Al ingratitude vtterly settyng apart we owe to calle to our myndes the manyfolde gyftes of grace with the benefaittis. that our lorde of his moost plentiueuse bonte hath ymen vs wretches in this present transitoire lif

Description

Collation of complete copy: [a–i⁸k⁶]. The first and last leaves are blanks.

Imprint from ISTC.

Colophon on sig. [k]4v: which book was deliuered to me William Caxton by my saide noble lorde Ryuiers on the day of purificacion of our blissid lady fallyng the tewsday the secunde day of the moneth of feuerer. In the yeer of our lord.M.CCCClxxviij for to be enprinted.

A translation by Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers (named on sig. [k]4v) of the French version by Jean Miélot of “Cordiale quattuor novissimorum”, which is sometimes attributed to Denis le Chartreux and to Gerardus de Vliederhoven.

Edited by William Caxton

Title from opening text of sig. [a]2r. Sig. [A]3r begins “tHis present tretys is deuided in four principal parties...”; [A]4r begins “mEmorare nouissima et in eternum non peccabis. Ecclesiastici. septimo capitulo.”; text proper begins on [A]5r: “tHe first parte of the four last thinges ...”.

Indexed in: Incunabula Short Title Catalogue,

Indexed in: Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke,

Indexed in: Catalogue of books printed in the fifteenth century now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford,

Indexed in: Catalogue of books printed in the XVth century now in the British Museum,

Indexed in: English Short Title Catalogue,

Indexed in: Pollard, A.W. and Redgrave, G.R. A short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English books printed abroad 1475-1640, (2nd ed.),

Indexed in: Needham, P. Printer & the pardoner,

Indexed in: Duff, E. Gordon. Fifteenth century English books. Oxford, 1917 Reprinted with supplement compiled by L. Hellinga,

Indexed in: De Ricci, Seymour. A census of Caxtons,

Indexed in: Dodgson, John McNeal, A Library at Pott Chapel (Pott Shrigley, Cheshire), c. 1493, The Library, Volume s5-XV, Issue 1, March 1960,

Indexed in: Robert D Harding, Given by Lady Joan Ingoldisthorpe: The Caxton Cordyal (1479) from a Library at Pott Chapel (Pott Shrigley, Cheshire) c. 1493, identified, The Library, seventh series, vol. 24, no. 4 (December 2023),

Indexed in: Potten, Edward, From Byzantium to Alberto Sangorski: Treasures from the Thomas Edward Watson Collection at the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds, The Book Collector, Autumn 2023,

Features

Leeds University Library copy at Pre 1850 Additional A001: Imperfect: 34 of 78 leaves. The surviving leaves form six non-continuous groups and they have been bound out of order. The signatures present run as follows: sigs. [h]2-[i]4; sigs. [g]2-[h1]; sigs. [f]2-[f]3; sigs. [f]6-[g]1; sig. [d]8; sigs. [e]2-[f]1. Bears signs of use, correction, and reading at an early date with passages underlined in ink (cf. quire [g]), marginal bracketing (cf. sigs. [e]3v, [e]6v, [e]7r), and pen trials (cf. sig. [f]3r, sig. [f]1v (‘Thomas’, ‘To Thomas’). Sig. [h]3v bears a naive manuscript border in the lower margin, drawn in red ink and cropped in later binding. There is an obliterated inscription beneath that identifying Lady Jane Ingoldisthorpe on sig. [h]5v. Interlinear annotations to sig. [h]1r, some apparently supplementing the printed text. Remains of a looping manuscript sketch to bottom margin of sig. [f]7v, cropped by later binding. Illegible manuscript inscription to bottom margin of sig. [f]8r, cropped by later binding. Partially legible manuscript inscription to lower margin of sig. [e]8r: ‘For all thing be [at]? Gods behest for […] man […].

Leeds University Library copy at Pre 1850 Additional A001: Bottom right corner of sig. [f]6 torn and wanting.

Leeds University Library copy at Pre 1850 Additional A001: Rubricated in red ink, with major initials and paragraph marks supplied. A correction on sig. [h]6r altering “This thirde parte” to “This iiijth parte”, was made at the time of rubrication and may have been made in Caxton’s workshop, although it is not replicated in the Library of Congress nor British Library copies.

Leeds University Library copy at Pre 1850 Additional A001: Manuscript bibliographical notes in pencil to front pastedown, some presumably in the hand of Thomas Edward Watson (1851-1921). A lengthy bibliographical note in pencil to the first front flyleaf in the hand of Thomas Bateman (1821-1861).

Leeds University Library copy at Pre 1850 Additional A001: An unidentified printed bookseller’s description of this copy has been excised and tipped-in before the front flyleaf. Describing the copy as ‘one of the Bateman heirlooms’, it prices the book at 25 guineas, the same price as is noted in pencil on the front pastedown, probably in the hand of Thomas Edward Watson (1851-1921).

Leeds University Library copy at Pre 1850 Additional A001: A printed portrait of Caxton has been pasted to the verso of the second front flyleaf, excised from page 8 of The national library of universal entertainment & instruction illustrated with two hundred & thirty engravings by first rate artists (London: Mayhew & Co., [1835]).

Leeds University Library copy at Pre 1850 Additional A001: Typescript exhibition label loosely inserted indicating that the book was loaned to an unknown exhibitor whilst in the possession of Thomas Edward Watson (1851-1921).

Bindings

Leeds University Library copy at Pre 1850 Additional A001: Nineteenth-century half calf; marbled paper over boards.

Provenance

Leeds University Library copy at Pre 1850 Additional A001: [Provenance] MS inscription on sig. [h]5v: This boke belongynge to downes chapel in pot Shrygley | & gevyn by my lady dame Jane Ingaltisthorpe. St Christopher’s Church, Pott Shrigley, was founded in the late 14th century. By 12 October 1472 a chantry chapel dedicated to Our Lady was built onto the existing building, a co-foundation by Lady Joan Ingoldisthorpe and Geoffrey Downes, her principal man of business in London and cousin of Robert Downes of Pott Shrigley. An inventory of the books at Downe Chapel dated c. 1493 cited in Dodgson, ‘A Library at Pott Chapel’, page 50, includes: ‘Item – aboke calde diues & pauper an o[th]er calde [th]e Cordyall’. This second title is the copy in hand.

Leeds University Library copy at Pre 1850 Additional A001: [Provenance] MS inscription in a sixteenth-century hand to the lower margin of sig. [f]2r: Joh Bothbby then in the same hand: Wyllyam.

Leeds University Library copy at Pre 1850 Additional A001: [Provenance] According to a pencil note by Thomas Bateman (1821-1861) on the front flyleaf, the Cordiale was owned by John Duncalf (1783-1836), of Wetstone Hall, near Tideswell, thence to James Lowe of Macclesfield, purchased from Lowe by Thomas Bateman (1821-1861) on 27 February 1851. The Bateman Library was dispersed through Sotheby’s from 25 May 1893, this book lot 580, purchased by Tregaskis, thence Thomas Edward Watson (1851-1921), thence Stanley Denys Trevor Spittle (1920–2003). With Bateman’s armorial bookplate and Watson’s armorial bookplate to front pastedown.

Leeds University Library copy at Pre 1850 Additional A001: Accepted in lieu of Estate Duty by H M Government and allocated to Special Collections & Galleries at the University of Leeds Libraries, 2022.

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