The Caxtons — Volume 12

It is interesting to consider that Caxton's work could well have been used for readings in Churches, making scripture more intelligable to ordinary people.

There has been some dispute as to whether this date refers to the completion of the translation, or to the completion of the printing. However, most bibliographies now concur that this must be the date of translation: BMC XI suggests that printing may well have commenced before the translation was finished, and that the actual printing may have been ongoing until March None of the types employed were used after in any of Caxton's other books.

By the s, most of Caxton's books were actually using printed initials rather than rubrication by hand. Painter suggests that either Caxton or his patron, Arundel, felt that the assignment to produce a book 'in the most best wise' required the extra effort of such manual colouration. Renaissance artists often portrayed Moses with two horns, as here.

This is a result of a mistranslation from Hebrew into the Latin - the original Hebrew actually refers to Moses' face as shining with light rather than being horned. Saint Michael is shown at far right in his great victory of slaying a dragon. Although some of the legends and miracle stories related may now seem to us outlandish, in the original work Voragine actually took great trouble to sift through the traditional tales and to weed out some of the more preposterous elements.

Their inclusion can actually help us to understand the medieval mindset. The beautiful Barbara was locked in a tower by her pagan father Dioscurus to keep her away from suitors. She secretly became a Christian and was eventually beheaded by her father after being painfully tortured.

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Dioscurus was struck dead by lightning in divine retribution, however. Barbara was one of the most popular saints of the Middle Ages. Her name was invoked against lightning and fire, and, by association, she became the patron of artillery and mining. Her feast day was celebrated on 4 December until the reform of the Roman Catholic liturgy when her name was taken out of the litany of saints. To the right is shown the illustration for the feast of the invention or founding of the Holy Cross, now referred to as the Triumph of the Cross.

According to the legend, the cross was 'rediscovered' over two hundred years after the Resurrection of Our Lord by Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine.

All three crosses were found buried; that of Jesus' was identified from the three after it was held over the body of a dead man and its power brought him back to life. Although we do not know who originally owned it, there are many signs of different readers' use, with annotations in the margins and markings to the text throughout.

My Novel by Pisistratus Caxton: Or, Varieties in English Life

Both the woodcut and its accompanying text have been censored by being heavily scored out. A later chapter on his translation where the same illustration is repeated receives the same treament. By the Fifteenth Century the shrine of Becket at Canterbury had become one of the most popular and frequently visited pilgrimage sites in England.

His feast was therefore removed from the calendar, his sainthood revoked, and his shrine and images of him destroyed. Following the Reformation, many Catholic books were either destroyed or defaced - some of them selectively, as in this case, to remove material now deemed to be objectionable. In many surviving copies of The Golden Legend , the contentious pages relating to Becket have been ripped out altogether. Leaves at both the beginning ai-aiv; avii-viii; bi; bviii; ci-ii and the end kki; kkiv; kkv-vi of the book have been supplied from a shorter copy than that of the main body of the volume.

Another difference between the two copies can be found in the initials supplied in manuscript: The Resurrection There are several names written in the book at various points. Those that are decipherable include 'G. Garton' on the opening page the longer copy and John Finch on the final page the shorter copy. This last page is extensively annotated below the colophon: Although this John Finch has not been traced, it is likely from the inscription that he would be a relative of one of the Earls of Winchilsea, possibly Sir Heneage Finch or his son Daniel Finch - who had at least fifteen children survive into adulthood.

James West was a politician and antiquary who, according to Dibdin, reputedly revived the 'love of black-letter lore and of Caxtonian typography'. Hunter was himself an avid collector of incunabula. Indeed, he acquired over books printed in the Fifteenth Century, including ten examples from the press of William Caxton. His library of some 10, books and manuscripts was bequeathed to the University of Glasgow, along with his other collections and money to house them.

The collections arrived in and were housed in the purpose built Hunterian Museum. The Hunterian, Scotland's oldest public museum, celebrates its bicentenary this year and will be reopening in Spring with new exhibitions dedicated to Hunter. A regularly changing small selection of books from Hunter' library will be displayed along side other artefacts from his collections.

In the meantime, this volume will be on display in the showcase in the Special Collections foyer on level 12 of the library from January to March Cordyale, or Four last thinges 24 March See also the virtual web exhibition on Printing in England and the February book of the month article on a fifteenth century manuscript version of the Legenda Aurea.

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Pierce Butler Legenda aurea - Legende doree - Golden legend: Courtney 'West, James ', rev. Driver The image in print: Gordon Duff William Caxton Chicago: Edward Hodnett English woodcuts, Oxford: Mary Rounceval, Charing Cross Washington: Seymour de Ricci A census of Caxtons [Oxford]: Scully 'The unmaking of a saint: Trevanion, and enters Cambridge University, where his college course is soon closed by the financial troubles of his father.

A further outline of this story would give no idea of its charm.

The mutual affection of the Caxtons is finely indicated, and the gradations of light and shade make a beautiful picture. Never before had Bulwer writen with so light a touch and so gentle a humor, and this novel has been called the most brilliant and attractive of productions. His gentle satire of certain phrases of political life was founded, doubtless, on actual experience. This book presents Volume 12 of the series. You can download Apple Books from the App Store. Opening the iTunes Store. If Apple Books doesn't open, click the Books app in your Dock.

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Click I Have iTunes to open it now. View More by This Author. Description The Caxtons are Austin Caxton, a scholar engaged on a great work, "The History of Human Error;" his wife Kitty, much his junior; his brother Roland, the Captain, who has served in the Napoleonic campaigns; the two children of the latter, Herbert and Blanche; and Austin's son, Pisistratus, who tells the story. Customer Ratings We have not received enough ratings to display an average for this book.