Cronycles of Englond

Accession number: 
PML 679.2
Uniform title: 
Chronicles: England.
Published: 
Westminster : William Caxton, 8 October 1482.
Description: 
[182] leaves ; 26 cm. (fol.)
Credit Line: 
Purchased with the Bennett collection, 1902.
Notes: 

Title from incipit (leaf [1]/2r): In the yere of thyncarnacyon of our lord Ih[es]u crist M CCCC / lxxx / And in the xx yere of the Regne of kyng Edward the fourth / Atte reqnest [sic] of dyverse gentylmen I have endevoyryd me to enprynte the Cronycles of Englond as in this book shal by the suffraunce fo god folowe / ...
Imprint from colophon (leaf y6r): Thus endeth this present book of the Cronycles of Englond / Enprynted by me William Caxton In thabbey of westmestre by london / Fynysshed / and accomplysshyd the / viii / day of Octobre / The yere of the Incarnacyon of our lord God / M / CCCC/lxxxii And in the xxii yere of the regne of kyng Edward the fourth.
Printed in Caxton's type 4:95B.
Collation: [1]⁸; a-x⁸ y⁶: 182 leaves, leaves [1]/1 and a1 blank.
Paper format: Chancery folio
Devised as a page-for-page reprint of 10 June 1480 edition but with a few differences, see BMC.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 25.4 x 18.7 cm, trimmed.
PML copy missing 6 leaves: [1]/1 (blank), a1 (blank), y1.6, y3, and y5. Many leaves washed/bleached, causing lombards and marginal annotations to fade.

Binding: 
19th-century full brown goatskin blind-stamped in an antiquarian style over boards (26 x 19.5 cm), by Francis Bedford for Henry Stevens, 1860. Plain paper pastedowns and fly leaves; decorative endbands; gilt edges.
Variant Title: 

Chronicles of England [English].

Inscriptions/Markings: 

Hand decoration: Rubricated, red lombards and paragraph marks (of several different styles, typically divided by quire). Annotations: Marginal notations and underlining throughout, mostly washed/faded, 16th/17th century (same as in PML 679.1).

Provenance: 
Henry Stevens (1819-1886), binding; Stevens placed book in Edward A. Crowninshield's sale, Puttick and Simpson, 12 July 1860, lot 478 (to Minton, according to De Ricci, cf. Puttick letter in volume); Bertram Ashburnham (1797-1878), Earl of Ashburnham, with shelf mark: 29.E. (or F.) (front pastedown); his sale, Sotheby's, 25 June 1897, pt. I, lot 988, to Quaritch; Richard Bennett (1849-1930), armorial bookplate (first fly leaf recto) and bibliographical notes: No. 264, 1/7/97 and price code: lwm/-/- +com (front pastedown), purchased from Quaritch; Pierpont Morgan, purchased with the Bennett collection, 1902.
Classification: 
Department: