Sales catalogue: Quaritch

Date:
c.1873
Reference:
WA/HMM/CM/Sal/17/8
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sales catalogue: Quaritch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/120 (page 510)
    Wa Alin Orv) (1-78 BSF EG uta s Beet ENGLISH” BOOKS. 2, I—PUBLICATIONS OF CAXTON, WILLIAM OF »MACHLINIA; AND WYNKYN DE WORDE. 5246 CAXTONS GAME AND PLAY OF CHESS MORALIZED, (translated 1474) First Ep1TIoN, folio, ' 65: LEAVES (of the 72), bound in old russia gilt, £400. Hornyi hid the laft dan of Marche the yer of our Lord God, . | a thoufand foure hondred and Irriiii.... - An extremely large, though somewhat imperfect copy of THE FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN ENGLAND, from Caxton’s press. | Mr. Blades quotes’9 copies (4 perfect, 5 imperfect), the present is the 10th known. copy, and is TatLeER than even the Grenville—hitherto the tallest known copy; my copy measures.11$ inch in height by 8 | . ete whilst the Grenville copy (also imperfect) is only 11 inches .. high CoLLaTiIon of my copy: Shis Booke conteyneth titi traytees 2 2 Leaf: “1 Bhis firft chapiter of the ftrft tractate $9U9 Sih SHC... Likeee She trouthe for to do Suffice right wyfly, etc. to the end . 62 leaves. _ Lhe last leaf with the date : St conquerynge his rightfull inheritance, ending : fynyfhed, hip aldivr “jest 12 1474 1 leaf. 65 leaves. ~-. “My copy wants therefore 7 leaves, the two blank ones being out of | «0 question.. The imperfections include the first leaf, and:two leaves in + ©; the second chapitre of the fourth tractate, the end is all right. I ‘should be glad to hear of any 1mpeRFect copy of this work, which “would supply me with what I want. In the mean time this precious - relic of the Infancy of Printing in England can be seen by BuYErs of: Rare‘ books, (* - | . . . See Dibdin’s Bibl. Spence. IV. p. 189. OH Et -.... No copy of this edition has been sold for years ; in 1813, Alchorne’s 4. copy, wanting first two leaves, the last two leaves and two leaves in _ the second chapter of the fourth tractate, fetched at Evans’, £54. 12s. ~The value of this class of books has much risen since then, and may _» now be considered, as ten times greater. : 4 In comparing the first edition of “Caxton’s Game of Chess” with > the second, one perceives many variations in the spelling. ‘I consider .(\> the first edition to be'the more interesting, for a variety of reasons : ‘1. It is the first book printed in England. . 2. It is the Editio princeps of the English.version. . 8. It shows the Art of -Printing in its crudest form. . )\« 4. Tt has a Post-script not in the second edition. _