Provenance

“A little bundle of time”: Werner Rolevinck’s epic chronicle of the world, 1474

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The Fasciculus temporum is an epic chronicle of ecclesiastical and world history, beginning with the biblical account of Creation up to events of the 15th century, such as the invention of printing. As well as being a bestseller in its day, the chronicle is an innovative example of early printing and represents one of the first examples of a writer working closely with a printer to ensure their intentions are carried out. The author in question, Werner Rolevinck (1425-1502), was born near Laer in Westphalia, Germany, the son of a prosperous farmer. He was probably educated in Cologne and in 1447 entered the Carthusian monastery of St. Barbara where he remained until his death. In his years at St Barbara’s, Rolevinck (or Rolewinck) produced more than 50 works, mainly theological and devotional in nature, but he is best known for the Fasciculus temporum, the title of which is commonly translated as “A little bundle of time”.

First printed in Cologne in 1474 and one of the first books by a living author to be published, the Fasciculus temporum became enormously popular and was reprinted in numerous editions and translations, including close to 40 editions during the author’s lifetime. It greatly influenced the major world chronicles that followed, including Hartmann Schedel’s famous Liber cronicarum (“Nuremberg chronicle”), first published by Anton Koberger in 1493.

FasciculusBabel
Woodcut of the Tower of Babel from the 1476 edition, also showing manuscript waste used as endpapers on the Lambeth copy ([ZZ]1476.2)
Lambeth Palace Library holds copies of two later editions of Rolevinck’s chronicle, the first printed in Louvain by Johnann Veldener in 1476 and the other published in Cologne around 1483. The former ([ZZ]1476.2) bears the arms of John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury, on the binding and has leaves from a medieval manuscript as endpapers. The 1483 copy ([ZZ]1500.6.01) is described in the catalogues of the libraries of both Whitgift and Archbishop Richard Bancroft, who purchased Archbishop Whitgift’s books after his death. These editions corrected the errors that slipped into the printing of the first in 1474.

The Fasciculus temporum is an innovative work in several ways, not least in making a significant contribution to the organisation and presentation of historical information on the printed page. More than any previous writer before him, Rolevinck employed the layout of the page to structure his chronicle. The arrangement is complex, presenting unique challenges to the printer by using lines, shapes, images and text to convey the flow of time horizontally across the page. Rolevinck designed his book with two parallel timelines running continuously as the pages are turned, one running from the date of the creation of the world (established as 5199 B.C.) and the other beginning with the birth of Christ. This display allows the reader to compare important historical events with the key events of Christianity; the upper page is devoted to biblical and ecclesiastical history, while the lower part of the page covers secular events, including Classical mythology. A woodcut strip running across the centre of each page is separated from the rest of the text above and below by two sets of lines. Placed inside this band are circles containing the names of popes, saints, classical writers, and legendary figures from the Old Testament.

Rolevinck's_Fasciculus_Temporum,_1474 wiki
Woodcut timeline with text above and below in the Cardiff University copy of the 1474 edition.

The text provides some of the earliest evidence of collaboration between author and printer in the design of printed books. In the colophon of first edition, printer Arnold Ther Hoernen (d.1483 or 1484) states that he is working from a manuscript provided by Rolevinck himself, “following the first exemplar which this venerable author himself wrote by hand completely.” It seems likely that the original manuscript also provided a layout for the printer to follow; Ther Hoernen had to be particularly skilled to replicate this design successfully and the numerous errors which had to be fixed in later editions demonstrate just how difficult a task this turned out to be!

Like many incunabula, the Fasciculus temporum is illustrated with a small number of woodcuts, some of which appear more than once – for example, a woodcut of an anonymous city on fire is used to represent the burning of Troy as well as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. There are, however, unique and particularly nice illustrations for Noah’s Ark and the Tower of Babel, Several different woodcuts are employed to illustrate the second half of the book, which is full of references to signs and omens such as earthquakes, monstrous births, and the appearance of comets and eclipses.

Fasciculus1
Woodcuts of Noah’s Ark and a rainbow on [a3v] of the 1476 edition. The text was rubricated by hand in red ink after printing following the earlier manuscript tradition ([ZZ]1476.2)
Rolevinck’s timeline takes us right up to his own lifetime with the papacy of Sixtus IV (1471-1484) and highlights the invention of printing and the emerging mass availability of books. Rolevinck first shares his thoughts on book collecting while describing the Library of Alexandria: “From this it is clear what great diligence ancient times showed in collecting books. Let those blush for shame who do not acquire a good supply of books when it can be done, of course, by small cost.” Rolevinck’s belief is that the rise of printing has finally made the noble goal of collecting books available to everyone:

“[Printing is] the art of arts, the science of sciences [which will] enrich and illuminate this world in its evil state. The unlimited virtue of books … is now spread by this discovery to every tribe, people, nation, and language everywhere …”

As one of the first true bestsellers, the Fasciculus temporum certainly played its part in bringing the ‘unlimited virtue of books’ to a wider audience than ever before.

Bibliography

Matthew S. Champion. The fullness of time: Temporalities of the fifteenth-century Low Countries. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

“Fasciculus temporum”. Open book: News from the Rare Books Department of Special Collections at the J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah. Accessed 28 July, 2020. https://openbook.lib.utah.edu/book-of-the-week-fasciculus-temporum/

L. C. Ward. “Authors and authority: The influence of Jean Gerson and the “Devotio moderna” on the Fasciculus temporum of Werner Rolevinck”, in: Die Kartäuser und ihre Welt. Kontakte und gegenseitige Einflüsse, I (Analecta Cartusiana, 62), 1993, pp. 171-188

Mark A. Lotito. The reformation of historical thought. Leiden: Brill, 2019.

Virginia Moscrip. “Werner Rolevinck’s Fasciculus temporum”. University of Rochester Library Bulletin, Vol. IX, No. 3, Spring 1954. Accessed 28 July, 2020. https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/3422

Item of Interest: Biography of a Book

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We are excited to introduce a new series of monthly blog posts, each of which will focus on a particular “Item of Interest” within Lambeth Palace Library. From a closer examination of books and manuscripts in our collections to glimpses into the work that is carried out by our staff, we hope these posts will offer an intriguing insight into our world renowned library.

To get us started this month, Jessica Hudson (Sion Project Cataloguer) is exploring the provenance of an item in the Sion College Collection.

Biography of a Book:

“Where words fail, music speaks”, so said Hans Christian Andersen, but the copy of Antiquae musicae auctores septem (G81.1/M47) found among the works in the Sion College Collection, speaks volumes about its ownership history. Through the inscriptions and marginal notes that it bears on its pages, it tells of the hands that it passed through, the traded paths that it followed and reveals the voice and thoughts of its former owners.

As a printed work it charts the history of ancient Greek music through eminent writers of ancient times (such as Aristoxenus), drawn together and edited by the Danish scholar Marcus Meibom (1630-1711). Meibom was best known as an historian of music and he was also, incidentally, a Librarian. Antiquae musicae examines musical theory with mathematical precision and is not only regarded as Meibom’s most significant work, but one that stands as a pioneer in its field and a milestone in musical scholarship. It was printed in 1652 by Louis Elzevir at his workshop in Amsterdam and the title page includes the principal printer’s device used by Elzevir which depicts Minerve with the motto, “Ne extra oleas” (“nothing but the olive”). Bound in vellum with gently yapped edges, it is a fine volume and an interesting addition to the library. As an artefact however, it has yet more to tell.

A potted account of the book’s movements over the course of its history can be found on the front flyleaf, where there is an inscription which reads:

Image 1J W Callcott. Bought of Mr. Faulder Bond St. out of the collection of Dr. Shepherd, Canon of Windsor

With a little research it has been possible to flesh out the named characters, lending an interesting tale of provenance which reminds us that the history of a book extends beyond its composition, printing and binding and rolls through time, being shaped by its owners and readers.

The first name that appears is that of John Wall Callcott who was born on 20th November 1766 in Kensington.  He was elder brother to the renowned artist Sir Augustus Wall Callcott (20 February 1779 – 25 November 1844), after whom the engraved portrait of John (see below) was created. During his early schooling John Callcott learned Greek and Latin and was evidently still proficient in later years, as attested by the Antiquae musicae auctores septem which includes parallel Greek and Latin text. Indeed some of the extensive marginalia found in the book is likely to come from Callcott as he digested, interpreted and commented on the work. Although a promising student of the classics, Callcott’s true passion lay with music, an interest derived from listening to the organ being played during regular visits to Kensington parish Church where his father Thomas had found employment as a brick layer. From around 1778 Callcott received musical instruction from Henry Whitney, the church organist, and would later become a pupil of Haydn (1732 –1809). From here he developed his skills and would grow to become a composer of some renown. During his adult life Callcott was celebrated principally for the award-winning glees that he composed (such as Drink to me only with thine eyes) and for his extensive knowledge of musical theory, becoming a highly regarded teacher and scholar of music (lecturing for example at the Royal Academy of Music). This facet makes his link to the book more poignant, as he may well have gained greater insight into musical theory from reading this very volume, applying his knowledge when he later produced his own much praised work Musical Grammar in 1806. Beyond the book, there is a further Lambeth connection with Callcott, as he was appointed organist to the Asylum for Female Orphans in Lambeth in 1789.

Sadly Callcott suffered a nervous breakdown in 1808 from which recovered, only to relapse in 1813. He was committed to the Fishponds Asylum, where he would spend his final years. Callcott died on 15th May 1821 and was buried in Kensington churchyard.

Image 2John Wall Callcott by Frederick Christian Lewis Sr, after original by Sir Augustus Wall Callcott. (Image courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery).

A further inscription on the title page of volume I tells us that it was in 1797 that Calcott purchased Antiquae musicae from “Mr. Faulder, bookseller in Bond Street”. The bookdealer has been identified as Robert Faulder (1747/48-1815). Robert was both a bookbinder and bookseller operating from New Bond Street in the late 18th century (his premises included 42 New Bond St from 1780-1811 and numbers 48 and 46 New Bond St in 1811). Faulder began trading in 1780, having completed his apprenticeship with James Robson (1733 – 1806). He was freed from his apprenticeship in 1779 while working for the Merchant Taylors’ Company. One of Faulder’s premises is depicted in a satirical cartoon entitled “Sandwich Carrots”, which was produced in 1796 by the engraver James Gillray (1756-1815). Looking beyond the somewhat salacious figures in the scene, you can see his shop front filled with numerous volumes (though the titles on display are added for comedy value, rather than being an accurate reflection of Faulder’s stock). The male character purportedly represents the notorious 5th Earl of Sandwich and strangely forms a connection with the last link in our provenance chain through his father the 4th Earl of Sandwich who was the patron of the earliest owner recorded in the inscription.

Image 3Sandwich-Carrots! – dainty Sandwich-Carrots, engraved by James Gillray (1756-1815)

In 1797 (the year that Callcott purchased the book) Faulder had run into a little hot water when the satirist John Williams (known by the pseudonym of Anthony Pasquin) sued him for libel (a further 42 publishers were to be tried following Faulder’s hearing). The case surrounded the sale of copies of a poetical work produced by William Gifford, The Baviad. Williams claimed that the volume defamed him and many across the land. The case was heard by Lord Kenyon, who dismissed the charges leaving Faulder free to continue on with his business. The proceedings were published in 1811 around the time of Williams’ death of typhus which he had contracted in America where he had fled following the failed court case.

Dr Anthony Shepherd (born 1721) is the final intriguing character recorded who touches the life of our book. He was educated at St. John’s College, Cambridge graduating in 1744 and continued his education at Christ’s College where he gained his MA in 1747. He would rise to become Plumian Professor of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge in 1760 and was appointed as George III’s Master of Mechanics in 1763. He had a great taste for music and it is possible that the more extensive notes which are found in the margins of the book are those of Shepherd. However, his musical abilities apparently never outshone his talent for astronomy.

Image 4Anthony Shepherd (1721?–1796), Plumian Professor of Astronomy (1760–1796), by Gerard van der Puyl (1750–1824). (Image courtesy of The Old Schools, University of Cambridge).

As a clergyman Shepherd held a series of livings including Canon of Windsor (1777-1796) and Rector of Eastling, Kent (1782-1796). However, he always resided in Cambridge, attending to his duties at the University. There are several documents held within Lambeth’s archives which are linked to Shepherd’s clerical career, including his ordination papers (FP XLII f. 14).

Despite his evidently sharp mind, the daughter of Dr Charles Burney rather unkindly described Shepherd as “dullness itself”. Although a little colour is added to his character through his association with Captain Cook who named the Shepherd islands after his friend in 1774. Shepherd died the year before Faulder’s brush with the law, but it is through him that we have an interesting connection between the church, music and the volume now in the Sion Collection – neatly rounding off our story.

References:

Gifford, William (1811). The Baviad and Maeviad. 8th edition. London: John Murray: https://archive.org/stream/baviadandmaevia01pasqgoog#page/n157/mode/2upp , pp. 129-179.

Husk, G. & Grove G. (n.d.). A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Callcott, John. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Dictionary_of_Music_and_Musicians/Callcott,_John

John Wall Callcott. Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911. http://www.theodora.com/encyclopedia/c/john_wall_callcott.html

John Williams (satirist) (2017). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Williams_(satirist)

Library of Congress (n.n.) Sandwich-Carrots! – dainty Sandwich-Carrots. Prints & Photographs Online Catalog. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001695088/

Olleson, P. (2004). Callcott, John Wall (1766-1821). In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, pp. 543-544. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Oxford University (n.d.). British Book Trade Index.  http://bbti.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Taub, Liba (2004). Shepherd, Anthony (1721?–1796). In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, pp. 240-241. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The Gentleman’s Magazine (1796). Volume LXVI, pt. 2. London.

‘Faith seeking understanding’: Finding Saint Anselm at Lambeth Palace Library

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Today marks the launch of the second year of The Community of Saint Anselm, a community of prayer, theological reflection and service, based at Lambeth Palace and established by Archbishop Justin Welby for Christians aged 20-35. The Community draws its name from Saint Anselm of Canterbury – a Benedictine monk, renowned scholar and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1114.  Standing out in history as a teacher, philosopher and theologian (Vaughn, 2012), Anselm expounded the close relationship between knowledge of God and love of God, encapsulated in his motto, ‘faith seeking understanding’.  It is therefore fitting that his prayers, letters and theological texts find a home among the manuscripts and earliest of printed books treasured in the Library of Lambeth Palace.

anselms-arms
Arms of Archbishop Anselm, from MS 555 f.4

Anselm himself was committed to monastic life and learning.  Despite being turned away when he first sought to become a monk at the age of 15, he went on to become an influential Prior and Abbot of Bec monastery in France, where he taught the monks and wrote a number of works that gained him a reputation for deploying reason to understand faith, and developing the ontological argument for the existence of God (Shannon, 1999). These works can be found in a number of manuscripts held at Lambeth Palace Library, dating from the 12th to 15th century.  The earliest of these is a manuscript compilation of Anselm’s treatises and a collection of his letters, compiled and copied in the 1120s by historian and monk, William of Malmesbury (MS 224).

ms224
MS 224 f.152r, with headline and numbers added in red by Archbishop Parker

When asked to become Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093, Anselm saw it as his duty to lead the church in moral and doctrinal teaching, and to continue to develop his own understanding alongside that of his monks at Christ Church Canterbury (Shannon, 1999). It was here that the second earliest volume of Anselm’s work held at the Library was made, in the late 1120s: a major collection of letters that remained at the Cathedral Priory until the Dissolution (MS 59). 

ms59-f-64
MS 59 f.64

Along with several of the Anselm manuscripts in the Library today, both of these volumes feature in Archbishop Abbott’s catalogue of Archbishop Bancroft’s personal library, the founding collection of Lambeth Palace Library in 1610.  They also bear the classmarks of Cambridge University, where they would be preserved during the Commonwealth occupation of Lambeth Palace.  A list of contents written in the hand of Archbishop Sancroft in both volumes shows the care afforded to them on their return to Lambeth, while headlines added in MS 224 by Matthew Parker, Archbishop to Elizabeth I, and annotations in MS 59 believed to indicate Thomas Cranmer’s ownership (Selwyn, 1996), demonstrate that these volumes had long been the subject of close attention by earlier Archbishops. One annotator’s references to ‘alius liber epistolarum’ in MS 224 suggest that these volumes may even have been studied side by side.  Further enforcing the long-standing esteem in which Anselm’s works were held, these works can also be found adorned within presentation volumes, such as a fine late 14th or early 15th century illuminated copy of his meditations copied alongside work from Bernard of Clairvaux and undoubtedly prepared for a dignitary (MS 194).

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MS 194 f.1

Thomas Becket requested Anselm’s canonization in 1163, shortly after his own appointment as Archbishop, and a copy of the Bull of Pope Alexander III responding to this request can be found in Lambeth’s collections (MS 159 f.76v). It lies within a volume of Saints’ Lives, bound for Archbishop Sancroft, which also contains a Life and Miracles of Anselm written by his chaplain and secretary, Eadmer of Canterbury, as well as the only known copy of Anselm’s Life written by John of Salisbury, Bishop of Chartres, on Thomas Becket’s request. The presence of a second bull regarding his canonization, however, listed within Archbishop Morton’s Register for 1494, suggests that he may not actually have been canonized until three centuries later (Reg. Morton 1, f.220).

The path did not run straight for Anselm, however, and the earliest archival item in the Library’s collections to make reference to him evidences the more troubled aspects of Anselm’s career. Thought to date from 1100, the document is a notice from King Henry I in Latin and English, confirming the ownership of Anselm and the Canterbury monks of all the lands that they held in the time of King Edward and King William I (CM/XI/1).  This marked the return of lands confiscated by William II after Archbishop Lanfranc’s death, which were temporarily given back as a condition of Anselm’s acceptance of the Archbishopric, but seized again in 1095 as part of the long-running Investiture Controversy over whether the King or Pope had primary authority to invest ecclesiastical symbols of office. Even after this notice, the Controversy continued and, having already spent five years of his office in exile in 1095-1100, Anselm was exiled again from 1103-1106, until the dispute was settled at the Synod of Westminster in 1107 (Kemp, [n.d.]).

cm_xi_i
CM/XI/I

It was during the earlier of these periods of exile during his tenure as Archbishop that Anselm completed what is often considered his greatest work, Cur Deus homo (“Why God was man”). This is the text printed in the earliest of 7 incunabula containing Anselm’s work held in Lambeth’s collection. Printed between 1474 and 1500 in the continental printing centres of Strasbourg, Passau, Nuremberg and Basel, they illustrate Anselm’s ongoing influence.  This first printed edition of Cur Deus homo is believed to have been printed in 1474 in Strasbourg by George Husner (F220.A6 [**]). Demonstrating Anselm’s typically rational approach, it is formulated as a dialogue between Anselm and his student, Boso, and argues for the necessity of Jesus’ nature as fully human and fully divine in order to atone for mankind’s sin against an infinite God (Williams, 2016). This copy was purchased in 2002 by the Friends of Lambeth Palace Library.

cur-deus-homo
Cur Deus homo f.1r (F220.A6 [**], 1474)
This work features again amongst Lambeth’s incunabula, in an edition printed 11 years later in 1485 in Passau by Johann Petri (F220.A6 [**]).  Here it is bound with Anselm’s short narrative on the Passion of Christ, De planctu Marie, which again takes the form of a dialogue, this time between Anselm and the Virgin Mary, and aimed at a young audience. Bound with a copy of 5th-century priest Julianus Pomerius’ treatise, De vita contemplative, it still retains its original 15th century wooden boards and clasp, and was presented to the Library by the Friends in 2000.

f220-a6
F220.A6 [**] (1485) manuscript pastedown and printed title page
The attention of eminent writers, scholars and theologians is evident in these incunabula.  Opera [et] tractatus beati Anselmi archiepiscopi cantuariēn ordinis Sancti Benedicti (1491), carries a donor inscription gifting the book to Archbishop Tait from R.C. Jenkins in 1869 ([ZZ]1491.2). This was most likely the theological writer Robert Charles Jenkins, rector of Lyminge with Paddlesworth in Kent, and a frequent correspondent with Tait.

tait
Donor inscription from Jenkins to Tait in [ZZ]1491.2, front pastedown
Significantly, one late 15th century edition of Anselm’s works ([ZZ]1500.7) has been signed by historian and martyrologist, John Foxe, who would later include Anselm’s history and letters in his Actes and Monuments. The copy retains its early 16th century blind-stamped binding by Nicholas Speirinck and, along with several of these incunabula, contains fine examples of manuscript waste used in the printed volume’s pastedowns. Its title handwritten on the fore-edge reminds us of the book’s history in libraries at one point shelved with the fore-edges displayed, while a second copy of this edition, transferred from Sion College Library, displays the staple marks of hasps from its previous residence in a chained library (L40.4/43). Sion’s copy also retains a contemporary blind-tooled calf binding with a dragon motif, listed on the animals roll as made in Cambridge.

john-foxe
John Foxe’s inscription on the title page of [ZZ]1500.7
Anselm’s presence in the collections continues throughout the centuries, with further volumes of his works and studies on them dating from the 16th century through to the modern day.  As the second year of the Community of Saint Anselm gets underway, these volumes are further testimony to the influence of this faithful monastic theologian at Lambeth Palace and in Christian thought from the 11th century to today.

e2649-a6
Title page of D. Anselmi Cantuariensis archiepiscopi … in omnes sanctissimi Pauli apostoli epistolas enarrationes … printed in 1533 in Coloniae (E2649.(A6) [**])

Further reading and bibliography

  • Kemp, John Arthur, ‘Saint Anselm of Canterbury: Archbishop and philosopher‘, in Encyclopaedia Britannica (n.d.)
  • Selwyn, D.G., The Library of Thomas Cranmer (Oxford, 1996)
  • Shannon, William H., Anselm: the joy of faith (New York: Crossroad, 1999)
  • Sharpe, Richard, ‘Collecting Anselm’, in Lambeth Palace Library: treasures from the collection of the Archbishops of Canterbury, edited by Richard Palmer and Michelle P. Brown (London: Scala, 2010), pp.38-39
  • Vaughn, Sally N., Archbishop Anselm 1093-1109: Bec missionary, Canterbury Primate, Patriarch of another world (Farnham: Ashgate, 2012)
  • Williams, Thomas, ‘Saint Anselm‘, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta (2016)

Sion College Library Provenance Project

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A83.2ap/H22
Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755), a bibliophile and bishop of the Church of England, donated many books to Sion College Library (A83.2ap/H22)
P1210364
Gilt armorial stamp of Sion College Library

Sion College Library was founded in the early 17th century for the clergy of the City of London. The Sion collections, now held by Lambeth Palace Library, have been greatly enriched over the centuries by numerous donations and bequests. These collections strongly reflect the very wide community of citizens who supported Sion College Library: everyone from nobility, surgeons and attorneys to merchants, stationers and many of London’s clergy. The names of each donor were listed by the College in a volume known as the Book of Benefactors (see Sion L40.2/E64 for a transcription), but many of the books also contain physical evidence of their previous owners.

20141117_155814
Do you recognise this hand-painted armorial bookplate found in a Lutheran Bible of 1536? (A13.6/L97)

With a major project currently underway to catalogue the 30,000 early printed books in the Sion collections, it has become clear that marks of provenance are both numerous and varied, and that evidence of previous ownership, such as bookplates, inscriptions, ink stamps and armorial bindings, can reveal the history of an individual book. Inspired by the University of Pennsylvania’s wonderful Provenance Online Project (POP), the Printed Books team here at Lambeth have created the Sion College Library Provenance Project:

Home page of the Sion College Library Project
Home page of the Sion College Library Provenance Project
18th century bookplate of the Dutch sea captain, J. G. Michiels (A96.6/J23)
18th century bookplate of the Dutch sea captain, J. G. Michiels (A96.6/J23)

The project’s home page allows you to view all of our images, organised in chronological order with the most recent shown first. There are also separate sets for each different category of provenance mark (with most types divided into “identified” and “unidentified” examples): – Identified bookplates – Unidentified bookplates – Identified inscriptions – Unidentified inscriptions – Identified bindings – Unidentified bindings – Identified stamps – Unidentified stamps – Illegible inscriptions – Sion College Library marks – Binding waste – Annotations. You can also browse the collections using the tags we have added to each entry.

In addition to showing the different marks of provenance within the Sion collections, the project also aims to seek your collaboration and comments to help decipher and identify as many of our provenance marks as possible. If you know of any information that would help identify an entry, please feel free to sign in and leave us a comment or transcription! We look forward to hearing from you.

Click here to visit the project: Sion College Library Provenance Project

A83.2a B14E (2)
Can you decipher this inscription? Let us know! (A83.2a/B14E)

The Printed Books Team

The marginalia of Sir Thomas Smith: Reading the mind of a Renaissance scholar

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P1200920When the Library of Sion College closed its doors in 1996, the College’s collection of rare and early printed books were transferred to Lambeth Palace Library. As well as forming an important and wide-ranging collection in their own right, these books are especially interesting for their provenance, as many of the volumes were owned and donated by prominent citizens of 17th century London, including scholars, clergy, merchants and aristocrats. These citizens have left significant evidence of their former ownership, and inscriptions, bookplates, personal bindings and marginal annotations are all common additions. P1200943One book in particular, a 1534 edition of the works of Plato printed in Basel by Johann Walder, is full of hundreds of drawings, miniature portraits, detailed landscapes, notes,and other marginalia. On the title page is a signature written in Greek: “Θωμας ο Σμιτθος”, i.e. Thomas Smith.

P1200977
Title page of “Hapanta Platōnos … Platonis Omnia opera” with the signature of Sir Thomas Smith

Sir Thomas Smith (1513-1577) was a Tudor scholar and a politician who attained high office during P1200946the reigns of Edward VI and Elizabeth I, serving as Ambassador to France and Secretary of State. Born at Saffron Walden, Smith was educated at Queens’ College, Cambridge, where he was appointed professor in 1533 and lectured in Greek language and philosophy. Along with his friend and tutor Sir John Cheke, Smith was considered one of the foremost classical scholars of the day and his best known work, De republica Anglorum. The maner of gouernement or policie of the realme of England (1583), achieved widespread influence. Throughout his life, however, Smith maintained many and varied interests beyond his classical scholarship; he was passionate about astronomy, mathematics and architecture, and obsessively conducted his own practical experiments in chemistry and alchemy. P1200935Alongside his other interests, Smith was an enthusiastic collector of books and assembled a large library over his career. Although his collection was scattered following his death and many books were lost, surviving volumes are identifiable on account of his practice of systematically annotating and illustrating ideas and passages, a habit which provides a unique reflection of the interests and thinking of a humanist scholar of the English Renaissance. P1200929During his time at Cambridge University, Smith was trained in the art of active reading. This technique is based on the idea that reading is an interactive and adversarial process with the reader making notes opposite, and sometimes also in opposition to, the author’s text (the classicist Isaac Casaubon coined the term “adversaria” specifically to describe volumes whose margins showed evidence of this type of engagement). Smith thus acquired the “habit … of annotating his P1200974books in their margins with endless corrections, underlinings, and comments” (Sherman, 1997). In Sion College’s copy of Plato, Smith has added summaries, subject headings and symbols alongside important sections of text. When an author is mentioned, Smith noted his name in the margin as an aide–mémoire. Throughout the book there are portraits of kings and rulers and sketches of crowns, ships, fortresses and mythological beasts. References in the text to ancient towns and cities, such as Sparta or Athens, are illustrated with a tiny, intricately detailed cityscape. Smith appears to have read straight through the book, adding notes as he progressed as an aid to digestion of the text. P1200930Of Smith’s marginalia, William Sherman writes: “Although we are most inclined to appreciate the P1200945artistic and entertainment value of these pictures, they were not merely doodles: they certainly played an important mnemonic role. It is possible that this use of illustrations was advocated by Cheke and others and may even point to a general annotational style in mid-Tudor Cambridge.” Another student of John Cheke was Dr John Dee, later to become Elizabeth I’s trusted advisor, and he is also known to have added sketches and notes to the margins of books as he read. P1200948P1200956Through his marginalia we can learn not only about the books Smith owned, but also how he interpreted texts and approached his scholarly work. Of his huge library, only a small number of books remain and most that survive are held in the library of Queens’ College, Cambridge, making the book in the Sion College collection a very rare find.

References
Plato. Hapanta Platōnos … Platonis Omnia Opera, Basel: Johann Walder, 1534. (Sion C11/P69 GRY)

Sherman, William Howard. John Dee: The politics of reading and writing in the English Renaissance, Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press, 1997.

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