The Koberger St. Jerome of 1478 - A Wide Margined Copy with Early English Provenance

Epistola ad monachos (Pseudo-Macarius). [Together with] Vitae Sanctorum Patrum, sive Vitas Patrum. [Together with] De laude et effectu virtutum. By St. Jerome. Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1478, royal folio. 

A FINE WIDE MARGINED COPY OF THIS FAMOUS KOBERGER PRINT OF ST. JEROME, TEXTUALLY COMPLETE, WITH VERY SIGNIFICANT ENGLISH PROVENANCE.

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FIRST EDITION of the longer version of this popular collection of the lives of the Church Fathers, including saying and exhortations ascribed to them. This is the first Anton Koberger printing of St. Jerome. Though highly significant already for being an exceptionally early printing of St Jerome, and from the press of Anton Koberger, this copy is of the highest importance for its provenance which connects some of the most significant historical persons of 16th century England, including King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, Archbishop Cranmer, Thomas Cromwell, and even a former owner of this book who worked on the translation of the first edition of the Welsh Bible and whose translations of the Psalms formed the basis of the Welsh Book of Common Prayer. For the fascinating and significant provenance of this book, see below.

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Provenance:

Gifted by Sir John Markam of Nottinghamshire (1486-1559) somewhere between 1st April and 28th October 1559, and presumably acquired by him much before this year, and so the earliest we can trace this copy is circa the early to mid 16th century in England, but it's quite possible that this copy was originally brought to England in the 15th century through the European trade routes, possibly acquired by the Markam family who descend from Claron and held the manor of West Markam at the time of the Norman Conquest, being one of the most important families between the 12th and 16th centuries in England.

 

Sir John Markam was a very important figure during the English Tudor period. He was very wealthy and owned several manor houses. His father, also called John, had fought for King Henry VII in 1488 at the battle of Stoke, being twice sheriff of Nottingham and Derby. Archbishop Cranmer is quoted talking to King Henry VIII concerning John Markam, writing "in all the wars which the King hath had... except he had wars in divers places at one time, and then he was ever in one of them." His son, the owner of this book, became a sheriff in Nottingham in 1518 and a Member of Parliament some time around 1529. He was a server at the coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533 and in 1540 he was present at Blackheath for the reception of Anne of Cleaves. He was a bannerman at the funeral of King Henry VIII, holding the 12th banner of Lancaster. He was active during the dissolution of the monasteries during the English Protestant Reformation. He was closely associated with Thomas Cromwell and frequently informed him regarding local religious opinions, especially of the clergy. Cranmer describes him as one that "hath unfeignedly favoured the truth of God's Word."

 

John Markam's official career met its peak when he was appointed as the Lieutenant of the Tower of London between November 1549 and 31 October 1551, responsible for daily administration including the custody of high profile prisoners, some of whom included Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, Bishop Gardiner, and others, during the reign of Edward VI. However, the reason he was fired from his role, was for his sympathy towards the Duke of Somerset as he allowed him to walk the grounds and send letters without informing the Council. He was present during the funeral of King Edward VI.

 

It's clear that he had strong Protestant sympathies, even during the reign of Queen Mary. He was one of the wealthiest men in the country, he even owned Rufford Abbey for some time. He was present during Parliament under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I for a short time, but most likely died before seeing it through. He drafted his will on the 1st of April 1559 and his death occurred sometime before the 28th October. His heir was Robert Markham, his grandson, but he disliked him and limited his inheritance as much as possible, which is why he writes in this book that he has given it away ("ex dono Johannis Markam 1559" (the gift of John Markam 1559) prior to his death and execution of his will. This is of course a summary of a huge number of significant events with which John Markam was involved in. For full details, see the book "A History of the Markham Family" by Rev. David Frederick Markham, printed by John Bowyer Nichols & Sons in London in 1854.

 

The next recorded owner is "Edw. Pryse, 1589". There are two candidates for who this is, one being Edmund Prys (Edmwnd Prys in Welsh, and hence the abbreviation Edw.) who was the Rector of Ludlow and subsequently the Archdeacon of Merioneth and a renowned Welsh poet whose translation of the Psalms which went through 19 editions and later formed the basis of the Psalter in the Welsh Book of Common Prayer from 1621 onwards. Indeed, it is his version of Psalm 23 which was translated into English and formed the basis of the popular hymn The King of Love my Shepherd Is. Very significantly, Prys is mentioned by Dr William Morgan as one of the three persons who helped him in translating the first edition of the Bible in Welsh. Dr John Davies addresses the preface of his Antiquae Linguae Britannicae (1621) to Prys. He is also associated with William Salesbury who was the principal translator of the 1567 Welsh New Testament. Hymnary describes Prys as "one of the best Welsh poets of his time." His name is sometimes Anglicised as Edward Pryse. The profile of this person definitely fits the character of someone with the means in 16th century England to own a book like this and so this seems to be the most likely candidate for Edw Pryse. The other possible candidate is some member of the Price family of Wales, for example in Gogerddan, but we can't trace anyone called Edward (or similar) matching the timeline in this family who could have owned this book. However, if it is some unknown Price/Pryse family member, they would have been a layman and possibly a recusant Catholic sympathiser. Despite the latter possibility, it's almost a certainty that the correct attribution is of the former person, especially given the known scholarly activities of Archdeacon Edmwnd Prys and his obvious means in being able to acquire a significant book like this and his use for owning it.

 

The next recorded ownership we have reads "Michaelis Pauli, et Fratum Mon. Ben." More properly, this reads "Michaelis Pauli, et fratrum Monachorum Benedictinorum", i.e. "[belonging to] Michael Paul and the brethren of the Benedictine Monks." Interestingly, there exists a copy of a 1688 edition of Clement of Alexandria with this same inscription which gives slightly more detail, that this relates to a Benedictine Monastery in Munich, Germany (at Canterbury Cathedral shelfmark W/M-3-34). This book was first owned by Robert Hooke and then is next recorded in the hands of the Benedictines. It therefore seems likely that the inscription in our copy dates from somewhere around the start of the 18th century, and so clearly this book had found its way to a monastery in Germany, and is fitting that it would be in the same collection as other Patristic texts. Another inscription in the same hand as this monastic inscription in this book possibly relates to Jerome's De Viris Illustribus showing that this was indeed a study copy. It is therefore evident that this copy remained a study copy all the way into at least the 18th century, as we can then trace the provenance to the present day (see below).

 

Bookplate and ink stamp of Ampleforth Abbey library in North Yorkshire, England. This Abbey was founded in 1802 and is still active, and so this book found its way back to England, likely through transference of books within monastic collections rather than with an interim period as Ampleforth Abbey is also a Benedictine monastery. It possibly passed within other Benedictine monastic collections, but without internal evidence to support this idea. Thereafter deaccessioned, possibly as a duplicate or surplus to requirements, and now offered for sale by us, fresh to the market.

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Size: 288 x 412 mm (approx.)

 

 

Condition: 

[(1), [5], blank, fol.1-238, (1)]

Contemporary, probably original, boards overlaid with 17th century leather, some of the original blindstamped leather is visible underneath the 17th century plain leather. From what is visible the binding looks likely either German or possibly English. Hinges reinforced with later pastedowns and endpapers, roughly contemporaneous to the tooled labels to the spine. Joints cracked, but with both boards securely attached; the binding is secure. The book has a shelf lean but stands vertically. Early rebacking partially visible, notably at extremities of spine. Page edges coloured red, near contemporaneously, some fading. Binding rubbed with minor losses to leather, but attractive nonetheless.

Gothic type, 51 line and headline, mostly in double column throughout. 244 of 246 leaves, lacking original first and last blanks, else collates as complete; this is a textually complete copy. It includes the usually lacking blank following the five preliminary leaves. Small leaf edge repairs to the five preliminary leaves and the top of the last two leaves, not affecting text or marginalia. Minor staining to fol.85-86 not obscuring legibility. Slight loss to marginal space of fol.151 only intruding 24mm at maximum, no effect to any text or marginalia. Small areas of dampstaining to extremities of leaves mostly at the end of the page block. Largely extremely bright and clean throughout the text. Excellent quality and weight of paper. No signatures as printed. Sporadic early marginalia throughout, unmistakenly English in origin, of course written in Latin. Likely in the hand of either John Markam or Edw. Pryse, unconfirmed. An excellent example of this beautiful wide-margined Anton Koberger imprint of St. Jerome

 

[Goff H199; HC *8595; BMC II, 416; Polain B3992; Bod-Inc H111; GW M50876; ISTC ih00199000; USTC 745740].