London, refusyng to weare the apparell prescribed by the lawesand orders of the Realme [Attributed to Archbishop Parker] (London: R. Jugge, 1566?).4°: 42 leaves. S.T.C. 10387.

8. Roger Baynes, The Praise of Solitarinesse, Set down in the form of a Dialogue, wherein tsconteyned a Discourse Philosophical, ofthe lyfe Actiue, and Contemplatiue (London: F. Coldockeand H. Bynneman, 1577). 4*̂ : 86 pp. S.T.C. 1651. See also A. C. Southern, op. eit.,PP- 387-8.

9. Possibly George Estey, Certaine godly and learned expositions upon divers parts of Scripture,2 parts (London: J. Roberts for R. Banckworth, 1603). 4**: 156 pp. S.T.C. 10545. However,numerous expositions of single biblical texts are listed in S.T.C; see A. F. Allison andV. F. Goldsmith, Titles of English Books, vol. i, 1475-1640 (Folkestone, 1976) pp. 61-2, andthis item is more probably two or more of these bound together.

10. [William Kempe], The Education of children in learning; Declared by the Dignitie, Vtilitie, andMethod thereof (l.on^on: T. Orwin for J. Porter and T. Gubbin, 1588). 4": 30 leaves. S.T.C.14926.

11. John Bale, A brefe Chronycle concernynge the Examinacyon and death of the blessed martyr ofChrist syr Johan Oldecastell the lorde Cobham ([Antwerp: A. Goinius], 1544). 8**: 56 leaves.S.T.C. 1276. Afterwards printed at London: [A. Scoloker and W. Seres, 1548?]: S.T.C.1278.

12. Possibly Hugh Broughton, An epistle to the learned nobilitie of England. Touching translatingthe Bible (Middelburgh: R. Schilders, 1597). 4°: 56 pp. S.T.C. 3862, 3862a.

13. Paolo Giovio, Bishop of Nocera, the Elder, A shorte Treatise vpon the Turkes Chronicles . . .translated out of La tyne into englysh by Peter Ashton (London: E. Whitchurche, 1546). 8°:152 leaves. Running title 'The Turkyshe Chronicles'. S.T.C. 11899.

14. I have not succeeded in finding any item printed before 1615 with a title or running titlesimilar to this.

15. A Christian Discourse vpon certeine poynts of Religion . . . Translated out of French into Englishby Iohn Brooke (London: T. East, 1578). 8°: 184 leaves. Running title 'A learned discourseof Christian doctrine'. S.T.C. 5158.

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16. The last wil And last confession ofmartyn luthers faith cocerning the principal articles ofreligton. . . trdslated out of latyn [i.e. an English transladon ofthe Schmalkaldic Arricles of 1537]([Wesel: D. van der Straten, 1543.?]). 8**: 31 leaves. S.T.C. 16984.

17. An Epistle ofthe Reverend Father tn God Hieronimus Osorius Bishop ofArcoburge in Portugale,to the most excellent Princesse Elizabeth . . . Translated oute of Latten into Englishe by RichardShacklock (Antwerp: J. Latius, 1565). 8°: 78 leaves. Running ritle 'A Pearle for a prynce'.S.T.C. 18888. Also printed by yE. Diest at Antwerp with the same date: S.T.C. 18887.See A. C. Southern, op. cit., pp. 120-2.

18. John Poynet or Ponet, Bisbop of Winchester, An Apologie fully aunsweringe . . . a blasphemoseBook gatherid by D. Steph. Gardiner . . . D. Smyth of Oxford, Pightus and other Papists . . .against the godly mariadge of priests ([Strasburg: heirs of W. Kopfer.**], 1555). 8*̂ : 181 pp. S. T.C.20175. Issued again with the date 1556: S.T.C. 20175a.

19. Henry Smith, The Preachers Proclamacion . . . Ecclesiastes 1.2 [A sermon] (London: [E. Allde?for] W. Kearney, 1591). 8°: 20 leaves. S.T.C. 22684.

20. Desiderius Erasmus, Preparation to Deathe, A boke as deuout as eloquent, compiled by ErasmusRoterodame (London: T. Berthelet, 1538). 8°: 44 leaves. S.T.C. 10505. Another edition wasissued in 1543: S.T.C. 10506.

21. A declaration of the recantation of J[ohn] Nichols (for the space almost of two yceres thePopes Scholer in the English Seminarie or Colledge at Rome) which destreth to be reconciled,and receiued as a member into the true Church of Christ in England (London: C. Barker, 1581)-8°: 99 leaves. S.T.C. 18533. See A. C. Southern, op. cit., p. 466.

22. Laurence Humphrey, Iesuitismi pars prima: sive de praxi Romanae curiae contra Resp. (^Principes: Et De noua legatione Iesuitaru in Angliam (London: H. Middleton, 1582). 8°:186 pp. S.T.C. 13961.

23. William Chauncie, The Conuersion of a Gentleman long tyme misled in Poperie, to the sincereand true profession of the Gospell of Christ Iesus . . . Written with his owne hand as an euidentwitnesse of his vndoubted Resolution. W. C. Esquire (London: [T. Orwin] for J. Perin, 1587).4°: 50 pp. S.T.C. 5103.5.

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