Here begynneth the legende named in latyn legenda aurea, that is to say in englyshe the golden legende.

Accession number: 
PML 785
Author: 
Jacobus, de Voragine, approximately 1229-1298.
Published: 
Westmestre : [Wynkyn de Worde], the xx day of May, the yere of our lord M CCCClxxxxiii [20 May 1493].
Description: 
[4], primo-CCCCxxix (with errors) leaves : illustrations (woodcuts) ; 30 cm (fol.)
Credit Line: 
Purchased with the Amherst collection, 1908.
Notes: 

Title from half-title page, leaf [1]/1r: Here begynneth the legende named in latyn legenda aurea, that is to say in englyshe the golden legende. For lyke as passeth golde in valewe al other metallys / soo thys Legende excedeth all other bokes.
Imprint from colophon, leaf gg4v: Thus endeth the lege[n]de named in latyn legenda aurea / that is to say in englisshe the golde[n] lege[n]de. For lyke as passeth golde in valewe al other metallis / soo thys Legende excedeth all other bokes / wherin ben conteyned alle the hyghe and grete festys of our lorde. The festys of our blessyd lady / The lyues passio[n]s [and] myracles of mani other saintes hystoryes [and] actes / as all alonge here afore is made mencyon / whiche werke I dyde accomplisshed at the commaundeme[n]te and requeste of the noble and puyssaunte erle. [and] my specyal good lord wyllyam erle of Arondel / And now hane renewed [and] fynysshed it at westmestre the xx day of May / The yere of our lord M CCCClxxxxiii / And in the viii yere of the reygne off kynge Henry the vii / By me wyllyam Caxton.
Printed in De Worde's types 1:120G and 2:114G.
Signatures: [1⁴]; a-e⁸ F² f-z [et] [us]⁸ ē⁴ A-Y aa-ee⁸ ff⁶ gg⁴: 436 leaves.
Woodcuts.
Variant settings are noted in BMC.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 27 x 20.7 cm.
PML copy missing 117 leaves: [1]⁴, a-b⁸, c1-2, e4, f4, g7, v7, E1, H7, S2-8, T-Y⁸ aa-ee⁸ ff⁶ gg⁴, most replaced with modern blank leaf.

Binding: 
19th-century brown, hard-grained morocco over paper boards (28.5 x 21.5 cm), sewn on 5 supports. Marbled paper pastedowns and endleaves, with plain paper endleaves; decorative endbands; gilt edges.
Variant Title: 

Golden legende

Inscriptions/Markings: 

Hand decoration: Rubrication not required. Annotations: Minimal contemporary/early English marginal annotations sporadically throughout volume.

Provenance: 
Frank Hall Standish (1799-1840) (see Delisle, "Chantilly, Cabinet des livres," p. xxv n4), bequeathed in 1840 to: King Louis-Philippe of France (1773-1850), sold in 1851 to: Henri d'Orleans, duc d'Aumale (1822-1897), his anonymous sale, Hodgson, 6 Nov. 1860, lot 1263 to: William Blades (1824-1890); sold by Lilly(?) to: William Amhurst Tyssen-Amherst, Baron Amherst (1835-1909), armorial bookplates (front pastedown) and notes (front endleaf 1 verso), his sale, Sotheby's London, 3 Dec. 1908, lot 995, sold prior to sale to: Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), purchased with the Amherst collection, 1908.
Classification: 
Department: