POLYCRONICON/WILLIAM CAXTON-W.De WORDE INCUNABULUM/1495

VERY RARE - SCARCE EDITION
FINE ORIGINAL 19th c. LEATHER BINDING 
RARE  INCUNABULUM
SECOND EDITION OF THE CORNERSTONE OF EARLY ENGLISH PROSE

POLYCRONICON 
by 
Ranulph Higden, with continuation 
Translated from Latin into English by Johann de Trevisa (1326-1412), continued for the years 1387 to 1460
by
WILLIAM CAXTON

[Westminster: Wynkyn de Worde, 13 April 1495.]. [Ended the thyrtenth daye of Apryll the tenth yere of the regne of kyng Harry the seuenth. And of the incarnacyon of our lord: M.CCCC.lxxxxv. Enprynted at Westmestre : By Wynkyn Theworde, [1495 (13 April)]. 
9.25" x 7.0" inches. SECOND EDITION.  Extremely Rare in any state. The majority of copies extant lack many leaves. Our copy: Incomplete, lacking the first two books and part of the third, and lacking last 26 leaves (last leaf is S iiii). Contains 163 leaves, black letter, double column, 41 lines per column plus the headline. Polychronicon by Ranulph Higden first printed by William Caxton in 1482. Fine original 19th c. blind stamped full morocco leather binding with marbled endpapers. The Polychronicon is of great interest for the view it gives of the Historical, Geographical and scientific knowledge of the time in which it was written. An extremely popular medieval world history by Ralph Higden & from the press of William Caxton, England's first printer. Includes the final chapter 'Liber ultimus', Caxton's contribution to the Polychronicon. Note the handwritten annotations in the margins of the first 3 leaves of 'Liber ultimus' in contemporary sixteenth-century hands. Higden's medieval chronicle begins with Creation and continues to 1460, with additions by the work's translator into English, John Trevisa ('the first of our great translators' -- CEHL) to 1386 and from 1386 to 1460 by the editor and printer of its first edition, William Caxton. Caxton relied heavily on other medieval chronicles for his continuation, particularly drawing on Rolewinck's Fasciculus temporum and the Brut chronicle. RARE. Only 20 copies of this work currently recorded in Britain, at least half of these are incomplete (see ISTC). This edition is printed by Wynkyn de Worde (curiously spelling his name 'The Worde' in the colophon). He worked as Caxton's foreman and took over the press in the precincts of Westminster Abbey at Caxton's death in 1491/2, continuing to use Caxton's typographical material, including his device (as here). In reprinting Caxton's 1482 edition of the Polychronicon De Worde added the title woodcut and woodcut music on fo.101, thus printing THE FIRST ENGLISH BOOK WITH PRINTED MUSIC (Steele The Earliest English Music Printing. Oxford: 1903, no.1). By substituting his name as printer of the edition for Caxton's in the preface, De Worde also claims to have written the continuation from 1386 to 1495, even though he adds nothing to Caxton's continuation, which ends in 1460. BSB H-261; Duff 173; Goff H-268; HC 8660; STC 13439.
ISTC at present cites 528 extant copies of books printed by Caxton, which together with 128 fragments (incomplete) makes 656 in total. A Rare edition of the most influential universal chronicle in britain of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, with provenance. A classic work. There are numerous close-up pictures of the contents given below; please click on them for a detailed description (See Scans below). Please take some time to view the 50+ pictures in detail, in order to gain a full idea of the contents and condition.

Other Authors Caxton, William, ca. 1422-1491 | Trevisa, John, d. 1402 
Also Titled Grete thankynges laude and honour we merytoryously ben bounde to yelde and offre unto wryters of hystoryes.
Grete thankynges laude and honour we merytoryously ben bounde to yelde and offre vnto wryters of hystoryes.
Polycronicon.  Cited In Duff 173. Hain-Copinger 8660. STC (2nd ed.) 13439.
Subjects Geography - Early works to 1800. | World history - Early works to 1800. | Great Britain - Description and travel - Early works to 1800.

PROVENANCE: From the SPRINGFIELD MUSEUM LIBRARY. With the Lib. bookplate on the front pastedown 
Displayed in MUSEUM: http://www.springfieldlibrary.org/gutenberg/print.html 

Polychronicon by Ranulph Higden printed by William Caxton in 1495

William Caxton, the very first English printer, was born in Kent in 1422. He spent a great part of his life in Bruges working as a merchant and serving as a Consul for the English Government. He was an example of a man very much involved in business and government, but who spent his leisure devoted to literature. He was instrumental in bringing many great literary classics to the attention of the English people, and was known as an excellent translator of the ancient Greek and Roman texts. But his most important legacy, and what he is most known for today, is his contribution to early printing. Caxton, almost by himself, brought printing to England. Therefore, his books are especially prized today.

Probably few of Caxton's books have inspired more interest and research than the Polychronicon. It seems to have originated with Roger, Monk of St. Werberg, in Chester, who in the early fourteenth century arranged a compilation of various old chronicles of the Middle Ages. Ranulph Higden, of the same monastery, who died before 1360, enlarged upon the work of Roger. In 1387, Trevisa, Chaplain to the Earl of Berkeley, translated the Latin of Higden into English. Almost a century later, Caxton revised the Trevisa manuscript and continued the chronicle up to 1460. Caxton titled his contribution "Liber ultimus," and it is one of the most important Caxton documents since it is his only original work.

Images: Binding from Caxton's edition of the Polychronicon
Text from the Polychronicon describing the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Note that this extract is written in early English, based on Trevisa's translation. The printing press became a major influence in the increased use of the vernacular language in writing. For a much larger image of this page, click here.
First page of 'Liber ultimus', Caxton's contribution to the Polychronicon. Note the handwritten notes in the margin.

ISTC at present cites 528 extant copies of books printed by Caxton, which together with 128 fragments (incomplete) makes 656 in total. 
Our copy is a discard from the SPRINGFIELD MUSEUM LIBRARY: http://www.springfieldlibrary.org/gutenberg/print.html 

The Polychronicon as originally written by the Benedictine monk Ranulf Higden (d. 1354) was a world history from Creation to 1360. Written in seven books, in imitation of the seven days of Genesis, it offered a clear and original picture of that history based on medieval tradition, with an added emphasis on antiquity (particularly the Roman world) and the relation of early British history to the wider context. As such it serves as a national history, with its focus on the Norman conquest and subsequent English history. The Polychronicon went through a number of manuscript editions in Higden's lifetime, with the history continued by a number of writers in the second half of the fourteenth century, the most important of whom was John Malvern. The English translation of John Trevisa (c.1330-1412), was commissioned by Thomas, Lord Berkeley, and completed on 18 April 1387. This considerably extended the influence of the work. For his first printed edition in English Caxton modernised Trevisa's translation and also added a final book to bring the history up to date. Trevisa's translation of the Polychronicon was perfectly suited to the mission of England's first printer: the original author was an Englishman, the text was available in English, it was a chronicle, and it was very popular. Only the edition of Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend exceeds the Polychronicon for length of text among Caxton's printed editions. 

WITH FLAWS: INCOMPLETE COPY.  Lacking the first two books and part of the third, and lacking last 26 leaves

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