Beschreibung:

CATHERINE OF SIENA (St., 1347-1380). The Orchard of Syon [ Dialogo ]. London: Wynkyn de Worde 28 September 1519. PRINTED ON VELLUM, 2° (257 x 188mm). Collation: \Kp\k 8(4+1) a-z 6 \\i \\j \\g 6 A 6 B 4 (\Kp\k1r title with woodcut, \Kp\k1v full page woodcut of St. Catherine, \Kp\k2r prefatory letter by Marcus Civilis to Brother Paul Sauch, \Kp\k3r second prologue, \Kp\k3v 'kalender' [chapter summaries], \Kp\k8r third prologue, a1r text, B3v colophon, B4r full-page woodcut of St. Catherine, B4v blank). 175 leaves. Red printing on title and first page of each part. 41 lines and headline, double column. Type: 93G, 114G. 11 woodcuts from 8 blocks [Hodnett 862-9] illustrating St. Catherine and her revelations, two woodcuts flanked by zoomorphic or vinework border, ALL COLOURED BY A CONTEMPORARY HAND, WITH FULL ILLUMINATED FLORAL BORDERS by a northern Netherlandish artist added to title, first prologue (incorporating the arms of the Passion in lower border), and opening of each of 7 parts, woodcut grotesque initial opening first prologue, woodcut criblé , historiated and ornamental initials. The painted borders are clearly associable with the Masters of the Dark Eyes, some of whom are known to have worked in London. (Very occasional repairs to vellum, a few edges in 10 quires slightly extended, small stain on title.) Bound for John Dent c. 1822 by Charles Lewis; crimson velvet over unbevelled wooden boards, 2 brass fore-edge clasps, vellum flyleaf at each end, gilt edges, maroon (originally blue) straight-grained morocco box with latch, also by Lewis, spine lettered in gilt (box lightly spotted and scuffed). Provenance : some textual corrections in a contemporary hand (several annotations washed out) -- Edward Knight (sale Evans, 4 May 1821, lot 1418, described as in red morocco, £72.9 to Dent) -- John Dent ( Catalogue of the Library of ... (1825), p.188, velvet binding and blue morocco box by Lewis, woodcuts 'tastefully coloured'; his sale, Evans, pt.II, 25 April 1827, lot 930, £65.2 to Payne) -- George Hibbert (1757-1837, sale Evans, 24 March-May 1829, lot 6080, £61.19 to Payne) -- Beriah Botfield from Payne & Foss for £75 (P. & F. Acquisitions, p.68, full-page illuminated Botfield coat-of-arms painted on vellum flyleaf with a border echoing the painted borders in the book). UNIQUE COPY ON VELLUM, SPECIALLY PRINTED AND ILLUMINATED FOR SYON ABBEY, OF THE FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH of St. Catherine's great mystical work. As stated in the epilogue, it was printed for Sir Richard Sutton, steward of the Bridgettine house at Syon, who found the work 'in a corner by it selfe' and 'hathe caused at his greate coste thys booke to be prynted trustinge that moche fruyte shall come therof'. Although the Botfield copy contains no contemporary inscription of ownership, it was clearly intended for presentation, perhaps to Sutton as publisher or, more likely, to the abbey itself. The arms in the painted border at the beginning of the work are those of the Passion; the Bridgettine order is dedicated to the Passion. The Orchard of Syon is a middle English translation of the revelations of St. Catherine of Siena, commonly known as The Dialogue . It was translated for the spiritual guidance of nuns, and was early associated with Syon Abbey; De Worde's edition was the first to entitle it The Orchard of Syon , thereby linking it explicitly to that monastery. Syon, a house favoured by royalty since its foundation by Henry V in 1415, was associated with the publication in manuscript and print of a number of works. Henry VIII gave the abbey a copy of his Assertio contra Lutherum (1521) printed by Pynson, and De Worde presented a copy of his editions of Capgrave and the Hortus vocabularius . Syon maintained two libraries, one for its nuns and one for its monks, distinguished in part by language (very few English books were in the brothers' library, of which an early 16th-century catalogue survives, edited by Bateson in 1898 and by Gillespie and Doyle in 2