Beschreibung:

Belchamp St Paul, Essex. A volume of manuscript copies of Latin (and some English) deeds running from 1297 to 1586, titled ‘A booke wherin is entred and Written divers Dedes of feoffment, Releases, Indentures of sale of lande, and other evidences, wylles, wrightine and notes concernyng chiefly the messuages landes tenements and hereditaments situate lying and being in Paules Belchamp in the countie of Essex. Trulye copied out and agreing verbatim with the originalls. Collected in maner of a Register by the procurement of William Golding Esquier the third day of Januari Anno d[o]m[in]i 1584’, title and 58 leaves manuscript on paper, final folio [59] largely torn away and missing along with following two blanks, 21 blank leaves including 9 with foliation only, title on folio 13r, written in a neat secretary hand and the entries from folio 49v in the same hand at a slightly later date, a few scattered spots and some old dampstaining to lower margins of final few leaves, burgundy morocco gilt bookplate of W. A. Foyle, Beeleigh Abbey to front pastedown, contemporary limp vellum with remains of tie and ‘Essex’ written in manuscript to upper cover, some soiling, wear and partial loss of vellum along upper margin of lower cover and spine, folio (300 x 200 mm), contained in a modern black morocco gilt folder with additional Foyle bookplate to inside cover (Quantity: 1) Provenance: W. A. Foyle, Beeleigh Abbey (bookplates). Belchamp St Paul is a village and civil parish in the Braintree district of Essex. It is 5 miles west of Sudbury, Suffolk, and 23 miles north-east of the county town, Chelmsford. William Golding would appear to be the son of John Golding and Elizabeth (Towe), of Belchamp St Paul, Essex. His father John married twice, having eleven children in total. One of the sons from the second marriage to Ursula (Merston) was Arthur Golding (1536-1606), the Elizabethan author and translator. Arthur (William’s younger half brother) is most well-known for his witty and beautiful translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, first published in 1567, which went through eight editions and had an enormous influence on English literature and poetry. This is the translation that William Shakespeare read and borrowed from, and which Ezra Pound called ‘the most beautiful book in the English language’. Arthur is buried in the village churchyard of St Andrew’s and a memorial to him is within the church. William was born before 1528 and died in London in 1588.