Beschreibung:

LE FEVRE, Raoul (fl. 1464). Recuyell of the Histories of Troy . Translated from French into English by William Caxton (c. 1420-1491). [Bruges:] William Caxton [1473 or 1473-early 1474]. Chancery 2° (268 x 191 mm). Collation: [1-14 1 0 15 8 (1/1 blank removed, 1/2r title printed in red hEre begynneth the volume intituled and named the recuyell of the historyes of Troye, composed and drawen out of dyverce bookes of latyn into frensshe by ... Raoul le ffevre. preest and chapelayn unto ... Phelip duc of Bourgoyne of Braband etc In the yere ... a thousand foure honderd sixty and foure, And translated and drawen out of frenshe into englisshe by Willyam Caxton mercer of ye cyte of London, at the comaundement of ... Margarete ... Duchesse of Bourgoyne ... begonne in Brugis in the Countee of Flaundres the fyrst day of marche ... a thousand foure honderd sixty and eyghte, And ended and fynysshid in the holy cyte of Colen the. xix. day of septembre ... a thousand foure honderd sixty and enleven , 1/2v Caxton's prologue, incipit: [W]Han I remembre that every man is bounden , 1/3v Le Fèvre's prologue, incipit: Whan y behold and knowe the oppynyons of the men , 1/4v heading to bk. I printed in red The begynnyng of this book sheweth the Genelagye of Saturne , 1/5r text, incipit: What tyme alle the Children of Noe were sprad , 15/8v explicit: Thus endeth the first book of the recueyll or gadryng to geder of the historyes of Troye ); 16-24 1 0 25 8 26 6 (16/1r Hiere begynneth the seconde booke ... that speketh of the prowesses of the stronge Hercules , 26/6r explicit, 26/6v blank); 27-36 1 0 (27/1r In these two bokes precedente. we have ... tretyd of the two first destruccyons of Troye ... Now in the thirde and laste book god to fore. we shall saie how ... the sayd cyte was totally destroyed , chapter-heading printed in red How the kynge Priant reediffied the cyte of troye , incipit: For to entre than in to the matere , 36/9r Caxton's epilogue, incipit: Thus ende I this book whyche I have translated ... myn eyen dimmed with overmoche loking on the whit paper ... Therefore I have practysed and lerned at my grete charge and dispense to ordeyne this said book in prynte ... and is not wreton with penne and ynke as other bokes ben, to thende that every man may have them attones. ffor all the bookes of this storye ... thus enpryntid ... were begonne in oon day, and also fynysshid in oon day , 36/10r Latin verse attributed to HILDEBERTUS (1st half 12th century, Archbishop of Tours), incipit: Pergama flere volo. fata danais data solo , 36/10v blank)]. 344 leaves (of 352; lacking the blank first leaf, sheet 2/1.10 and fos. 19/3-7 supplied in pen-and-ink facsimile by J. Harris at the time of rebinding); fo. 19/8 probably and fos. 1/2-3 just possibly supplied from another copy at the time of rebinding. Paper from six different stocks, but there are two principal runs: the first from Piedmont with watermark of a bunch of grapes with looped stem (Stevenson/Briquet pl. *A3), the second from Vosges with bull's head/Tau watermark (variant of Piccard II Abt. X 13-19); the rest are essentially stray sheets: w/m mermaid (Briquet 13859), arms of France, bull's head/X, gothic P. The paper sequence seems to indicate that the edition, set in three composition units, was printed concurrently on two presses; a set of six pins kept the sheet in position over the forme (the four outermost pinholes are visible in the corners of most sheets, the central pair remains mostly but not always hidden in the gutter). Bastarda type 1:120, presumably cut and supplied by Johann Veldener. 31 lines. Title and two headings printed in red. Rubricated in an early hand: initials, paragraph marks, some capital strokes; 7-line initial W to start the text painted in liquid gold and outlined in red (probably somewhat later). Quiring in early manuscript. (Upper outer corner of title and following leaf torn away and restored with the missing text supplied in pen-facsimile; a few other repai