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Search results for: shakespeare

Book of the week – Thomas More

06 Monday Jul 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Tags

Act of Succession, Amerigo Vespucci, crime, Francis Bacon, Henry VII, historiated, History of Richard III, imprisonment, Latin, Plato, poverty, Raphael Hythloday, religious intolerance, Republic, Shakespeare, taxation, Thomas Hobbes, Thomas More (1478-1535), title page, Tower of London, treason, University of Utah, Utopia, war, woodcut, woodcut initials, Zangrius


THOMAE MORI ANGLI, VIRI ERVDITIONIS PARTIER AC…
Thomas More (1478-1535)
Lovanij: Apud Petrum Zangrium Tiletanum, sub fonte, Anno 1566
PA8553 A2 1566

This collection of Thomas More’s works includes the original Latin text of Utopia and is likely the fourth Latin printing of the work. It also includes History of Richard III, on which Shakespeare based his play, and a piece written during More’s imprisonment in the Tower of London.

Utopia, first printed in 1516, a satire on the administration of Henry VII, puts forward political and philosophical principles of a fictional ideal state. The literary form, most likely based on Plato’s “Republic,” was later adopted by Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes. The title has become a word synonymous with an optimistic but impractical social reform. The book addresses, among other social ills, religious intolerance, extreme punishment for crime, unjust taxation, and disparity of wealth between social classes. The protagonist, Raphael Hythloday, discovers “Utopia” when travelling with Amerigo Vespucci. In Utopia there is no war, no crime, and no poverty.

Thomas More refused to subscribe to a new oath required by the Act of Succession (1534). For this, he was cast into the London Tower, where he was kept, tried for treason nearly a year later, convicted and beheaded.

Title-page carries Zangrius woodcut device of a fountain within a historiated fame. Woodcut initials throughout. University of Utah copy bound in seventeenth-century calf with preserved gilded spine.

Shakespeare is coming! The First Folio will arrive at the City Library in October.

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Curiosity Killed the Cat

16 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

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Ben Jonson, Cambridge, Christmas, Church of England, E. Brewster, Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, England, English, Every Man in His Humour, G. Conyers, George Wither, H. Herringman, Henry Altemus, Horace, Innominate Press, James I, Kentucky, London, Louisville, M. Wotton, Much Ado About Nothing, Philadelphia, R. Chiswell, Robert Allot, T. Bassett, The New Inn, Thomas Cotes, Thomas Hodgkin, Trinity Hall, William Shakespeare


“Helter skelter, hang sorrow, care’ll kill a Cat, up-tails all, and a Louse for the Hangman.”

THE WORKS OF BEN JONSON WHICH WERE FORMERLY PRINTED IN TWO VOLUMES…
Ben Jonson (1573?-1637)
London: Printed by Thomas Hodgkin for H. Herringman, E. Brewster, T. Bassett, R. Chiswell, M. Wotton, G. Conyers, MDCXCII
Third folio

The Works of Ben Jonson was first published in 1616 in folio. It was reprinted in 1640. Both of these editions appeared in two volumes. This, the third folio, is the first Works to appear in one volume. The 1692 edition includes a comedy, “The New Inn,” appearing in the Works for the first time. Ben Jonson was a friend of William Shakespeare. In 1616, James I granted Jonson a pension, giving him a stature close to what might be termed the first Poet Laureate of England. That same year, the publication of his collected works, in folio format, helped elevate the acceptance of drama as literature. The 1692 folio contains Jonson’s plays and poetry, translations of Horace, and a collection of leges convivales, or rules of the house, used in the tavern where Jonson spent much time, this last also added to the Works for the first time. In the third folio, the “care’ll kill a Cat” line is in Act I, scene 4 of “Every Man in His Humour,” written in 1598. William Shakespeare acted in its first performance. The line in its earliest printed iteration uses the word “pox,” not “Louse.”


PR2751-A2-1632-pg-122

“What, courage man! what though care killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care.”

[MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S COMEDIES, HISTORIES, AND TRAGEDIES: PUBLISHED…]
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
London: Printed by Tho. Cotes for Robert Allot, 1632
“The second impression”

About one year after Jonson wrote and produced “Every Man in His Humour,” William Shakespeare used a similar quote in his play, “Much Ado About Nothing.”



“Care killed the Cat. It is said that ‘a cat has nine lives,’ yet care would wear them all out.”

DICTIONARY OF PHRASE AND FABLE: GIVING THE DERIVATION, SOURCE, OR ORIGIN OF…
Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1810-1897)
Philadelphia: Henry Altemus Co., 1898
New ed., rev., corrected, and enl., to which is added a concise bibliography of English literature
“Altemus edition”

Ebenezer Cobham Brewer attended Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he received his degree in law in 1835. He was ordained as a reverend in the Church of England in 1838. In 1856, he began putting together his “dictionary of phrase and fable.” Among many sources, he used correspondence with readers of his previous work, Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar (1841). Dictionary was first published in 1870, with a first revised edition in 1894. The work became so well-known that it is referred to simply as “Brewer.”

Since we are as curious as cats, here are a few more cat references from “Brewer:”

Cat I’ the Adage (The). The adage referred to is, the cat loves fish, but does not like to wet her paws.
– Letting I dare not wait upon I would,
Like the poor cat I’ the adage
Shakespeare, Macbeth [Shakespeare, again!]

Cat Proverbs.
A cat has nine lives. A cat is more tenacious of life than other animals, because it generally lights upon its feet.


And one more makes nine:


A CHRISTMAS CAROL

George Wither
Louisville, KY: Innominate Press, 1971
PR2392 .C4 1971

Shakespeare is coming! The First Folio will arrive at the City Library in October.

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A Donation Makes Poly Poly’s

26 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by rarebooks in Donations

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

agriculture, alphabet, Amsterdam, anatomy, Antonio Blado, Antwerp, architecture, astrology, astronomy, Barbara Chavira, Basel, Bible, Bonaventura Elzevir, bookbinders, booksellers, celibacy, censored, Christianity, Christopher Plantin, commerce, creation, Daniel Elzevir, Elizabeth Isengrin, England, English, engraved, Ethiopian Church, Europe, expurgated, fable, festivals, French, frontispiece, German, God, Greek, Hebrew, heresy, hunting, Index of Forbidden Books, indulgences, initials, Italian, italic, Judaism, King Arthur, Latin, law, Leonhart Fuchs, libraries, Louis Elzevir, Lucovico Arrighi, Lyons, magic, Martin Luther, mathematics, medicine, Michael Isengrin, minerology, monks, music, navigation, paganism, painting, pharmacology, physics, Polydore Vergil, Pope Gregory XIII, priest, printer, printing, Protestant, Rare Books Division, Reformation, religion, Roman, Roman Catholic Church, Rome, Salt Lake City Public Library, Shakespeare, Spanish, sports, theater, Thomas Guarin, Tournai, trade, typography, Utrecht, vellum, vignettes, weaponry, winemaking, writing

The Salt Lake City Public Library donated a sixteenth century book to the Rare Books Division, thanks to the well-trained eye of City Library staffer Barbara Chavira. Barbara worked part-time in the Rare Books Division for many years. Her passion for the art of books, in all forms and over the centuries, brought us this important and welcome addition to the rare book collections. Thank you, Barbara ! Thank you, City Library !

PA8585-V4-D4-1576-a4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POLYDORI VIRGILII VRBINATIS DE RERVM INVENTORIBVS…
Romae, apud haeredes antonij, Bladij, Impressores Camerales: Anno. M.D. LXXVI (1576)

Polydore Vergil (ca. 1470-1555), an Italian priest, spent much of his life in England. He is recognized for his history of England, a work that Shakespeare is known to have used as one of his sources. Vergil used critical analysis in his narration of historical events. His thesis that King Arthur was little more than fable, for instance, shocked contemporary readers.

It is his second published work, however, for which he was best known in his time. First printed in 1499, De rerum inventoribus (On Discovery), was a work unlike anything that had been published before. An inventory of historical “firsts,” it combined a wide array of subjects in an attempt to determine which individual or culture first invented things such as the alphabet, astronomy, magic, printing, libraries, hunting, festivals, writing, painting, weaponry and religion. Vergil culled much of his work from a wide range of ancient and contemporary writers. He focused on the genius of man in the origin or invention of all things – heretical thinking at the time.

In Book I he investigated the creation of the world, the origin of religion, the origin of the concepts of “god” and the word “God.” He suggested that much of Christianity had been adapted from Judaism or Roman paganism. Books II and III were studies of a wide-range of topics, mostly concerning the practical and mechanical arts including anatomy, astrology, law, medicine, commerce, mathematics, mineralogy, music, pharmacology, physics, trade, agriculture, architecture, sports, theater, navigation, and winemaking. The work was translated into French in 1521, German in 1537, English in 1546, and Spanish in 1551.

In 1521, more than two decades after he wrote the first three books, and at the dawn of Martin Luther’s protestant reformation, Vergil added five more books concentrating on Christianity. Vergil reworked his discussion of Christianity in deference to the Roman Catholic Church, which objected to Vergil’s reference to religion as a matter of scientific investigation. In spite of this concession, Vergil anticipated the scientific approach to religion that would become the norm a century later. The intended salve to the church failed when Vergil criticized monks, priestly celibacy, and indulgences. In 1564 the work was declared heretical and all editions were added to the Index of Forbidden Books. However, the work was so popular that two censored editions were printed after the ban.

This 1576 expurgated edition was sanctioned by Pope Gregory XIII in its front matter.

PA8585-V4-D4-1576-a2

PA8585-V4-D4-1570-CaGlorius

It is significant that this edition was printed by the heirs of Antonio Blado’s shop.

PA8585-V4-D4-1576-titlepage

PA8585-V4-D4-1576-regestvm

Blado worked in Rome from 1515 to 1567 as a printer in the service of the papacy. He was well-known for his scholarly works in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; and a 1549 document in Ethiopic type for the Ethiopian Church. Blado is also known for his use of an early italic type created by Ludovico Arrighi. The Rare Books Division holds five books printed by Antonio Blado.

This 1576 edition of Vergil joins an edition from 1570 and another from 1671, already in the rare book collections.

PA8585-V4-D4-1570-titlepagePA8585-V4-D4-1570-colophon

POLYDORI VERGILII VRBINATIS, DE RERUM INVENTORIBUS…
Polydore Vergil (1470? – 1555)
Basilea: 1570

Printer Thomas Guarin (1529-1592) was born in Tournai. He worked in Lyons as a bookseller, but by 1557 was in Basel, where he married Elizabeth Isengrin, the daughter of a printer. Guarin took over his father-in-law’s small press at Michael Isengrin’s death. Michael Isengrin had printed one of the many editions of De rerum inventoribus to be published in Vergil’s lifetime. Each of these editions contained significant variations. Isengrin printed Leonhart Fuchs’s sumptuous De Historia stirpivm. Along with the reprint of classical works, Guarin issued several editions of the Bible, published in both Latin and German, and one in Spanish. His printer’s device was a palm tree.

PA8585-V4-D4-1570-printersdevice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PA8585-V4-D4-1671-frontispiece

POLYDORI VERGILII URBINATIS, DE INVENTORIBUS RERUM…
Polydore Vergil (1470?-1555)
Amstelodami: apud Danielem Elzebirius, 1671

Daniel Elzevir came from a distinguished family of booksellers, bookbinders, printers and publishers. Louis Elzevir (1546-1617), a Protestant émigré, began the business in Antwerp in about 1565, after he left a job with Christopher Plantin’s print shop. The Elzevir enterprise became one of Europe’s largest printing houses. Louis’s sons expanded the business with branches in The Hague, Utrecht, and Amsterdam. The Amsterdam branch was established in 1638 by Louis III. His partner was Daniel Elzevir, son of Bonaventura Elzevir, son of Louis. Daniel continued the family reputation for fine typography and design work. This edition of De Rerum inventoribus also contains another of Vergil’s works, Prodigiis, written in 1526 but not printed until 1531. The engraved frontispiece for this edition includes the invention of printing as one of its main themes. Numerous carved initials and vignettes. Bound in contemporary vellum.

Shakespeare is coming! The First Folio will arrive at the City Library in October.

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Book of the Week – Scenes from the Winter’s Tale

16 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Ancient Spanish Ballads, chromolithographs, Henry Warren, Owen Jones, The Grammar of Ornament, William Shakespeare

Shakespeare, Scenes from the Winter’s Tale, 1866, Title
Shakespeare, Scenes from the Winter’s Tale, 1866, Act I Scene II
Shakespeare, Scenes from the Winter’s Tale, 1866, Act IV Scene IV

Scenes from the Winter’s Tale
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
London: Day and Son, 1866
PR2883 S28 1866

This is the first edition of this pictorial retelling of Shakespeare’s stylized play set in ancient Greece. Both text and illustration were designed as a single entity by Owen Jones, united by the use of one color scheme and type of ornament on each two-page spread. The decorative motifs used are derived from historical styles illustrated in Jones’ The Grammar of Ornament. This book is illustrated with forty-eight chromolithographs, illuminated by Owen Jones over figures by Henry Warren. Jones and Warren began their collaboration in 1841 with Ancient Spanish Ballads (1841). The books they worked on together provide an integration of ornament, drawn text, and illustrated figure unique in the history of printing.

Text and facing illustrations are set in broad decorative borders. Bound in publisher’s brown cloth. Front cover is blocked in gold, with elaborate borders in red and purple and central gilt illustration of a flowering plant; the same decoration is repeated in blind on the back cover. Title is gilt on spine, with added decoration. All edges gilt.

Shakespeare is coming! The First Folio will arrive at the City Library in October.

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Book of the Week – The First and Second Volumes of Chronicles

28 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Tags

black letter, Rafael Holinshead, type, William Shakespeare

Cover, 1587
Title Page, 1587
Introduction to the History of Ireland, 1587


The First and Second Volumes of Chronicles
Raphael Holinshead (d. 1580?)
London: 1587
Second edition
DA130 H6 1587

A monumental history of England, Ireland, and Scotland, the profusely illustrated first edition of Chronicles was published in 1577. The second, enlarged edition was published in 1587. It is in three folio volumes (usually bound as two). The type is black letter in double columns. The pages are standard folio size, and the second edition is without illustrations. The text runs to about 3.5 million words, roughly equal to the total of the Authorized Version of the Bible, the complete dramatic works of Shakespeare, Boswell’s Life of Johnson, and War and Peace combined. The Chronicles are remembered not for themselves but for one of their readers – William Shakespeare.

The Chronicles were an important source for thirteen of Shakespeare’s thirty-seven plays. It was the 1587, second edition which Shakespeare read.

Engraved title-pages. Rebound ca. 1982 in a full conservation binding of modern three-quarter levant and unbleached linen. Geometric blind stamping to leather spine and corner pieces. Title hand tooled on spine in gilt.

Shakespeare is coming! The First Folio will arrive at the City Library in October.

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