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Interesting for the history of the study of incunables, with an autograph letter of William Blades

[INCUNABLE - ENGLAND].
Statuta synodalia herbipolensia. (Two quires).

Printed in red and black in gothic type. With cut out (fragments of?) reproductions of 19th-/ early 20th-century woodcuts of ca. 21 x 14 cm. pasted on the inside of the front (Annunciation) and back cover (Christophorus, with the year 'cccc xx tercio').

(Würzburg, Georg Reyser, ca. 1486). Folio. Later bound in two leaves from a 13th-century vellum theological manuscript, rubricated and decorated with alternating red and blue initials with penwork. Printed in red and black in gothic type. With cut out (fragments of?) reproductions of 19th-/ early 20th-century woodcuts of ca. 21 x 14 cm. pasted on the inside of the front (Annunciation) and back cover (Christophorus, with the year 'cccc xx tercio'). (12) lvs. 32 lines; written space: 180x120mm; Type: 112a.

Interesting example from the beginnings of the study of early printing in England. The 12 leaves, apparently from an incunable edition, have been the subject of speculation of the 19th-century owner Dr C. Inglis, who supposed that the leaves came from a completely unknown book, printed in 1453, by Gerhardus Episcopus, De vita et honestate clericorum ex consilio Moguntinum.
Inserted is the original letter of the well-known incunabulist, printer and bibliographer William Blades (1824-1890), dated 18 July 1877. Blades's interest in printing led him to make a study of the volumes produced by Caxton's press, and of the early history of printing in England. His Life and Typography of William Caxton, England's First Printer, was published in 1861, and the conclusions which he set forth were arrived at by a careful examination of types in the early books. In 1877 Blades took an active part in organizing the Caxton celebration, and he is using this as an excuse to postpone an appointment with Dr Inglis, who apparently had asked him to give his opinion on the leaves.
The data for this attribution Dr Inglis had extracted from the text which begins with the chapter 'De Vita et honestate clericorum ex consilio Maguntinensis Gerhardi Archiepiscipi'. Other chapters are 'De cohabitatione clericorum et mulierum', 'De clericis non residentibus', 'De prebendia et dinitatibus', 'De concessione prebende et consilio Fritzlarensis', 'De rebus ecclesie non alienandis', etc., ending with the printed mark of the clerc Johannis Fabri from Mainz on fol. 12v.
The leaves, however, can be identified as two quires from the incunable edition of the Statutes of the Würzburg Synod, printed in Würzburg, by Georg Reyser in ca. 1486. The first 6 leaves are fol. d2-d7 from quire '(d)', and the last 6 leaves is quire '(g)' (Hain* 15036).

Twelve well preserved leaves, from the library of Sir Edward Coates, with ex-libris of Charles Coates (1746-1813; bookplate with initials 'CC' (Clifford Coates)) and the bookplate of Dr. C. Inglis pasted on inside front cover; together with an autograph letter from Wiliam Blades to C. Inglis bound in.

Cf. BMC II, 572; Hubay, Inc. Universitätsbibl. Würzburg, nr. 1953 (dated c. 1486).

Related Subjects: Germany History of Printing Incunabula Tahiti

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