440 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



[2«»d s. VII. May 28. '59. 



not be altogether answerable for the dates of 



publication. I have verified them, however, as 



far as I can from such materials as I have at 

 command. 



CAXTON KELICS. 



(2"" S. vii. 391.) 



I forward herewith a list of the printed sheets 

 extracted from the covers of Caxton's Boethiun, 

 belonging to the library of the Grammar School, 

 St. Albans. Two sizes, folio and quarto, are re- 

 presented. All the folio specimens are printed 

 on both sides of the paper, and are nearly all in 

 separate half-sheets, which however can, with few 

 exceptions, be matched together. For example, a 

 single leaf, which, we will say, is signed h.j., is sure 

 to be suited with another, unsigned, representing 

 the eighth leaf of the same quaternion. Among the 

 quartos a few are cut into single leaves, but the 

 majority consists of half-sheets, the same size as 

 the folios, having two printed pages on each side of 

 the paper. In two instances they have not been 

 perfected^ being printed on one side only. 



The folios are from the following seven works : — 



1. The Life of Jason (1476-77). Ten leaves, 

 including Caxton's own Epilogue. 



2. The Dictes or Sayings of the Philosophers, 

 2nd edit. Dated 1477, but not printed till three 

 or four years later. Three leaves. 



3. The Chronicles of England, 1480. Six leaves. 



4. The Description of Biitain, 1480. Eight 

 leaves, being the whole of the second quaternion. 



5. The Worhs of Sapience (1481 ?), by Lydgate. 

 Two leaves. Only two copies of this book are 

 Isnown, viz. at Althorpe and St. John's College, 

 Oxford. 



6. Tidhj on Old Age and Fi-iendship, 1481. 

 Seven leaves, including the Prologue from Cax- 

 ton's own pen. 



7. The Life of ovr Lady, by Dan John Lyd- 

 gate (1483 ?). Part of two leaves. 



The quartos, which are far more interesting 

 than the folios, comprise specimens from five dif- 

 ferent works. 



8. The Assembly of Fowls, Ac, by Chaucer 

 (1478-80 ?). Fourteen leaves, or seven half- 

 sheets. Of this tract the only copy, or fragment 

 of a copy, known besides the present one is in the 

 Public Library, Cambridge. 



9. The Chorle and the Bird (1478-80 ?). The 

 third leaf and part of the sixth. Tlie only copies 

 known are in the Public Library, Cambridge, and 

 the Chapter Library at York. 



10. The Horse, the Sheep, and the Goose (1478- 

 80?). Four leaves, of the same rarity as the last. 



11. HoB^ (1478-80 ?). Unicfie. Unfortunately 

 four leaves only of this hitherto unknown edition 

 have been discovered, and of these two are much 

 injured. There is a head-line, -^t rcmiiit^cart^, 



over the Penitential Psalm, |@0mtne \\t in fu- 

 rore tU0 occupying two pages, the remaining 

 pages being filled with short prayers or collects. 

 The whole is in Latin, and printed in the same 

 bold type as that used by Caxton for the heads of 

 chapters, and for proper names in his " Cordial " 

 and " Tully ; " and of which the longest specimen 

 hitherto known may be found in the two pages of 

 Chaucer's Epitaph at the end of Caxton's Boe- 

 thius. These fragments have twenty lines to a 

 page, and the lines are about three inches and a 

 half in length. Blank spaces have been left for 

 the illuminator to fill in the initial letters. 



12. DiRECTosiuM (1478-80?). Unique. Eight 

 i leaves or sixteen printed pages. The whole of this 

 i confused work is in very contracted Latin. Whe- 

 ther it is a Pica Sarum I have not yet discovered. 



j It does not agree with the Directorium Sacerdotum, 



printed by Caxton about 1489, although the only 



j apparent difference is that in the latter the direc- 



i tions are more numerous. The type is the same, 



and the general typographical appearance similar 



] to the Horce, The rubrics are all filled in, show- 



j ing that this operation was not always postponed 



! till the binder had done his work. These editions 



: of the Horce and Directorium are quite unknown 



to any of the bibliographical authorities. 



13. An Indulgence or Dispensation to those 

 rendering assistance against the Turks. Unique. 

 The year 1481 appears upon it, with blanks left 

 for the day and month to be filled in according to 

 necessity. Two slips of parchment printed on 

 one side only in the same type as that used by 

 Caxton for his Chronicles and other works. 



The readers of " N. & Q." will admit that this 

 is a goodly number to come from the covers of a 

 single volume ; and I only wish that I could report 

 them as being in tolerable condition, but as both 

 boards had one corner rotted away, the fragments 

 are all more or less injured. The worm, too, has 

 been hard at work. 



Before concluding, a few words on the means 

 used by Mr. Tuckett, binder to the British Mu- 

 seum, for reducing the covers to their component 

 parts may not be uninteresting. His first task 

 was carefully to separate the covers from the book. 

 They were immediately placed in hot water (about 

 100° Fahr.), and allowed to soak for many hours. 

 The water having dissolved the material used for 

 making the sheets adhere, the various layers 

 were with a gentle persuasion parted. They were 

 then like wet blotting-paper, quite unfit for hand- 

 ling, but when carefully dried, passed through 

 some vellum size, and pressed, became firm and 

 good specimens of early Flemish paper, and will 

 remain, I hope, for ages to come as specimens of 

 clever restoration. William Blades 



11. Abchurch Lane, London. 



