Provenance mysteries: A lively antithesis, or opposition, betweene the Church of Rome and the true church of God

This edition’s provenance mystery features Thomas Bedell’s A lively antithesis, or opposition, betweene the Church of Rome and the true church of God, printed in London by R. B[lower] for Roger Jackson in 1604. The author may be the Thomas Bedell who, according to the History of Parliament website, got into an argument with John Brudenell regarding the loyalty of Catholics, in relation to James VI and I’s Oath of Allegiance. The 1606 Oath of Allegiance was a response to the Gunpowder Plot, and required Catholics to swear allegiance to the King, not the Pope. The  Bedell/Brudenell argument led to a Star Chamber case (National Archives, STAC 8/11/23). This is a very rare book, with only two copies recorded in ESTC and USTC.

1. Bedell

As can be seen on the title page, the book has been signed. Unfortunately, bookworm damage has obscured what is presumably the first name of the inscription completely. The surname of ‘Lugger’ is visible, however. Given the date of publication, the full name could be that of William Lugger/Luggar/d. William was a bookseller and publisher, who was active between 1597 and 1658 (the year of his death). He moved shop throughout his career, and was variously based at Holborn, Ludgate, and near the Tower of London.

2. Bedell 2

The link to Lugger is potentially made more credible when examining the second photo, herein, which depicts the inside front binding of Daniel Mögling’s De chymiatria theses practica, 1595. The inscription reads ‘of Mr Lugger 1619 Aug 28,’ and is in Robert Ashley’s hand. This note suggests that Ashley purchased the book from Lugger who, in 1619, would have been based near Middle Temple, in Holborn. Ashley of course was the founder of Middle Temple Library.

As ever, if you recognise this hand or have further comments please get in touch: library@middletemple.org.uk.

Renae Satterley

Librarian

March 2024

Provenance mysteries: Tre discorsi

The first provenance mystery of 2024 features Alessandro Farra’s Tre discorsi, printed in Padua in 1564. The book’s three discourses are: Discorso de’miracoli d’amore (of the miracle of love);  Discorso della divinita dell’huomo (of the divinity of man); Discorso dell’ufficio del capitano (of the captain’s office).

1. Title page

As can be seen on the title page, the book was possibly acquired from, or by, ‘Giaco. Casteluetri’ for 20d. That’s 20 pence in old money. The book is heavily annotated, in a very small, cramped hand, but contemporary to the book: sixteenth century. The marginalia seem to be mostly in English, but the handwriting is difficult to read, and the book was unfortunately trimmed when it was rebound. Two examples are included below.

2. Marginalia 1

3. Marginalia 2

The ‘tre discorsi’ that the book treats are love, human beings, and the command of troops. It is bound with a second book, by Torquato Tasso: an apology for his own Gierusalemme liberate, a ‘heroic poem’ that fictionalised ‘the vicissitudes of several leading historical figures from the First Crusade.’.

This sammelband volume forms part of the Robert Ashley bequest of 1641, and the owner/seller on the title page could be Giacomo Castelvetro (1546-1616). Castelvetro was an Italian exile in London, originally from Modena, who travelled extensively. Castelvetro had converted to Protestanism, and enjoyed the protection of Sir Francis Walsingham, Sir Chistopher Hatton, and Sir Philip Sidney. He taught Italian to notable students in the sixteenth-century. Castelvetro is perhaps best known for his book on Italian fruits and vegetables, The fruit, herbs, and vegetables of Italy (1614).

The handwriting on the title page is not that of Robert Ashley, but it is reasonable to suggest that the two men knew each another. Christopher Hatton’s nephew, Sir William Hatton, was a patron of Ashley’s. Additionally, Castelvetro worked with John Wolfe (d. 1601), the publisher of a variety of political works in the sixteenth-century, and the publisher of two of Robert Ashley’s own translations: A comparison of the English and Spanish nation (1589) and L’Uranie ou muse celeste de G. de Saluste Seigneur du Bartas (1589). Like Ashley, Castelvetro had an interest in books, and was known to have attended the famous Frankfurt bookfair in 1586. According to Trecanni, the Italian biographical dictionary, Castelvetro also met Orazio Pallavicino while there. Ashley had a connection to Pallavicino and was intended to succeed him in a diplomatic position in 1590. Dudley Carleton, whom Ashley also knew, assisted Castelvetro in 1611, when he fell foul of the Inquisition.

As ever, if you recognise this hand or have further comments please get in touch: library@middletemple.org.uk.

Renae Satterley

Librarian

January 2024

Provenance mysteries: Diodori Siculi historiarum libri aliquot, qui extant, opera & studio Vincentii Obsopoei in lucem editi

The fourth provenance mystery of 2023 features Diodori Siculi historiarum libri aliquot, qui extant, opera & studio Vincentii Obsopoei in lucem editi, printed in Basel by Johann Oporinus in 1530.

1. Full title page

This work of Greek history by Siculus Diodorus, the ancient Green historian, is in Greek with a preface and opening poem in Latin. According to an auction record, this was the first edition to appear in print of Diodorus’s history in its original Greek. This edition consists of books 16-20 of the original forty books of Greek history written by Diodorus. It was edited by Vincentius Opsopäus (d. 1539), who is best known for writing De arte bibendi, a guide to drinking.

As can be seen on the title page, the book has many contemporary inscriptions. The first reads: ‘Thomas [L?]enerus dono dedit Rodol[?]’ and the second ‘Guielmi Fulconis emptus a prope/hta Cantab’ followed by a price paid for the book; as per the inscription, the book was purchased in Cambridge. Although the first inscriber has not been identified, it is possible that the second inscription refers to William Fulke (1538-1589), a Puritan divine and the author of at least one work on mathematics.

2. Inscriptions on the title page

The longer inscription, in Greek, is a transcription of a poem ascribed to Theocritus, the Greek bucolic poet, and it is from his Idylls, number IX, line 31. The inscription is signed ‘Broughton’, and the hand is very similar to the British Library’s Royal MS 1AIX, The book of Daniel translated into Greek by Hugh Broughton. Hugh Broughton (1549-1612) was an English Hebraist, preacher, and translator who wrote A concent of scripture in 1588; he was a fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge. 

While I think it is safe to declare that the Greek inscription is in Hugh Broughton’s hand, there still remains the mystery of positively identifying Fulke’s hand, and identifying the inscription at the top of the title page. I have not found any evidence of what books Fulke or Broughton may have had in their personal libraries, nor what happened to them.

3. Binding with Oldham roll

The book is bound in a Cambridge binding, with Oldham roll (SW.b(3)), as identified for me by David Pearson in 2021. As can be seen here, it is heavily damaged and the book as a whole requires conservation. If you would like to sponsor its repair, please get in touch.

As this mystery is literally all Greek to me, I relied on my colleague Kostas Tsilikas to identify the Greek text.

As ever, if you recognise this hand or have further comments please get in touch: library@middletemple.org.uk.

Renae Satterley

Librarian

September 2023

Provenance mysteries: Sententiae ex thesauris Graecorum delectæ, quarum autores, circiter CCL. Citat & Sententiarum Ioannis Stobaei tomus secundus

The third provenance mystery of 2023 features two books, both by Stobaeus, and both printed in Lyon by Sebastianus Gryphius in 1555:

1. Sententiae ex thesauris Graecorum delectæ, quarum autores, circiter CCL. Citat
2. Sententiarum Ioannis Stobaei tomus secundus

Although the second book is apparently the second volume to the first, both books were issued independently of one another. The ‘second volume’ is a unique item, with this being the only recorded copy – until recently the Universal Short Title Catalogue had it listed as a ‘lost book’.

While there is no mystery concerning one of the hands present in ‘tomus secundus’, since it is clearly a hand-written index in Robert Ashley’s hand, the second hand remains unidentified.

Stobaeus was a 5th century anthologist originally from Macedonia (the city of Stobi to be precise) and is known not for his own writings, but for having compiled a variety of extracts from Greek writers, based on notes he made from his own readings. It is through these extracts that we retain much of original Greek literature and philosophical writings, albeit in a handed-down, extracted format.

The two books issued by Gryphius would have formed part of the broad range of classical works produced by this well-respected French printer during the sixteenth-century. Gryphius specialised in producing ‘pocket’ editions of Latin classics, potentially to rival the editions being produced by Aldus Manutius. Gryphius produced books as small as sextodecimo (16mo), measuring, like these ones, approximately 12cm in height (although sizes for 16mo books could differ).

1. Title page

As can be seen here, Gryphius used a truly fantastic printer’s device, depicting a griffin (a play on his surname) perched atop a book (to reflect his trade as a printer) under which is suspended a winged globe (the significance of which escapes me), surrounded by his motto, ‘Virtute duce, comite fortuna’, taken from Cicero.

2. Second hand rotated

The unidentified hand, in addition to writing these notes on one of the final blank end-leaves, has annotated the work throughout with manicules (pointing hands), dashes, and underlining. As this hand is present on the leaf facing the marginalia written in Robert Ashley’s hand, it provides us with a good comparison between two early modern readers, and how annotated their books. Ashley’s focus was on indexing the work to highlight the themes of interest to him, whereas the other annotator was interested in noting aphorisms from Stobaeus and Plutarch.

As ever, if you recognise this hand or have further comments please get in touch: library@middletemple.org.uk.

Renae Satterley

Librarian

July 2023

Provenance mysteries: The lavves and actes of Parliament, maid be King Iames the First, and his successours kinges of Scotland

The second provenance mystery of 2023 features The lavves and actes of Parliament, maid be King Iames the First, and his successours kinges of Scotland, printed in Edinburgh in 1597.

This dictionary of the laws of Scotland contains a small, but valuable inscription on the verso of the last leaf of text which reads: ‘This book was bought by Robert Grahame of Thornik 7 November 1598.’ This is valuable because the collection at Middle Temple rarely has contemporary instances of book-buying information such as this.

1. Robert Graeme’s inscription

Robert Graeme of Thornik is likely to be the same Graeme who is mentioned in Or and Sable, as providing a ‘caution’ for the Earl of Menteith in a long-standing feud he had with ‘Leckie of Lecky.’ See: https://archive.org/details/orsablebookofgra00grae/page/72/mode/2up?q=thornik&view=theater. Contemporary records mentioning Graeme include details of a bond witnessed by Graeme in 1591/2 (GD112/23/3 at the National Records of Scotland) and in a witness deposition of November 1600 in the Parliamentary Register.

2. The manuscript version of folios H2-H5

This collection of Scottish law was compiled by Sir John Skene (1543?-1617), Scottish jurist and legal historian, and an ‘enthusiastic prosecutor of witches’. It includes legislation up to the fifteenth Parliament of James VI of Scotland (1597). The copy at Middle Temple is missing leaves from the second unfoliated register (folios H2-H5), ‘The exposition of the difficil words and termes, …’ and these have been replaced by hand-written copies, in a contemporary hand, presumably that of Robert Graeme. As with many copies of this work, the additional, engraved title page is missing. The Middle Temple copy is bound with: Regiam majestatem: the auld lawes, 1609; The lawes and acts of Parliament [of Scotland], 1611; and six other items. Whether the volume as it belonged to Graeme included all of these ‘bound-with’ titles is unclear, however.

The first catalogue record is that of 1688, which only lists the first volume of this sammelband, Skene’s Regiam Majestatem, 1609 as ‘Lawes of Scotland’. It also appears in the 1700 catalogue, p. 235: https://www.middletemple.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Bibliotheca_Medii_Templi-13M_0.pdf. The title’s presence in the 1688 catalogue suggests that it was part of the Robert Ashley bequest, as it is not listed in the Liber benefactorum manuscript of the post-Ashley bequests.

As ever, if you have comments or suggestions on this mystery, email us at: library@middletemple.org.uk.

Renae Satterley

Librarian

April 2023

Provenance Mysteries: The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia

The first provenance mystery of 2023 features Sir Philip Sidney’s The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia, published in London in 1593. As can be seen here, the title is set within a lavishly decorated woodcut border.

Title page

The book was presented to the Library on 30 June 1876 by James Claude Webster (1840-1908), whose bookplate is visible here. In addition to being a member of Middle Temple, he belonged to the Athenaeum Club. As club secretary, he wrote to Robert Browning on 4 February 1862 to admit him as a member. He also contributed articles to the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Bookplate

Sidney’s Arcadia (to use the shortened title) was published posthumously by his sister Mary Herbert, based on a manuscript version. It was written “in the new genre of prose romance,” and is believed to have been an inspiration for a scene in Shakespeare’s King Lear. Sidney died in battle near the town of Zutphen, and was buried in the old St. Paul’s cathedral in 1587.

The provenance mystery concerns the myriad of names found in this copy of one of the most famous works of early modern English prose. As can be seen here, the front end-leaf was used by a variety of young people to test out their pens. On this end-leaf we can see the following names: Dorothy Greaves; Robert Demetrius; Ann/e Bind; and John Greaves. There is one addition exercise, a four leaf clover, and what could possibly be some shorthand being tested (see under the name Dorothy Greaves). Another name is faintly visible: Tho Hey, and an aborted name: Doro.

Front end-leaf with various names

There is a well-known John Greaves (1602-1652), a mathematician “who was interested in measuring ancient monuments.” Could our copy of Arcadia be evidence of the childish hand of this John Greaves?

Two further names are visible on the title page: John Grevail/n and Thomas Vincent 1754. The latter could be the oboist and composer Thomas Vincent (c. 1720-1783). Intriguingly, Vincent’s will stated that some of his income was to pass to James Robson, a bookseller in New Bond Street, suggesting a debt of some kind owed to Robson by Vincent.

There is one further provenance piece, at the end of the book – yet another name (possibly) is visible, P Pense [?] with the words ‘must stand to the same’ visible.

Final page

As ever, if you have comments or suggestions on this mystery, email us at: library@middletemple.org.uk.

Renae Satterley

Librarian

February 2023

Provenance Mysteries: De vitis ac moribus priscorum philosophorum libri decem

The December 2022 provenance mystery features De vitis ac moribus priscorum philosophorum libri decem, the well-known lives of eminent philosophers by the 3^rd century Greek author Laertius Diogenes. This version was published in Cologne in 1542. The Encyclopaedia Britannica refers to this work as the “most important existing secondary source of knowledge” of early Greek philosophy.

Diogenes’s work is a biographical and bibliographical compilation that ranges from comprehensive excerpts of philosophical treatises, to seemingly insignificant tidbits of gossip. The source used by Diogenes has not been identified, except in a few instances. The work was divided into nine books, “presenting Greek philosophy as divided into an Ioanian and an Italic branch”. Sixteenth-century printers and publishers were quick to print Classical works that had previously only been available in manuscript. This Cologne printer, Eucharius Cervicornus, produced many humanist works from 1516 to 1547. Although he did not use his device on this title page, he did have a printer’s device (a type of hallmark, or copyright mark) that incorporated the figure of St. Jerome. The Library has three other works issued by Cervicornus press.

1. Title page with inscription

The provenance mystery concerns the inscription that has been written on the title page. Unfortunately the ink has become difficult to read over time, but some if it is clear: ‘’Est Dionysius Moral[y?] nostri aequus amator que[?] [alt?] Robert[?] [?] It[?] 1586 post natale[m] d[omin]I”. It is presumably this previous owner who also copiously annotated the book with their marginal notes. They have also scored out portions of text, as show in one of these examples.

2-4. Examples of the contemporary marginalia

In 2023 we will only be posting a provenance mystery every other month, starting with February. As ever, if you have comments or suggestions on this mystery, email us at: library@middletemple.org.uk.

Renae Satterley

Librarian

December 2022

With thanks to Jennifer K. Nelson, Raphaële Mouren, and David Shaw for their assistance with the inscription.

Provenance Mysteries: Traitté familier, pour toiser, mesurer & exactement calculler

The November 2022 provenance mystery features Alexandre Guybert’s Traitté familier, pour toiser, mesurer & exactement calculler, published in Paris by Michel Daniel in 1619. This is a later edition of a work that was originally published in 1580.

Not much is known about Guybert – some catalogue records have described him as an ‘architect’, presumably due to a misunderstanding about the subject of this treatise. The title page shows that Guybert was an advisor to the king, and had a connection to Orléans. The work deals with French mensuration and masonry, and provided its readers with instructions on how to calculate areas and volumes for largescale building works. The book gives many complicated examples of how to make these calculations – one demonstrates how to measure a well.

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1. Marginalia 1 to 7: the seven pages of added notes

A contemporary, but unidentified annotator has made some corrections to the text, including adding seven pages of manuscript notes at the end of the book. These notes explain English measurements, and how to calculate areas and volumes using acres, roods and poles, and the further subdivisions of feet and inches. See for example page 2: “Acres multipliez par acres vient [sic] acres quarries.” Acres, roods and poles were units of measurement for parcels of land in the early modern period. These notes are very detailed and easy to read, and like the book itself, give detailed instructions on these English units of measurement. Interestingly, the second page of the manuscript notes is on a smaller piece of paper than the remaining notes. Without any further information about the author of these notes, it is difficult to know why they copied out such detailed explanations at the end of this book. Given the corrections made to the main body of the text, is there any connection between the annotator and the author, Guybert? Could these notes and the corrections be in his hand?

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2. Corrections to pages 6 and 7

Unfortunately, the book is damaged, and thus difficult to photograph well. We welcome offers to sponsor the repair of this book, which would cost approximately £400. If you are interested in sponsoring the book’s repair, please contact the Librarian at: library@middletemple.org.uk.

Renae Satterley

Librarian

November 2022

Provenance Mysteries: Palagio de gl’incanti, & delle gran meraviglie de gli spiriti, & di tutta la natura

The September 2022 provenance mystery features  Palagio de gl’incanti, & delle gran meraviglie de gli spiriti, & di tutta la natura, by Strozzi Cigogna, published in Vicenza in 1605.

Cigogna was born in 1568 and grew up in Vicenza; he studied law in Padua. He died in Venice in 1613. This is Cigogna’s best-known work – a treatise on magic, demonology and philosophy, containing a variety of anecdotes, including a strange Portuguese tale which could have been a precursor to the story of King Kong. It has been described as a work that demonstrates a wide-ranging knowledge of sources, from antiquity onwards. It uses many examples, both traditional and contemporary, to expostulate Cigogna’s themes. It was translated into Latin by Gaspar Ens in 1606, ensuring a wider success for it in European circles.

1. Cigogna title page

The provenance mystery concerns the inscription on the title page: ‘Iddio ed Io Di Guil: Palmer 1618’, which translates as ‘God and I, [from?] William Palmer 1618’. I have queried ‘from’ as ‘D’ in ‘Di’ is not entirely clear due to the trimming of the page. If it is ‘Di’, could this signify that William Palmer gave this book, in 1618, to someone, presumably Robert Ashley, as the book is from his founding bequest? Or does it signify that William Palmer acquired the book in 1618?

2. Alcorano title page

Interestingly, another Italian book in the collection has a similar inscription: ‘Di Guglielmo Palmer Iddio ed io’ ; ‘A Paris. – 20 6/’. This inscription is found in Ashley’s copy of L’alcorano di Macometto, printed in Venice in 1547. It is accompanied by a second inscription, ‘De Thomaeo Palmer a Ra[?]’. Apparently, William Palmer acquired the book in Paris for 20 [sols turnois] and 6 [deniers].

The names of William and Thomas Palmer are very common, and without further evidence, it is difficult to tease out which may be ‘our’ William Palmer. There was a Jesuit chaplain with the name William Palmer (1591-1670) – the Italian motto used in these inscriptions could lend itself to such a book owner. There are also many William, and Thomas Palmers from Kent and Sussex, all from the same family branches. There is no William Palmer listed in Book Owners Online.

Unfortunately, the book is damaged, and thus difficult to photograph well. We welcome offers to sponsor the repair of this book, which would cost approximately £500. If you are interested in sponsoring the book’s repair, please contact the Librarian at: library@middletemple.org.uk.

Renae Satterley

Librarian

September 2022

Provenance Mysteries: Xenophon, Opera omnia

The August 20222 provenance mystery features Xenophon, Opera omnia, printed in Basel by Thomas Guarin in 1572.

1. Title page

As can been seen with this image of the book’s title page, there is a scored-out inscription on it. The first letter, Q, can be made out, but nothing more definitive (apart from ‘quid’), although at first glance it looks like a motto rather than a person’s name. The scored-out ‘C.ii.’ and ‘D.23’ are shelfmarks previously used by the library, dating to the seventeenth and eighteenth-centuries, respectively. The underscored ‘o’ is probably a bookseller’s price code.

2. Verso of title page

On the verso of the title page, as shown in this image, is an inscription, likely dated to the sixteenth, or seventeenth-century. It is in Greek and Latin, as the book itself. There is also a small bit of marginalia on page three, as shown here, also in Greek and Latin. I unfortunately do not read Greek, so this is a provenance mystery in more ways than one: can anything be made of the scored-out inscription on the title page? Is the Greek hand recognisable and identifiable? What does the Greek and Latin inscription say? Any comments on this query are welcome.

3. Page 3

The book consists of the collected works of Xenophon (two volumes in one). Xenophon was, of course, a Greek historian whose prose works had a strong influence on Latin literature well beyond his death in 350 BC; his works were translated in a variety of European languages in the sixteenth-century.

The work was edited by Johannes Leunclavius (1533?-1593?), a German philologist, historian and jurist who has also been described as an ‘orientalist’ as he published and annotated Byzantine sources into Latin (although he did not translate them himself). He accompanied Heinrich von Lichtenstein on his diplomatic mission to Istanbul in 1584. Apparently Henri Estienne, the classical sixteenth-century scholar, was unhappy with Leunclavius’s first edition (1569) of this bilingual edition of Xenophon, as it provided too much competition for his own edition of Xenophon’s works which he published in 1561, Xenophontis omnia quae extant opera.

Unfortunately the book is heavily damaged, and thus difficult to photograph well. We welcome offers to sponsor the repair of this book, which would cost approximately £800. If you are interested in sponsoring the book’s repair, please contact the Librarian at: library@middletemple.org.uk.

Renae Satterley

Librarian

August 2022