BALE, John (1495-1563) - photo 1
BALE, John (1495-1563) - photo 2
BALE, John (1495-1563) - photo 3

BALE, John (1495-1563)

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£ 27 720
Auction dateClassic
13.07.2022 10:30UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 794444
Lot 81 | BALE, John (1495-1563)
BALE, John (1495-1563)

Illustrium Maioris Britanniae scriptorum ... summarium. ‘Ipswich: John Overton’ [Wesel: Dierck van der Straten], 31 July 1548.

First edition of the first printed bibliography of British authors, the first complete national bibliography, and Bale's most important work. The compiler based his catalogue on a manuscript left by John Leland and expanded it while in religious exile in Germany. Bale was one of the most steadfast and outspoken of scholarly English reformers. He began his bibliographical project to record the manuscript holdings threatened by Cromwell’s dissolution of the monasteries. His autograph notebook is preserved in the Selden collection of the Bodleian, Oxford. It contains the material collected for his published catalogues arranged alphabetically and includes the sources of his information. This is the variant issue with two different dates on the title page and ascribed to different printers on the title and colophon. The final quires Rrr and Sss contain a supplement not always present. The volume's earliest owner William Murray could well be Sir William Murray of Tullibardine (d. 1583), Comptroller of Scotland, and governor of the young King James. ESTC S100599; STC 1296; Besterman I 904-5: ‘this book was reissued with the additional imprint Wesaliae 1549, both imprints are fictitious’; Lowndes I 102: ‘Supposed to be the first book printed at Ipswich. This work may be considered as the foundation of English bibliography and as such, valuable.’



Quarto (195 x 148mm). Title-page woodcut of the author presenting his work to the King, 3 small woodcuts, including a portrait of John Wycliffe, woodcut historiated and ornamental initials (title dusty with fore-edge strengthened on verso, a few minor ink splashes, some dampstaining, a little heavier in final gatherings, last leaf frayed at corners). 18th-century speckled calf, arms of Duke of Sutherland blind stamped on upper side, spine gilt (small repairs to head of spine and corners, joints a little rubbed). Provenance: William Murray (d. 1583; contemporary autograph on title) — John, Earl Gower (1694-1754; engraved armorial bookplate) — George Granville, Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland (1758-1833; binding) — Allan Heywood Bright (1862–1941; bookplate).





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