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Here begynneth the volume intituled and named the recuyell of the historyes of Troye
Uniform Title
Recueil des histoires de Troie. English
Title
Here begynneth the volume intituled and named the recuyell of the historyes of Troye / composed and drawen out of dyuerce bookes of latyn in to frensshe by the ryght venerable persone and worshipfull man, Raoul le ffeure, preest and chapelayn vnto the ryght noble gloryous and myghty prynce in his tyme Phelip duc of Bourgoyne of Braband [et]c in the yere of the incarnacion of our lord god a thousand foure honderd sixty and foure, and translated and drawen out of frenshe in to englisshe by Willyam Caxton mercer of ye cyte of London, at the comau[n]deme[n]t of the right hye myghty and vertuouse pryncesse hys redoubtyd lady. Margarete by the grace of god, Duchesse of Bourgoyne of Lotryk of Braband [et]c., whiche sayd translacion and werke was ... fynysshid in the holy cyte of Colen the. xix. day of septembre the yere of our sayd lord god a thousand foure honderd sixty and enleuen [et]c. ...
Publication
[Bruges] : [Printed by William Caxton and, probably, Colard Mansion], [1473 or 1474]
Physical Description
[704] pages ; 26 cm (fol.)
Local Notes
BEIN 1976 2813: 2 leaves only.
BEIN 1976 2813: Provenance: Bookplates: Charles J. Rosenbloom; A. Edward Newton; John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn. Tipped in is an A.L.S. from Seymour de Ricci to A.E. Newton concerning this work.
BEIN 1976 2813: Binding: Red goat, gold-tooled with a floral medallion. Inner gilt borders. Spine title: Recuyell of the historyes of Troye / Caxton 1471. Binder's stamp: Bound by F. Bedford.
BAC: British Art Center copy imperfect: lacks leaves 1 (blank), 2-13, 32-33, 204, 252, 298, and 351-352. "Oates [Catalogue of the fifteenth-century printed books in the University Library, Cambridge] lists this copy as lacking only ten leaves: 1-4, 32-33, 252, 298, 351-352. Some time after 1954, another ten leaves (5-13 and 204) were removed, probably to enrich the other Cambridge copy."--Grolier Club. Not rubricated. Many spaces provided for initials are left blank; others are drawn roughly in ink. Bound in 17th-century calf; edges stained red. With the ink stamp of University Library Cambridge (cancelled in graphite).
BAC: British Art Center copy includes marginal annotations in a 16th-century hand summarizing the contents. Also present are a number of annotations in the hand of John Skynner, an early owner; Skynner's name appears in four places. His initials are combined with the letter M in loveknots appearing on folios 106-108 and 267. On folio 182 is what appears to be a draft of a letter: "To my welle-loved fryned master Edwarde Herber[t] of Mongomre town I desyre you sened me by this berer Wyllyam Smyth the somme of xx£ wyth out feyll the vii dayey of maye." This may refer to Sir Edward Herbert (d. 1593) of Montgomeryshire.
BAC: British Art Center copy with the autograph of the antiquarian, Silas Taylor (1624-1678) on front endpaper, dated 1647. "Acquisitions for [Taylor's] collection forced him into debt and, after his death, his books and manuscripts were seized and sold. It is likely that at this time John Moore, Bishop of Ely, acquired the book. Moore's great library (where De Ricci first locates this copy), including his collection of English incunabula, was acquired by King George I and given by the King to Cambridge University, where the book remained until it was released in 1960 to H.P. Kraus."--Grolier Club.
BAC: British Art Center copy has printed bookplate on rear pastedown: "Festival of Britain, Exhibition of Books, 1951. Arranged by the National Book League, at the Victoria & Albert Museum. This book was exhibit no. [6]."
Notes
A translation of: Recueil des histoires de Troye.
Title from ¹[A]2r, which is printed in red.
Imprint from STC and Needham; see also Lotte Hellinga, "Caxton in focus", p. 38-9, 48.
Signatures: [A]-[O]¹⁰ [P]⁸; ²[A]-[I]¹⁰ ²[K]-[L]⁶; ³[A]-[K]¹⁰.
In three books.
The first leaf is blank.
[A]3r text begins: and zeland and thus whan alle thyse thynges cam ..
The last leaf contains 14 lines of Latin verse beginning: Pergama flere volo. fata danais data solo ...
Selected exhibitions: "Festival of Britain, Exhibition of Books" (Arranged by the National Book League, at the Victoria & Albert Museum, 1951); "Fifty-five books printed before 1525 representing the works of England's first printers; an exhibition from the collection of Paul Mellon" (Grolier Club, 17 January-3 March, 1968).
Access and use
BEIN 1976 2813: Restricted. Permission of curator needed for use.
Biographical / Historical Note
The first book printed in English and the first book printed by Caxton on his own account.
Variant and related titles
Recueil des histoires de Troye
Format
Books
Language
English
Added to Catalog
June 01, 2002
References
Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, M17449
Catalogue of books printed in the XVth century now in the British Museum, v. IX, page 129 (IB 49431)
Goff, F.R. Incunabula in American libraries, L-117
Incunabula short title catalogue, il00117000
Proctor, R. Index to the early printed books in the British Museum, 9322
Copinger, W.A. Supplement to Hain's Repertorium bibliographicum, 7048
Duff, E.G. Fifteenth century English books, 242
Needham, P. Printer & the pardoner, Cx4
Carl H. Pforzheimer Library, 594
Pollard, A.W. Short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English books printed abroad, 1475-1640 (2nd ed.), 15375
English short title catalogue, S109298
Catalogue of the fifteenth-century printed books in the University Library, Cambridge, 3837
Grolier Club. Fifty-five books printed before 1525 (1968), 1
Subjects
Subjects (Local Yale)
Genre/Form
Incunabula.
Binders' stamps (Binding) - F. Bedford.
Annotations (Provenance)
Also listed under
Festival of Britain (1951 : Great Britain)
Belgium Bruges.
Bookmark As
Citation
