E. Gordon Duff

“ Amongst those men to whom belongs the honour of having introduced the art of printing into the various countries of Europe, none holds a more marked or a more important position than William Caxton. This is not the place to discuss the vexed questions, when, where, or by whom the art was really discovered; but the general opinion may be accepted, that in Germany, before the year 1450, Gutenberg had thought out the invention of movable type and the use of the printing-press, and that before the end of the year 1454 a dated piece of printing had been issued. ”

“ Legend that he could read Latin, for he made use of both a French and a Latin version in making his translation. He seems, indeed, to have been a really well-educated man of the middle classes, at a time when learning was difficult to obtain, and was generally confined to the professions and the members of the Universities.
His work as a printer and a translator is the best evidence as to what manner of man he was. It shows clearly that he did not look upon the printing-press merely as a means of making money, or his publications would have been of a very different character. ”

“ In the prologue to Charles the Great, Caxton thanks his parents for having given him a good education, whereby he was enabled to earn an honest living, but unfortunately does not tell us where the education was obtained, though it would probably be at home, and not in London, as some have suggested. After leaving school Caxton was apprenticed to a London merchant of high position in the year 1438. This is the first actual date in his life which we possess, and one from which it is possible to arrive with some reasonable accuracy at his age. ”

“ The three books which follow the Golden Legend, and which are all dated 1485, are of very great interest. These are the Morte [pg 64] d'Arthur, the Lyf of Charles the Great, and the History of Paris and Vienne, all printed in folio.
Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur, that cycle of stories connected with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and as Sir Walter Scott called it, the best of all English romances, is perhaps the most interesting volume that Caxton ever printed. Two copies only, one perfect, the other wanting a few leaves, are now known. ”

“ Living as an apprentice in the house of one of the richest and most important London merchants, and in the company of his fellow-apprentices, he would soon lose any provincialisms he might possess. His position as head of the English merchants abroad, and his confidential position at the court of the Duchess of Burgundy, could hardly have been reached by one who spoke rude and provincial language. ”

“ Cologne, as might be expected from its advantageous position on the Rhine, was one of the earliest towns to which the art of printing spread from Mainz. Ulric Zel, its first printer, was settled there some time before 1466, when he issued his first dated book, and by 1470 several others were at work. The study of early Cologne printing is extremely complex, for the majority of books which were produced there contain no indication of printer, place of printing, or date. ”

“ Blades describes ninety-nine books, but amongst these he includes two which were certainly printed at Bruges after Caxton had left, and three printed by Wynkyn de Worde after Caxton's death, so that the number of genuine books which he describes is ninety-four. The finest collection is now, as is right, in the British Museum, which by judicious purchases in recent years has quite outstripped any possible rival. ”

“ The Recuyell is a small folio of 352 leaves, the first being blank, and each page contains 31 lines, spaced out in a very uneven manner. The second leaf, on which the book begins, contains Caxton's prologue, printed in red ink. The book is without signatures, headlines, numbers to the pages, or catchwords.
Although a considerable number of copies—some twenty in all—are still in existence, almost every one is imperfect. The very interesting copy bought by the Duke of Devonshire at the Roxburghe sale in 1812 for £1,060 10s. ”

“ The whole of this Caxton revised, and continued the chronicle up to the year 1460, this continuation [pg 54] being the only important piece of Caxton's own composition which we possess. This book shares with the Golden Legend the position of being the commonest of Caxton's books, and like it is unrepresented by a single absolutely perfect copy, the blank leaves, five of which occur throughout the book, being always in part wanting. ”

“ In the same year Lord Spencer obtained a duplicate last leaf from the British Museum, which he added to this copy B.
In 1819, at the "White Knights" sale, Lord Spencer bought copy A, took out the last leaf from B and inserted it in A, thus making A practically complete. B was then sold as a duplicate, repurchased by Heber, and is now in the splendid library formed by Mr. Christie Miller at Britwell Court.
Fortunately in these days collectors are beginning to recognize that such doctored and made-up books are of little value or interest compared to genuine even if imperfect copies. ”

“ The book is a folio of 222 leaves, of which no less than four are blank, and only one copy is now in existence in which these blank leaves have been preserved. Otherwise the book is not uncommon, though nearly every copy is imperfect. An extremely fine copy, wanting only the blank leaves, is in the library of Shrewsbury School, and is mentioned here to correct an error of Blades, who goes out of his way to state, "The copy ascribed by N. Carlisle to Edward VI. Grammar School, Shrewsbury, is not from the press of Caxton." ”

“ The Paris and Vienne was reprinted in 1492 by Gerard Leeu at Antwerp in small folio, with illustrations. He reprinted also in the same month the History of Jason, and in the year following the Chronicles of England. The apathy in book production which seems to have immediately succeeded Caxton's death may have encouraged him to attempt printing for the English market, but [pg 66] his own death while his edition of the Chronicles was passing through the press put an end to the trade. He printed one other English book, the Dialogue of Salomon and Marcolphus, of which one copy exists. ”

“ It wants, unfortunately, the last two leaves, so that the colophon, if it had one, is wanting.
The Mirror is a fairly common book, and is an exact reproduction, though in different type, of the first edition. In the interval between the printing of the two editions one wood-cut had been lost or destroyed, so that the illustration for Chapter II., "Why God Made and Created the World," instead of being the correct picture of the Almighty with the globe in his hand (which Blades strangely calls "the figure of a philosopher") , is the inappropriate cut of the Transfiguration of Christ. ”

“ If no specific transfer to a new master had been made under the will of the old, the executors were bound to supply the apprentices with the means of continuing their service. That Caxton served his full time we know to have been the case, since he was admitted a few years later to the Livery of the Mercers' Company, but it is clear that he did not remain in England. In the prologue to the Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, written in 1471, he says: "I have contynued by the space of xxx yere for the most part in the contres of Braband, Flandres, Holand, and Zeland" ”

“ One point which gives this book a peculiar interest is, that in it is found for the first time Caxton's well-known device. It consists of his initials, divided by his merchant's mark, with a deep ornamental border at top and bottom. Many ingenious writers have attempted to read into this mark several items of information. The merchant's mark they say is not a merchant's mark at all, but the figures 74 significant of the time when he began to print. Two small ornaments shaped like an S and C stand for Sancta Colonia, where he learned the art of printing. ”

“ The Servitium was a special service intended to be incorporated into the Breviary and Missal. The Pope had announced it in 1390, but it was not until 1480 that the Archbishop of Canterbury received from the Prolocutor a proposal to order the observance of July 2d as a fixed feast of the Visitation, "sub more duplicis festi secundum usum Sarum, cum pleno servitio." The book would therefore contain the full service for the day itself, the special parts for the week days following (except the fourth which was the octave of SS. Peter and Paul) , and the service for the octave. ”

“ Since William Blades compiled his great work, The Life and Typography of William Caxton, some discoveries have been made and some errors corrected, but his book must always remain the main authority on the subject, the solid foundation for the history of our first printer. ”

“ Another question has been raised as to whether this device was cut in England or in France, but it has no resemblance to French work, and is almost certainly a native production. As Mr. Blades justly remarks: "Caxton, desirous of associating his press more directly with this issue than by the colophon only, which many people might overlook, probably designed his mark for the purpose of attracting attention. He no doubt stamped this device on the last blank page of the books after they had been received from abroad and before putting them into circulation." ”

“ Although then, as now, it was customary for a man to attain his majority at the age of twenty-one, there was also a rule, at any rate in the city of London, that none could attain his civic majority, or be admitted to the freedom of the city, until he had reached the age of twenty-four. ”

“ Amongst these priceless volumes one stands out pre-eminent. It was until recently in an old calf binding, lettered on the back, "Old poetry printed by Caxton," and contained eight pieces, the Stans puer ad mensam, the Parvus Catho, The Chorle and the Bird, The Horse, the Shepe and the Goose, The Temple of Glas, The Temple of Brass, The Book of Courtesy, and Anelida and Arcyte. Five of these are absolutely unique; of the others a second copy is known. ”

“ The Weald was largely inhabited by the descendants of the Flemish families who had been induced by Edward III. to settle there and carry on the manufacture of cloth. Privileged by the king, the trade rapidly grew, and in the fifteenth century was one of great importance. This mixture of Flemish blood may account in certain ways for the "brode and rude Englissh," just as the Flemish trade influenced Caxton's future career. ”

“ In August, 1474, in an edition of the Consolatio peccatorum of Jacobus de Theramo, printed by him, there is a prefatory letter addressed "Johanni Veldener, artis impressoriae magistro," showing that he was by that time a printer. He was also, as he himself tells us, a type-founder, and in 1475 he made use of a type in many respects identical with one used by Caxton. ”

“ Margaret. The abbots of Westminster themselves were in the wool trade, and according to Stow had six wool-houses in the Staple granted them by King Henry VI. Some such special causes, or perhaps certain privileges obtained from Margaret, Henry VII.'s mother, who was one of the printer's patrons, must have made Caxton fix his choice on Westminster rather than on London, the great centre for all merchants, and which might have been supposed more suitable for a printer. ”

“ One illustration is engraved in quite a different manner from the rest, and was probably cut hurriedly to replace one accidentally lost or broken, and has an appearance much more resembling modern work than the others, which are simply the ordinary heavy black outline cuts of the period. A complete copy of the book should contain 144 leaves, the last two being blank, and the leaves are numbered. It was twice reprinted in the fifteenth century by Richard Pynson at London, and these two reprints are even rarer than the original, one copy of each being known, and both of them imperfect. ”

“ That every well disposed man may thereon look."
As Wynkyn de Worde was for long associated with Caxton in business and became after his death his successor, it seems impossible to put aside his very plain statement as entirely inaccurate. William Blades, in his Life of Caxton, utterly denies the whole story. "Are we to understand," he writes, "that the editio princeps of Bartholomaeus proceeded from Caxton's press, or that he only printed the first Cologne edition? ”

“ The most interesting part of the work is the prologue, for in it Caxton sets out at length his views and opinions on the English language, its changes and dialects. He notes that it was rapidly altering. "And certaynly our langage now used varyeth ferre from that whiche was used and spoken when I was borne." While some were anxious to preserve the old style, others were equally wishful to introduce the new. "And thus bytwene playn rude and curious I stande abasshed, but in my judgemente the comyn termes that be dayli used ben lyghter to be understonde than the olde and auncyent englysshe." ”

“ The story has often been told how Dibdin, the well-known writer of romantic bibliography, persuaded the lax Dean and Chapter of Lincoln to part with their Caxtons to Lord Spencer. We must, however, give even Dibdin his due, and point out that he was quite ignorant of the transaction, which was carried out by Edwards, the bookseller. The letter from Lord Spencer to Dibdin is still in existence, in which he describes the new Caxtons he had acquired, carefully omitting to say through whom or from what source. ”

“ Bradshaw, and is described by Blades in the second edition of his book. He there states that no other edition in any language is known; but it was certainly reprinted by Wynkyn de Worde. The Fifteen Oes, a little quarto containing fifteen prayers, each commencing with O, is known from a unique copy in the British Museum. The book was no doubt intended as a supplement to the Sarum Book of Hours, but no edition agreeing with it typographically is known. It differs from all other of Caxton's books in having wood-cut borders round each page of text. ”

“ In those days of tedious communication and imperfect learning, the new art was considered as merely a means of mechanically producing manuscripts, which the general public must have looked on with apathy. ”