: William Caxton by Duff E Gordon Edward Gordon - Caxton William approximately 1422-1491 or 1492; Printing England London History Origin and antecedents; Incunabula England London Bibliography; Printers Great Britain Biography; Westminster (London England) I

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An interesting point about these diagrams is, that they have short explanations written in them in ink, and in all copies where these inscriptions are found they are in the same handwriting. Oldys, who first drew attention to this peculiarity, supposed the handwriting to be that of Caxton himself, and though this is not impossible, it is more probable that this simple and monotonous task would be done by one of his assistants.

The suggestion which has sometimes been made that Caxton's wood-cuts were engraved abroad is quite without foundation. They are very often copied from those in foreign books, but their very clumsy execution would be well within the capacity of the veriest tyro in wood-engraving. Mr. Linton suggested that they might have been cut in soft metal, but as the blocks when found in later books often have marks clearly showing that they had been injured by worm-holes, this conjecture is untenable.

I traced out some time ago the history of two copies of this book, which is worth mentioning as showing the extraordinary manner in which Caxtons were mutilated and made up. About the year 1750 there were in existence two copies, A and B. A had two leaves in the middle, 52 and 53, taken from B, and after these leaves had been taken B came into the possession of W. Herbert, the bibliographer. A still wanted one leaf at end; B wanted three at the beginning, the two taken from the middle, and the leaf at the end.

In 1814 B belonged to Heber, the celebrated collector, who parted with it to Lord Spencer in exchange for some other books. In the same year Lord Spencer obtained a duplicate last leaf from the British Museum, which he added to this copy B.

In 1819, at the "White Knights" sale, Lord Spencer bought copy A, took out the last leaf from B and inserted it in A, thus making A practically complete. B was then sold as a duplicate, repurchased by Heber, and is now in the splendid library formed by Mr. Christie Miller at Britwell Court.

Fortunately in these days collectors are beginning to recognize that such doctored and made-up books are of little value or interest compared to genuine even if imperfect copies. Like paintings which have been "restored," the charm is gone. A few wealthy buyers who acquire libraries as part of the suitable furniture of a great house, and to whom the name and fine appearance of a rare book is all that is necessary, keep up such books to a fictitious value, but their day is slowly but surely passing and giving way to intelligent appreciation.

This first edition of Caxton's differs considerably in the text from all later editions, which follow the version printed at Oxford by Rood and Hunte in 1486.

It is a folio of 116 leaves, of which the first is blank, and has 38 lines to the page.

It is a folio of 80 leaves, of which four are blank and usually wanting. About twelve copies are known, and a good example is in the Lenox Library, New York.

Five copies are known, two in the British Museum, two in the Spencer collection at Manchester, and one in a private library in America. The book, which is a small quarto, should contain 52 leaves, the first and last being blank. One copy in the British Museum and one at Manchester are complete as regards text, but neither has both blanks.

The French edition which Caxton used has been clearly identified in a curious manner. In one or two places it contains bad misprints which Caxton translated blindly. In the life of St. Stephen the words "femmes veuves" have been misprinted "Saine venue," which Caxton renders "hole comen," in spite of the words making no sense. In the life of St. Genevieve "a name" occurs in place of "a navire," which appears in the English version as "at name" in place of "by ship." This French version is of great rarity, the only two copies known being in the British Museum and the Cambridge University Library.

The only copy known, which is perfect with the exception of the last blank leaf, is in the King's Library in the British Museum.

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