The Library - recent issues

Between Customer and Court: A Brief Abstract of the Genealogie and Race of All the Kynges of England and its Lost Source

Dragstra, H. — 2008-07-08

Giles Godet's A brief abstract of the genealogie and race of all the kynges of England, dating from c 1560, is a long series of portraits of the English monarchs, to date, with brief descriptions below them. Those from William the Conqueror onwards show much resemblance, both in portraiture and description, to the series Alle de Coninghen in Enghelant (1534), which describes them in Dutch up to Henry VIII. In spite of their seniority, the verses in Dutch cannot be the source of A brief abstract, the mistranslations being all on the Dutch side. This is confirmed by the existence of early manuscript versions of the text in English in Bodleian MS Rawlinson C. 448, dating from Henry VIII's reign, and in Bodleian MS Lat. Th. D. 15, dated 1551. An early source for both the portraits and the text of Godet's series is John Rastell's prose history The Pastyme of People, published 1529-30. It is therefore likely that a printed series, now lost, containing portraits and verses based on this book, and published c 1530, served as a model for the Dutch prints, the English manuscripts, and A brief abstract. Godet probably printed this section of his genealogy first, updating it when Elizabeth succeeded Mary, and then adding series of rulers preceding William I, perhaps in several instalments. While the series helped to popularize and legitimize the monarchy, the change of monarch and of state religion in 1558 necessitated some changes in the wording of the descriptions, to avoid offending the court. At the same time Godet's production appealed to the middle-class customers for whom it was intended by applying populist criteria to rulers of the distant past and by extolling the longevity of English cities, especially London.

One Hundred and Thirty-Seven Neglected English Play Manuscripts in the British Library (c. 1770-1809), Part II

Milhous, J., Hume, R. D. — 2008-07-08

The 137 play manuscripts (and some further play fragments) comprising British Library Add. MSS 25,906-26,036 were almost all submitted to Richard Brinsley Sheridan for production at Drury Lane in the period 1776-1809. They were presented to the British Museum in 1864 by Coventry Patmore with many gross misattributions and errors perpetrated by his father, Peter George Patmore. Many of these are still preserved in the British Library catalogue. Allardyce Nicoll failed to record 109 of the plays in his Handlists of English Drama. The collection includes both significant performed work by such playwrights as Inchbald and Reynolds and much unproducible work from anonymous and unknown writers. Some manuscripts contain projected cast lists and evidence of managerial editing. The present article attempts to describe the plays, to identify those printed or performed, and to augment and correct the British Library catalogue descriptions.

The Present and Future of Incunable Cataloguing, I

Wagner, B. — 2008-07-08

The Present and Future of Incunable Cataloguing, II

Sharpe, R. — 2008-07-08

Bibliotheque nationale de France. Catalogue des incunables (CIBN), Tome 1, Fasc. 3: C-D

Davies, M. C. — 2008-07-08

El texto del 'Quijote': preliminares a una ecdotica del siglo de oro. By Francisco Rico.

Dadson, T. J. — 2008-07-08

Electronic Textual Editing. Ed. by Lou Burnard, Katherine O'Brien O'Keeffe, and John Unsworth

Van Mierlo, W. — 2008-07-08

Recent Periodicals

2008-07-08

Books Received

2008-07-08

Notes on Contributors

2008-07-08

Information

2008-07-08

The Bibliographical Society Annual Meeting 16 October 2007 and Annual Report 2006-07

2008-07-08

What Did Renaissance Readers Write in their Printed Copies of Chaucer?

Wiggins, A. — 2008-04-10

This article surveys marginalia and readers' marks in fifty-four Renaissance printed copies of Chaucer. The discussion considers the use of Chaucer's works as sources of advice and wisdom; antiquarian interest in Chaucer; continuities and overlaps between print and manuscript cultures; the household as a site of reading and annotation; and women as participants amongst Chaucer's Renaissance readership. The trends and patterns identified, in many cases, corroborate the findings of other scholars and add further detail to existing profiles of the Renaissance reading experience. However, certain aspects of the annotations are shown to be peculiar to the Chaucer corpus. Most importantly, Chaucer's fame is repeatedly found to have influenced and inspired his Renaissance annotators. The annotations thus confirm literary historians' sense of Chaucer's importance as an auctor in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, whilst they also test and challenge certain assumptions about the nature of that authority.

One Hundred and Thirty-Seven Neglected English Play Manuscripts in the British Library (c. 1770-1809), Part I

Milhous, J., Hume, R. D. — 2008-04-10

Machine-Made Paper, Seam Marks, and Bibliographical Analysis

McMullin, B. J. — 2008-04-10

The article surveys the production of machine-made paper in Britain before the mid-1830s, concentrating on the consequences of the construction of the Fourdrinier paper-making machine, specifically on the seam joining the two ends of the wire. The seam leaves a mark in those parts of the resulting web of paper that have rested on it, and the presence of seam marks in the leaves of printed books can be used in bibliographical analysis, including the identification of format, imposition schemes, cancellation, and the make-up of particular gatherings.

Guide to Scripts Used in English Writings up to 1500. By JANE ROBERTS. London: The British Library. 2005. xiv + 294 pp. + 8 colour plates. {pound}40. ISBN 0 7123 4884 0.

Rushforth, R. — 2008-04-10

Print Culture and the Medieval Author: Chaucer, Lydgate, and their Books, 1473-1557. By ALEXANDRA GILLESPIE. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2006. xiv + 281 pp. {pound}50. ISBN 0 19 926295 0.

Boffey, J. — 2008-04-10

Catalogues regionaux des incunables des bibliotheques publiques de France, vol. 17: Haute-Normandie. By VALERIE NEVEU. (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Sciences historiques et philologiques, 6: Histoire et civilisation du livre, 28.) Geneva: Droz. 2005. 486 pp. + 15 colour and 18 black-and-white plates. CHF 92. ISBN 2 600 00987 6.

Davies, M. C. — 2008-04-10

The Spanish Letter of Columbus: A Facsimile of the Original Edition Published by Bernard Quaritch in 1891. Ed. by ANTHONY PAYNE. London: Quaritch. 2006. li + 33 pp. + 10 colour plates. {pound}60. ISBN 0 9550852 2 5.

West, G. — 2008-04-10

Le Livre reforme au XVI e siecle. By JEAN-FRANCOIS GILMONT. (Conferences Leopold Delisle.) Paris: Bibliotheque nationale de France. 2005. 151 pp. {euro}22. ISBN 2 7177 2333 1. * Le Livre evangelique en francais avant Calvin: etudes originales, publications d'inedits, catalogues d'editions anciennes / The French Evangelical Book before Calvin: Original Analyses, Newly Edited Texts, Bibliographic Catalogues. Ed. by JEAN-FRANCOIS GILMONT and WILLIAM KEMP. (Nugae humanisticae sub signo Erasmi, 4.) Turnhout: Brepols. 2004. 391 pp. {euro}40. ISBN 2 503 51705 6. * Erasme et le pouvoir de l'imprimerie. By KARINE CROUSAZ. Lausanne: Editions Antipodes. 2005. 197 pp. {euro}21. ISBN 2 940146 59 4.

Pettegree, A. — 2008-04-10

The First Quarto of 'Romeo and Juliet'. Ed. by LUKAS ERNE. (New Cambridge Shakespeare: The Early Quartos.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2007. xviii + 192 pp. {pound}45. ISBN 978 0 521 82121 6.

Lockwood, T. — 2008-04-10

Inventing Polemic: Religion, Print, and Literary Culture in Early Modern England. By JESSE M. LANDER. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2006. x + 324 pp. {pound}48. ISBN 0 521 83854 1.

Shell, A. — 2008-04-10

Bibliography on American Prints of the Seventeenth through the Nineteenth Centuries. By GEORGIA BRADY BARNHILL. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press; Fair.eld, CT: The American Historical Print Collectors Society. 2006. xviii + 210 pp. $65. ISBN 1 58456 193 9.

Shaw, M. J. — 2008-04-10

Scottish Bookplates. By BRIAN NORTH LEE and ILAY CAMPBELL. London: The Bookplate Society. 2006. 144 pp. {pound}20. ISBN 978 0 9555428 0 0.

Roads, E. — 2008-04-10

Henry James: A Bibliographic Catalogue of a Collection of Editions to 1921. By DAVID J. SUPINO. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. 2006. xxiv + 515 pp. + 32 plates. {pound}70. ISBN 1 84631 005 9.

Gardner, K. J. — 2008-04-10

Recent Books

2008-04-10

Recent Periodicals

2008-04-10

Books Received

2008-04-10

Notes on Contributors

2008-04-10

Information

2008-04-10

ESTC and the Bibliographical Community

Tabor, S. — 2007-12-22

This article explores the ways in which the English Short-Title Catalogue (ESTC) is utilized by its main users, the 'bibliographical community' of scholars and antiquarian booksellers, to gain information about physical books. It discusses the relationship between ESTC's descriptions of 'ideal copies' and the reports of library holdings attached to them, and shows the most common causes of disruption to this relationship, which result in ambiguous or incorrect records. Implications of current methods of online user input are considered. The article argues for allowing all users to view the error-resolution process while records evolve, and for encouraging ESTC's exposure to new information coming from the bibliographical community

STC Publication Statistics: Some Caveats

Blayney, P. W. M. — 2007-12-22

The statistics for publication in the period 1475-1640 published by Maureen Bell and John Barnard in 1992, and reprinted in The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain a decade later, were compiled not from the entries in the revised Short-Title Catalogue but from the chronological index to those entries. They substantially exaggerate the number of actual editions recorded by STC. A similar reliance on that index instead of the entries themselves led John N. King, in some statistics published in 1999, to inflate the eleven mid-Tudor editions of the Bible in English into more than a hundred alleged editions in more than one language.

The Road to Camelot: Lotteries, the Circle of Learning, and the 'Circulary' Library of Samuel Fancourt

Manley, K. A. — 2007-12-22

Samuel Fancourt has often been referred to as the founder of the first circulating library in England, or at least in London, and as the person who first used the phrase ‘circulating library’. This article shows that he although he was pipped to the post for the former claim, he was almost certainly responsible for the latter. However, his main claim to fame should be that he popularized the idea of the private subscription library. Fancourt was a dissenting minister who did not commence his library career until his late fifties. His personal financial circumstances were difficult, and his work as a librarian never brought him profit. However, he did achieve publicity for the benefits of libraries, especially when he developed a curious scheme for disposing of his books by linking them to the State Lottery.

Unclaimed Territory: The Ballad of 'Auld Robin Gray' and the Assertion of Authorial Ownership

Millgate, J. — 2007-12-22

For the first fifty years of its existence the ballad ‘Auld Robin Gray’ existed as an anonymous work, the author, Lady Anne Lindsay, having decided not to assert authorship when she composed it in 1772. In 1823, at the instigation of Walter Scott, Lady Anne chose to reassert her claim to a text that had by that point moved well beyond the limits of personal control and been subjected to multiple modifications by owners and performers as varied as street singers, operatic composers, and writers of fashionable fiction. The present essay attempts to disentangle both the ballad' complicated textual history and the intricate issues of ownership arising from competing musical settings. By exploring in full detail a remarkably complex instance of contested ownership in a text that still retains its place in modern anthologies and in the repertoires of contemporary singers, the essay seeks to raise questions about anonymity and textual ownership that have far wider implications.

Correspondence

King, J. N. — 2007-12-22

Canto e colore: i corali di San Domenico di Perugia nella Biblioteca comunale Augusta (XIII XIV sec.). Ed. by CLAUDIA PARMEGGIANI. Perugia: Volumnia Editrice. 2006. 235 pp. {euro}40. ISBN 88 89024 29 1.

Boynton, S. — 2007-12-22

Corpus Chartarum Italiae ad rem typographicam pertinentium ab arte inventa ad ann. MDL. Vol. I: Bologna. By ALBANO SORBELLI; ed. by MARIA GIOIA TAVONI, with the collaboration of FEDERICA ROSSI and PAOLO TEMEROLI; preface by ANNA MARIA GIORGETTI VICHI. (Indici e cataloghi, 16.) Rome: Istituto Poligra.co e Libreria dello Stato. 2004. 482 pp. {euro}150. ISBN 88 240 1109 8.

Harris, N. — 2007-12-22

Sir Walter Ralegh's Discoverie of Guiana. Ed. by JOYCE LORIMER. (The Hakluyt Society, 3rd ser., 15.) London: Ashgate for the Hakluyt Society. 2006. xcviii + 360 pp. {pound}55. ISBN 0 904180 87 5.

Warkentin, G. — 2007-12-22

From Performance to Print in Shakespeare's England. Ed. by PETER HOLLAND and STEPHEN ORGEL. (Rede.ning British Theatre History Series.) Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 2006. xvi + 267 pp. {pound}50. ISBN 1 4039 9228 2.

Lockwood, T. — 2007-12-22

King James, his Bible, and its Translators. By LAURENCE M. VANCE. Pensacola, FL: Vance Publications. 2006. viii + 164 pp. $12.95. ISBN 0 9763448 1 5.

Norton, D. — 2007-12-22

Die Buchdrucker des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts im deutschen Sprachgebiet. Auf der Grundlage des gleichnamigen Werkes von Josef Benzing. By CHRISTOPH RESKE. (Beitrage zum Buch- und Bibliothekswesen, 51.) Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 2007. xxxii + 1090 pp. {euro}198. ISBN 978 3 447 05450 8.

Flood, J. L. — 2007-12-22

The Enlightenment and the Book: Scottish Authors and their Publishers in Eighteenth- Century Britain, Ireland, and America. By RICHARD B. SHER. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 2006. xxvi + 815 pp. + 61 illus. $40. ISBN 0 226 75252 6.

Allan, D. — 2007-12-22

Fern Books in English Published before 1900. By NIGEL HALL and MARTIN RICKARD. (British Pteridological Society Special Publication, 9.) London: British Pteridological Society. 2006. iv + 98 pp. {pound}16.50. ISBN 0 9509806 9 2. Available from P. J. Acock, 13 Star Lane, St Mary Cray, Kent br5 3LJ.

Rackham, O. — 2007-12-22

Jacques-Charles Brunet, le grand bibliographe: A Guide to the Books He Wrote, Compiled, and Edited and to the Book-Auction Catalogues He Expertised. By Roger E. Stoddard. London: Quaritch. 2007. xii + 90 pp. {pound}60. ISBN 978 0 9550852 3 9.

Hobson, A. — 2007-12-22

1805 2005. Salomone Belforte & c. Duecento anni di un editore = Two Hundred Years of a Publishing House. Livorno: Belforte. 2006. 155 pp. {euro}19. ISBN 88 746 7201 4.

Harris, N. — 2007-12-22

Recent Books

2007-12-22

Recent Periodicals

2007-12-22

Books Received

2007-12-22

Notes on Contributors and Information

2007-12-22