Title from ISTC, derived from the third colophon (leaf cc4v): Thus endeth this present boke composed of diverse fruytfull ghostly maters.
Imprint from first and third colophons, first colophon (leaf M8v): ...Emprynted at westmynstre. Qui legit emendet/ pressorem non reprehendat. Wyllelmu[m] Xaxton. Cui de[us] alta tradat., and third colophon (leaf cc4v): ... Emprynted at westmynstre by desiryng of certeyn worshipfull persones.
Date based on paper evidence and the state of the device, see BMC XI 181.
Printed in Caxton's type 6:120B.
Caxton's device A on leaf ²D8v.
Collation: A-M⁸; ²A-D⁸; aa-bb⁸ cc⁴: 128 (96, 32, and 20) leaves.
In three parts: Treatise of the seven points of trewe love (96 leaves, A-M⁸); Twelve profits of tribulation (32 leaves, ²A-D⁸); Rule of Saint Benedict (20 leaves, aa-bb⁸ cc⁴).
Paper format: Chancery quarto
Woodcut: Caxton's Device A (Hodnett 334).
The Treatise of the seven points of trewe love is a version of the Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit (or Horologium Sapientiae) of Heinrich Suso.
Twelve profits of tribulation is attributed in GW 211 to Adam Carthusiensis. The text is a translation of Petrus Blesensis, De XII utilitatibus tribulationis, preceded by two short pieces of uncertain authorship. See C. Horstmann, Yorkshire writers: Richard Rolle of Hampole, vol.2, pp.389 ff. (1896).
Likely one of Caxton's last two books.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 18.5 x 12.5 cm, trimmed.
PML copy missing 42 leaves: A1-8, B1-8, C1, D1.8, E4.5, and H7 of the Treatise; ²A, ²D1.8 of the Twelve Profits; aa8, bb1.8, bb2.7, bb6, and cc1-4 of the Rule of Saint Benedict.
Hand decoration: Unrubricated, no rubrication required. Annotations: Notated throughout in several hands, many pentrials and cropped inscriptions.