THE CAXTONS IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9064, 26 May 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE CAXTONS IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

We continue our account of the books printed by Caxton which are now in the Public Library of Auckland : — THE "POLYCRONICON." The copy of the " Polycronicon" is probably the most valuable of the Caxton books in the Auckland Public Library. It is in excellent preservation, although wanting some part, both at the beginning and the end. Ib begins with Caxbon's prohemye, wherein lie asserts "Ranulphus, monke, of Chestre," to be the author, and that Travisa, "atte request of lord barkley, translated this sayd book, the byble and bartylmew de proprietatibus reru, out of latyn into english." But, as this prohemye, which is on four pages, begins on signature a ii., it may be supposed to have had a title-page of some sorb, although it contained the word " Polycronycon" only. Next after this prohemye is a table of contents, in alphabetical order, containing 17 leaves, or c 4. Ranulph Higden was a Benedictine of St. Werburg's monastery, now the Cathedral in Chester, and is said to have pillaged most of his chronicle from the Polycraticon of one Roger, a contemporary monk of the same house. Higden continued the chronicle from 1329 to 1357. These seven books were translated by John de Trevisa, a Cornishman, vicar of Berkley, in Gloucestershire, at the i - equest of Thomas Lord Barkley, whose chaplain he was ; but the time when it was finished has been a knob that has puzzled some very learned men to untie, owing to the discordancy and inaccurrcy of the M. S. copies, compared with the following conclusion of the seventh book :—

God be thanked of al his dedes. This translacion is ended on a thursdaye, the eyghtenthe daye of Apryll, the yere of our lord a thousand thre hondred and lvii. The xxxi. yer.e of kyng Edward the third, after the Conquest of England, the yere of my lordes age, Syr thomas lord of berkley, that made me make this translacion fyne and thretty.

The year 1357, indeed, is the last date expressly mentioned in this "Polycronicou." Mr. Caxton, referring to his continuation of the "Polycronicon" from 1357 to 14n'O, says :—

Therefore I, William Caxton, a symple persone, have endeuoyred me to wryte fyrst over all the sayd book of proloconycon, and somewhat have put channged the rude and old englysshe, that is, to wette certayn woreds which in these dayes be neither vsed ne vnderstanden, and furthermore have put it in emprynte to thende that it may be had and the maters therein coprisecl to be knowen, for the bokc is general touchyng shortly many notable maters, and also am auysecl to make another booko after this sayd werke, whiche shal be sett hereafter the same And shal have his chapytres and his tables a parte For I dar not presume to sette my booke ne ioyone hit to his for dyurse causes one is for as moche as J have not nc can gete no bokes of auctoryte treatyng of suulie oronykes except a lytel boke named fasciculus teinporuin and another called Aureus de vniuerso.

Mr. Ames, in his " Typographical Antiquities," mentions that in the copy he inspected the dates were written with red ink, and so they are in the margin of all those copies that have been illuminated, or had the initials and paragraph marks added after the printing. In the Auckland copy, which is in splendid preservation, the initial letters of the chapters, the dates, paragraph marks, are all carefully filled in in red ink, which is yet quite bright and clear. On the margin of the last page are the dates of 1259 and 1266 in red ink. Most of the existing copies of the "Polycronicon" are in the great public libraries of England, such as the British Museum and the libraries of Cambridge and Oxford. In the "Polycronicon" the history of King Arthur is given, and this, with " Le Morfce de Arthur," another of the books printed by Caxton, is the foundation of

Tennyson's "Idylls of the King." This last-mentioned book is entitled, "Thelyfe of king Arthur, and of his noble knyghtes of the round table, and in thende tho dolorous defch of them all." We give the titles of some of the chapters : —Of Syr Launcelot and Syr Galahad; How Syr Galahad came first to Kyng Arthur's court, and how the quest of the sancgreal was begonne ; Of Syr Launcelot and Queue Gucneuer ; Of the piteous deth of Kyng Arthur." Tennyson seems to have followed the old legends pretty closely. The volume concludes with the following words :—

And when I am dede, I pray you all pray for my soule; for the translaoion of this boke was fynysshed the ix yore of the regne of kyng Ed warde the fourth, by Syr Thomas Mallore, knyght, a Jhesu helpe hym for his e;rcte myghte, as he is the servant of Jhcsu bothc day and nyghte. Thus endeth this noble and ioyous boke, cntytlcd La Morto d' Arthur. Notwythstondyng it treateth of the byrth, Ivf, and aetes of the sayd Kynge Arthur, of his noble knyghts of the rounue table, theyr merueylows, enquestes, and adventures, thacheuynge of the sanegreal, and in the ende the dolorous deth and depaytyngc out of this workle of them al; whyche boke was reduced into Englysshe by Syr Thomas Malory, knyght, as afore is sayd, and by me devyded into xxi bokes chapitred and enprynted and fyimshed in thiibbey, Wcsmestre, the last day of Juyl, the yere of our Lord Meecclxxxv. Caxton, me fieri fecit.

In the " Polycronicon" Caxton makes a reference of especial interest to us in New Zealand. Speaking of the year 1438, when he was an apprentice in London, Caxton states that " Corno was soo skarco that in some places poure peple made hem brede of fern rotes." Fern root bread formed a considerable proportion of the food of the Maoris before the Europeans came, bringing with them the different cereals, but we were not aware that fern root had been used in England. New Zealand, we fancy, could beat the old country both in quantity and quality of edible fern.

THE "AENEID." TJIIi; BOKK OF ENEYDOS, COMPYLKD BY VYRGYIiE. This work is not translated into verses, as might be expected, in imitation of the original; neither is it an entire prose version, or altogether an abridgment of the "/Eneid;" Dub a translation from a metrical translation of "Livre de Eneides, compile par Virgile, translate de Latin en Frencois, par Guillaime de Roy, Lyon, 1482.*' The Auckland copy of this work has the following notes on the fly-leaf, written by Sir George Grey : —"A copy of this sold in 1882 for £300, wanting two leaves. Only eight copies are known in private libraries. As this copy goes into a public library, there are now only seven copies in private libraries." There is also the following on a slip from a bookseller's catalogue:—"A valuable collection of books und manuscripts has just been dispersed under the hammer of Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, of Leicester Square. The most prominent in the sale was lot 216, 'The Boke of Eneydos, , compiled by Vyrgyle, translated and printed, by William Caxton, 1490, which, although wanting two pages, was knocked down to Mr. Quaritch for £191 - — July, 1874." Apparently this refers to the present copy, for which £300 was paid. With the exception of the two pages missing, the book is in fine condition, containing the beginning and the end. The typo is large, and is easily read, when the eye has become accustomed to the forms of the letters and the old-fashioned spelling. It is printed in Caxton's type, No. 6. There is no title page. The lines are spaced to an even length, and measure 4f inches. There are 31 lines to a full page. The woodcut initials are of two, three, and six lines in depth. We give a few sentences from the commencement of the book :— After dyurse werkes made, translated, and achieved, havyng noo werke in hand, I sit-

tyng in my studye where as laye many dyuevse faunflettis and bookys, happened that to my hand cam a lytyle book in Frenshe, which late was translated out of latyn by some noble clerk of france, which book is named Eneydos, made in latyn by that noble poete and grete elerke, Virgyle, whiche booke I sawe over and redde therein. Turning over to the end, we find this :— Here fyiiyssheth the boke of Eneydos, comnyled by Vyrgyle, which hathe be translated oute of latyne in to frenshe. And out of frenshe reduced in to Englisshe by me Wyllm Caxton the xxii daye of Juyn, the yen. of our lord Miiiilxxxx. The fythe yere of the regne of kynge Henry the seuenth. It is recorded, indeed, that Henry VII. personally desired Caxton to translate and print the "Faytes of Arms," and the " Eneydos" was specially presented to Arthur, Prince of Wales. Of this work the British Museum has three copies ; there are two copies in college libraries at Cambridge, several at Oxford, one in Glasgow. We give a sketch of a portrait contained in old books on printing as that of Caxton, though it is only fair to state that its authenticity has been questioned.