NB the Rogers material here has been updated and published in Later Middle English Literature, Materiality, and Culture: Essays in Honor of James M. Dean, ed. Brian Gastle and Erick Kelemen, and I am happy to send along a pdf.
With Acknowledgments to R. Carter Hailey
The lists below rely on information gleaned from a number of sources. Carter Hailey’s Ph.D. dissertation was my starting-point for the Crowley editions. He consulted a total of sixty-four of the 100 copies listed below (i.e., the items with sigils he assigned in bold, plus a few others). Further consultation with Dr. Hailey has been invaluable. Other helpful online catalogues were the Copac academic and national library catalogue (http://copac.ac.uk) for U.K. and Irish libraries and, less comprehensively, the Short Title (http://estc.bl.uk) and WorldCat (http://www.worldcat.org) catalogues; I found that a title search for “Vision of Pierce” was most effective. I discovered the existence of a few other copies via other means (e.g., web searches, libraries’ own catalogues). For Rogers’s edition I do not indicate which copies lack Pierce the Ploughman’s Creed as this list is focused upon Piers Plowman itself and any such attempt would be doomed to inconsistencies anyway. As it stands, all four lists are doubtless incomplete and characterized by errors, which is inevitable given how many mixed copies survive and the confusion between Cr2 and Cr3 to which many library catalogues are prone.
This inherent confusion should demonstrate the error of assuming that manuscript culture is fluid where print is static, a broad point made eloquently in such recent studies as David McKitterick’s Print, Manuscript, and the Search for Order, 1450-1850 and Alexandra Gillespie’s Print Culture and the Medieval Author. Just as there are mixed ABC manuscripts of the poem, so are there mixed Cr1-2-3 copies. Just as scribes made good deficient manuscripts by turning to another exemplar, so too did owners of deficient Crowleys supply missing materials in manuscript. There are stop-press corrections and reset gatherings, as one frequently finds in this era;1 less common but still with ample precedent is the remarkable fact that some copies of Cr1 (three of the ones Hailey examined: items 3, 13, 17) were printed on vellum rather than paper, which “argues most strongly for an upscale first-edition public,” he proposes, or, as Lotte Hellinga suggests, might have been an archaizing gesture, intended to “indicate that this was a text of earlier times.”2 Langland scholarship’s heavy reliance upon notions of the “ideal copy,” as if Crowley was responsible for only three productions, has prevented full recognition of the interplay between manuscript and print cultures and of the richness of this archive, both for bibliographers and for students of the poem’s reception and editorial history. The early modern reception of printed Chaucer editions has been the object of some important work, especially by Alison Wiggins who has examined a large number of copies;3 Piers Plowman awaits similar treatment.
Crowley’s First Edition (STC 19906)
1. Boston Public Library: G.406.32. Wanting preliminaries and Gg., “both of which are supplied in a stunningly well executed ink facsimile” (RCH). FACS BO
2. British Library: C.71.c.29 (formerly 1077.g.1). RCH: “A complete first edition, formerly belonging to Thomas Tyrwhitt (1730-86). Annotations in his hand on the first several pages may indicate that he at some point considered editing the text.” Recto of front flyleaf, comment on dating of poem and great storm of 1362. Verso of printer to the reader, seven-line passage: Sig *ii verso, A.i.recto-verso, A.ii.recto. SEE MY NOTES L(1)
3. British Library: G.11519. Printed on vellum. From Thomas Grenville’s library. Note pasted on top of front flyleaf on how this is Cr1 not 2 as Lowndes believed, and how another vellum copy is in the Althorp library and belonged to Mr Halton. Back flyleaf, note on preservation efforts Nov. 1990. SEE MY NOTES. L(2)
4. Cambridge University Library: Syn.7.55.12. SEE MY NOTES C
5. Cambridge University Magdalene College Pepysian Library: PL 1302. Contains title-page and preliminaries of STC 19907. Paradine Press facsimile prints this copy. C6
6. Cambridge University Trinity College: VI. 1. 48. Variant I-quire, wants both leaves of Gg. C2
7. Dartmouth College: PR2010 .A1 1550. Gift of Allerton Cushman Hickmott, Dartmouth College Class of 1917. Bound by Riviere & Son. With the bookplates of Edgar F. Leo, E. M. Cox, and Frank Brewer Bemis.
8. Folger Shakespeare Library: STC 19906. Calf binding with blind rolls and remains of ties; Latin printed music as endpapers and vellum MS. guards. T.p. torn at head; hole in Q4 affecting text. Penciled MS. bibliographical note of Bernard Quaritch. Harmsworth copy. F See http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/detail/FOLGERCM1~6~6~667255~145650:The-vision-of-Pierce-Plowman,-now-f?sort=Call_Number%2CAuthor%2CCD_Title%2CImprint&qvq=q:piers%2Bplowman;sort:Call_Number%2CAuthor%2CCD_Title%2CImprint;lc:FOLGERCM1~6~6&mi=122&trs=134 for an image of ?19c annotation on final page re authorship
9. Glasgow University Library: Sp.Coll. 1168. Fly-leaf inscribed: “Robertus Burton Armiger me possidet” (Robert Burton, 1577-1640). G2
10. Huntington Library: C19907X 58735. Signed by Lee Warly, 1750 between “Finis” and colophon; bookplate of Robert Hoe. Some careful underlining, eg L.iii.r from “Sholde no chrysten” through “Proditor” latin; L.iiii.c, deom “It is an uncomly couple by Christ” four lines, then “And though thei gone” through “And than get ye”, then “Dum sis” Latin, then “Not as Adame” through “were cleane”. Some manicules, eg N.iv.v, “Ecce ipsi id iste rapiunt celum…”S.iv.v, “Seven slept”, Y.ii.v, “And sitehn that the Sarasins and also the Jewes”; X.i.v, “Poule after his preaching, panyars he made”; X.iv.v, “Alas that men so longe on Makometh should beleue”; Cc.ii.v “It it not used in earth to hangen a felon”; top line of Ee.iii.v. “NB” on DD.iiii.v net to “The kynge if he fall”. Written on L.i.r by “Libenter”: “2. Cor: Cap. 11 / ver: ??” U.i.v, “Anima…” next to Ltn names. All this is Warly’s hand. HN
11. Indiana University Library: PR2010 .A1. Lilly Library copy with the armorial bookplate of Thomas Barrett of Lee Esqr., Franks bequest 1605. From the library of J.K. Lilly, Jr. Bound by Riviere in blue morocco, gilt, stamped in gilt with Miller (?) arms, edges gilt, in a blue morocco pull-off-tiop box.
12. John Rylands University Library of Manchester: 13746 A4C. Vellum copy. This copy belonged to Mr. Hatton (John Thomas Payne and Henry Foss, Bibliotheca Grenvilliana, vol. 2 [London, 1842], 556). Binding stamped with arms of 3rd Earl of Sunderland. M
13. Lambeth Palace Library: 1549.3.02. Blind stamped binding. Bound with Thomas’ Historie of Italie. Contemporary hand puts check marks next to about ten lines. Verso of final endpaper: 16-17c hand on Thomas Wimbledon preached sermon on the wall? of the work? at powles crosse before bishops / John Malburne [sic] was the author of / Peres Plowmanis vissions and he was felowe of Sleam [?] Coledge Oxford” L2
14. Lehigh University: 821.1 L265p 1550. Ritson’s copy. Full-color facsimile available at http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/bookshelf. LEH
15. Library of Congress: PR2010 A1 1550. LC
16. New York Public Library: Berg Collection. Vellum copy, but with unique resettings of gatherings D and outer L, variants that “may have been occasioned by the difficulty of printing on vellum” (Hailey, “Robert Crowley and the Editing of Piers Plowman (1550),” 158-59). NY
17. Oxford Bodleian Library: 40 Rawl 123. Inscription on t.p.: “Legere [et] non intelligere negligere est. Rich. Polson” in an early 16th century English hand. Formerly belonged to William Fulman and to Thomas Hearne (see transcription in separate document.) Armorial bookplate on upper paste-down of Arthur Charlett. 17th century blind ruled English calf, upper board detached. O(1)
18. Oxford Bodleian Library: 40 Rawl 271. Variant I-quire. 17th? century blind-rules sheep, both boards detached or detaching. Contains title-page and preliminaries of SCT 19907. Ownership inscription by William More or Morse: this book was a gift from “my ladye Joane Ffane some tyme priories of Dartforde in Kent. 1556.” Three-page index at end most likely in identical hand. On More, see Robison, “Sir William More (1520-1600),” which notes his ownership of extensive lands in Kent, where Dartford is located. Vane was prioress of Dartford upon its surrender to Henry VIII in 1539, having been endorsed for that position by John, bishop of Rochester, because, he wrote to Cromwell, “although there are in the house many elder than she is, yet there is none better learned nor more discreeter women, she being herself above thirty”; see Hasted, “Parishes: Dartford,” accessed on British History Online: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=62816, 27 August 2008, and, for the bishop’s endorsement, Green, Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain, 3:85 (after which follows a letter Fane wrote to Cromwell in 1539 seeking his permission for an initiate to take final vows). Vane might be the earliest identifiable female reader of Piers Plowman (if we can assume she indeed read the poem); see Kerby-Fulton, “The Women Readers in Langland’s Earliest Audience,” for codicological evidence regarding earlier women readers. O(2)
19. Oxford Christ Church College: MS 542. Variant I-quire. Deposited by Sir George Young, Formosa Fishery, Coohkam, Berks. Original leather binding. Verso front flyleaf, ?17c hand, inscription from Spenser’s Shepherd’s Calendar “Go little Calendar” with identifications of Tityrus as Chaucer and ploughman as PP. Title page: “This Poem was written in the year of our Lord 1409.” A few underlinings etc. O3
20. Oxford Wadham College: A 36.2. Given in 1775 by the will of Richard Warner,?a bibliophile and alumnus of Wadham, who gave several thousand books,? largely literature and botany. Warner almost always wrote his?name and the date of purchase inside the front cover of his books; he came by this one in 1772, or possibly 1774 (the last figure is not clear). At some ?point before him it belonged to Eliza Godwin, a name that appears, somewhat? cropped, on the top of the first page of text. The book is lightly annotated in?two hands, both 16th century by the look of it, one secretary hand and the?other italic. It lacks a title page altogether and one has been put in in ms by?someone, possibly Warner himself, who seems to have had another to copy. Its?first few pages are very ragged indeed, indeed in shreds. The last extant sheet?is fol cxii, and it lacks fol xvi altogether. (Information courtesy of Sandra Bailey, Librarian.) [update 2011:] A few marginal comments: “Covetis discribed” (F.iii.r); “Sloth discribed” (G.ii.v); “God save the Queen of England” (O.iii.r); “no man is so good” (U.ii.v).
21. Oxford Worcester College: L.R. III 21. RCH: “A beautiful, clean copy that would be complete but for the mysterious lack of the final text leaf Gg1, though the blank Gg2, exceptionally, is present. The implication is that the Gg1 was removed at some point to make up another copy. If so, the missing leaf could be identified by a worm hole approximately 120 mm from the top edge and 10 mm from the gutter, present in both Ff4 and Gg2.” O6
22. Pierpont Morgan Library: PML 6259. Hailey: “Although the title page is from the third edition, STC 19907, I have classed the copy as a first edition since the majority of sheets come from that edition: 19906: A-Y; Aa-Cc; Dd2.3; Ed-Ff3. 19907a: (2-4; ¶; Z; Dd1.4; Gg1. 19907: (()1; Ff4.” PML
23. Princeton University: 16th-55. Six leaves from Cr2 are bound in (“summe of principall poyntes”). Inscribed on fly-leaf and t.p.: John Burns, Oct. 5, 1922. Sir Herbert Croft, 1751-1816.
24. Texas Christian University: Lewis PR2010 A1 1550. Nineteenth-century copy of a poem on Malvern by Drayton and of comments on the region by Selden. T.p. signed John Brograve 1679. Brograve (d. 1691) also owned B.L. MS Egerton 1991, Gower’s Confessio Amantis. End flyleaf: two English prayers, sixteenth-century, both headed “Grace”: the first, four lines, begins “The god of al peace: comforte & consolasyon”; the second, ten lines, begins: “Blyssyd be god ye father: for hys deare son chryste / for he ys ye good shepard: and our only hye preest.” Below this a Latin ecclesiastical text facing the opposite direction, also sixteenth century. My thanks to Roger Rainwater for sending me scans of the relevant materials.
25. University of Toronto. STC 00234. Has preliminary leaves [1-2] (incl. t.p.), leaves i,?iiii, xlii-xliii, lxix-lxxii and cxiiii-cxvii wanting. Information courtesy of Dr. Pearce J. Carefoote.
26. University of Chicago: PR2010.A1 1550. Accession stamp on leaf B.i., accession number 257689. The Library’s accession log books indicate that this book was purchased by the English department at a cost of $4.82, and was added to the collection on July 29, 1907 (no indication of where the purchase was made).?Includes a handful of facsimile, photostat pages, which substitute for presumably damaged original pages.?The t.p. through the A gathering are facsimile. (The first original pages in the copy begin with B.i.)??Leaf [Ee.iv] is facsimile.?Leaves Gg.i through the end of book are facsimile.?An envelope carrying negative prints of these facsimile pages is attached to the inside back cover of the volume. There is no citation for where the facsimiles are from.?Leaf [D.iv] is singed (burned) at the lower corner.?There are no marginal notations, but the book features a number of underlined passages.?F.ir: L. beg. “Who so spareth”; and three ll. beg. “And be stuardes” through “It is thy.”?F.iiir: four ll. beg. “Saint Gregory” through “Among monks.”?F.iiiv: two ll. beg. “And as” through “With a.”?G.iir: The phrase “like a glemans bytch.”?H.iiir: The word “Skleire” and the line “And se ye lovely.”?S.iv: l. beg. “That I catch”; l. beg. “To ye”; l. beg. “I wayted.”?S.iir: Ll. beg. “About the mouth”; “Such werkes”; “And how that”; “And of her”; “And menged”; “More profitable.”?S.iiiv: L. beg. “That I ne soyled it.”?[S.iv]v: Most of the content between l. beg. “It is found that” and the l. beg. “Therfor mesur.”?Y.iv: Most of the content between l. beg. “Dos ecclesie” and l. beg. “And purge hem.”?Bb.iir: L. beg. “Night Logis”; ll. beg. “But this blynde” through l. beg. “Agayne my wyll.” Information courtesy of David Pavelich, Reference and Instruction Librarian.
27. University of Florida: 821.1L282p 1550. Bears a stamp from “Elizabethan Bookseller, Waukegan, Illinois” and is missing the title page, which is provided by a Photostat, followed by a leaf with the handwritten title “The Vision of Pierce Plowman London 1550.” This leaf also bears in pencil the library annotation STC 19906 and “first edition.” Information courtesy of James Cusick.
28. University of Wisconsin-Madison: Thordarson T 2057. Rebound by F. Bedford (at the instigation of Chester Thordarson) In the second scan, there is a remnant pasted in, probably of the dealer description as was usual in this collection. No earlier indications of provenance. There are no annotations or marks at all throughout the text or in the margins. Some of the printed marginalia are slightly cropped during the rebinding, but all of the pagination, signatures, or running titles appear to be intact despite close cropping.” Information courtesy of Susan Stravinski.
29. UCLA: PR2010 A1 1550. Wants final two text leaves, supplied in MS. UCLA
30. Wesleyan University: E2 STC 19906. Margins of the t.p. have been completely cut away, and the t.p., perhaps supplied from another copy, has been mounted on a blank leaf before binding. Marginalia in an early hand on ( recto. Bound in mottled calf. Bookplate of Joseph Bennett. WES
31. Yale Beinecke: ID L 26 550. Title supplied in photostat from the British museum copy, following which is inserted a facsimile reprint of the t.p. of STC 19907a. Leaf cxvii wanting and supplied in manuscript. Description by Ian Cornelius: “Several names are entered: ‘henry adampi<…>er’ in a very unpracticed hand on sig. B3v (not sure about the surname); ‘Thomas Herne of (?) in a script with lots of curly-cues on Cc3v (the toponym ?should be legible, but I couldn't manage it); and ‘Thomas Withers’ on ?sig. Cc4v. There is a lot of writing in this book, mostly handwriting practice, doodles, and stray words not obviously connected to the ?text. But on sig. A1r-A4r there are word-glosses, keyed to text with ?numbers. Nine such glosses on A1r; fewer on A1v-A4r. Several of these ?glosses begin ‘A.S.’, evidently for ‘Anglo-Saxon.’ The gloss on ‘swy3ed’ reads: ‘A.S. whirled, wandered, flowed SWIFAN.’ The final word is a careful imitation of Anglo-Saxon script: long double-pronged ‘S’, wynn, long F, and beaked A. This is the only gloss to propose an OE etymon.” Y(1)
32. Yale Beinecke: ID L 26 550b. Y(2)
33. Yale Beinecke: 1976 2642. Bookplates of Henry Huth (1858-78), Sir Francis Freeling (1764-1836), Beverly Chew (1850-1924), Francis Joseph Hogan (1877-1944), Charles J. Rosenbloom, and Terry.
34. Collection of John Wolfson copy 1. Wolfson(1)
35. Collection of John Wolfson copy 2. Wolfson(2)
36. Whereabouts unknown: Bonham’s sale number 16366, lot 233, May 20, 2008. Description: “without all before A1 (i.e. *2, title and ‘The Printer to the Reader’, supplied in manuscript facsimile), 2C2 and all after 2F3, lower portion of 2D3 excised with loss of 2 or 3 lines, 2F2r catchword trimmed, upper corner of E4 torn with loss of folio number, small hole on R3 touching 4 letters, 2 marginal wormholes, nineteenth century half calf, red morocco label” (from http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=EUR&screen=lotdetailsNoFlash&iSaleItemNo=3834688&iSaleNo=16366, accessed 24 October 2008).
37. Whereabouts unknown: “Bradley Martin had a mold stained and imperfect copy, lacking quire I4, and with the misprinted 1505 date scraped off and replaced with the correct 1550 date in pen ($34,100 Sotheby’s, 1990)” (http://biblioctopus.com/catalog34/catalog34.htm; see below, STC 19907a, item 33).
38. 18th-century ms. notes on 6 pp. and two small slips bound in, containing an "Index of obsolete words in Pierce Ploughman" and other comments on the date of the edition; Hagen catalogue attributes to Locker. Antique brown morocco gilt, spine gilt, gilt edges by Roger de Coverly; scratch in central panel of lower cover, joints rubbed. Frederick Locker (-Lampson, bookplate and pencil note) — Cortlandt F. Bishop (bookplate) — Winston H. Hagen (bookplate). “Property from the Late Mrs J Insley Blair, Sotheby’s 3 December 2004, lot 191.
Crowley’s Second Edition (STC 19907a)
1. British Library: C.71.c.28. British Museum foundation collection, from the library of Sir Hans Sloane. Variant I-quire from Cr1. T.p. “John Quicke 1678.” Also some 16c inscriptions: “By [four minims]e Ryegiford godfrey of the horves of welbels”? “He seldome dyets out of debt that dineth before he deserveth yt.” Another perpendicular 16c inscription, in Latin?, too faded to make out. L(1)
2. British Library: G11520. From Thomas Grenville’s library. verso of front flyleaf: “see Warton Hist: of Poetry, vol. 1. p. 266. / Herbert’s Ames p. 759.” Notice of B.L.’s preservation Nov. 1990 in back flyleaf. L(2)
3. Cambridge University Library: Syn. 7.55.25. Signature title page: 16c “Willmns Chauncy” (line through “l”s, five minims), then “Will [a bit lower] Will C”. Verso: “Toby Chauncy.” On final verso Gg.ii.v, “Toby Chauncy his book” twice plus another time without “his book.” Also under bookplate “Munificentia Regia 1715 [on banner, then around head:] BR FR ET HIB REX FD.” A few passages marked by pencil in margin, a few words underlined but no other signs of reading. C(1)
4. Cambridge University Library: Peterborough.P.2.33. Peterborough Cathedral copy on deposit at CUL; listed as 19907 in STC and in card catalogue. Variant I-quire from Cr1. Gg2recto, 18c hand: “The Vision of Pierce Plowman / was writ by Rob: Langland, / borne at Mortimer Clibery / in Shropshire, bred a Priest, / & was one of ye first followers of Cicliffe. He flourished 1369.” Slip sewn in, same hand: “Rob: Crowley first of all published the Visions / of Pierce Plowman London 1550. 4to. / Whan [corr. “Th”?] first been once or twice made extant / with Corrections. Athene? Mthew? Oxonienses / page 19i.” Verso, scribbles in a few hands: up left margin vertical “After myne hardy comonde …” 16c. Prayer seems to be written in pencil (overwritten). Some doggerel verse in pencil re-traced in pen. And, a brief index in ?17c/19 hand: “Shope me. fol. 1 / Swy2ed fol. 1 / God leve i.e. grant or give leave / Leve . Belief? / Tho. Them. Though. Those. / Lely speech. Free? Speech. / Half B[xx] on hond / Mede profit Gifts Reward. / Leauty . Loyalty or Legality. / Swinke, swonken. Work. Working. Fol. 1.29 / peiden . employed. Fol. 1 / Selde. Hard. Fol. 1 / Lelly. Fol. 85v 86. / Lewte Ignorant. Ffol. 61. / [new column] Sweven. Fol. 1 / Did him rise i.e. caused. Fol. 86 / Manzed / Beret } fol. 8. / Leodes / Swgth } fol. 13.” One or two terms marked or glossed in the text. C(2)
5. Cambridge University King’s College. Shelfmark not available.
6. Cambridge University Pembroke College: 91. Bookplate verso of t.p.: “Collegium, sive aula Mariae de Valentia, communiter nuncupata Pembroke Hall, in Academia Cantabrigiensi, 1700.” No other signs of readership or ownership.
7. Cambridge University Trinity College: Capell T.5. C2
8. Durham University: Bamburgh Sel. 26. On the front pastedown armorial bookplate “T. Sharp D.D. Preb[endary] of Durham. Arch Deacon of North[umberland],” i.e. Thomas Sharp 1693-1758. On fol. xxiir “Thomas Gibson” (?the London printer) in a mid/late 16th century hand. Binding: brown goatskin, blind fillets and panel borders, 20th century. RCH: “Largely a second edition copy, but with the title page wanting, and gatherings C, I, Aa, and Bb supplied from STC 19906.” Variant I-quire from Cr1. DUR5
9. Eton College. Ci.2.4.08; prev. Ci.2.4.10. Storer bequest label dated 1800; bequeathed to Eton by Anthony Morris Storer in 1799. 18th century gold-tooled, blue morocco. Probably by Roger and Thomas Payne (bound uniformly with another edition of this work belonging to Storer, with initials on spine). I think it was incorrectly catalogued originally. The provenance and binding details remain the same but the book we have is actually STC (2nd ed.), 19907a (ESTC S122059). Information courtesy of Katie Lord.
10. Folger Shakespeare Library: STC 19907a. F
11. Harvard University: STC 19907a. From the library of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, with his cypher on the title-page. Bookplate of William Fillingham. Full calf gilt, rebacked. From Ian Cornelius: On an added flyleaf at front: “The old Editions ?of Pierce Plowman are preferable to that of Dr. Whitaker of 1814 ?inasmuch as he has left out various passages which reflect upon the ?Lives of the Romish Clergy”. In ink, cursive. On another added ?flyleaf at front: a note about Crowley, citing “Reliqu
12. Harvard University: STC 19907. Listed in catalogue as 19907, but in fact has 53 leaves of 19907, 72 of 19907a (information provided by Hailey). Contemporary annotations. Bookstamp of Cortlandt F. Bishop. Rebound in full citron morocco old repairs to some leaves. From Ian Cornelius: There are many annotations in a large cursive hand in the first 8 gatherings (A-H); far fewer, in clusters, throughout remainder of the book. The typical form of annotation is: a word (more rarely, a phrase) underlined in text and copied in the ?margin. Sometimes a word is underlined without being re-copied, or vice versa. In a minority of cases, the underlined or re-copied word ?is provided with a one- or two-word gloss-translation. Pages have been cropped, with the resulting loss of annotation text, including probably some gloss-translations. However, the majority of annotations?only ever consisted of the underlined word, copied in the margin.?Most underlining is associated with this program of identifying “hard?words.” However, there are exceptions: names of sins in passus V are?underlined as are some lines of prophecy, some Latin, and sometimes names of actants later in the poem (e.g., L1v and following, in passus nine). For example: A1r: set (in margin: “read, soft” cancelled with an x through each ?word in darker ink); shope; ferly; bourn; swy3ed; meten; trychlych (in ?margin: “see hick.” (? -- a reference to Hickes?)); asketh (in ?margin: “Ch. i.e. dema<..> require
13. Huntington Library: C19907a 58736. Binding signed by Stikeman & Co. Signatures of Johannis Glanvill and Wm. Gregory; bookplate of Robert Hoe. HN
14. Lehigh University: 828.1 L256p 550a. Sixteenth-century owner: William Chapman. Full-color facsimile available at http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/bookshelf. LEH
15. John Rylands University Library of Manchester: /9635. M
16. National Library of Scotland: Sund.5. Armorial bookplate of Plummer of Middlestead?(possibly Andrew Plummer, 1748-1799) on the front pastedown. The?Plummers owned estates at Middlestead and Sunderland Hall, Selkirkshire.?This item is part of the Sunderland Hall Collection. Marginal?annotations, particularly in the first half of the book. Contemporary ownership inscription on the t.p.: “John?Ruge debet hunc lib[rum] Thomae [last 2 words illegible].” According to a?slip in the book this may be John Rugge or Rugg, Rector of Winsford and?Archdeacon of Wells, 1572-1582 who died in February 1582. Information courtesy of Eoin Shalloo, Curator, Rare Book Collections.
17. New York Public Library: Berg Collection: STC 19907a. NY
18. Oxford Bodleian Library: Douce L 250. Owned and annotated by Andrew Bostock who engaged in a sustained argument against Crowley’s reformist interpretations in the margins: “Wyckliffe was a corruptor of the truth and the Master of a sect of Rebels who being led by Sr. John Oldcastle rose agains the Soviraign” and so forth. See, e.g., King, English Reformation Literature, 338-39 and note; Brewer, Editing “Piers Plowman”, 18-19; Schoff, Reformations, XXX. This is the EEBO copy. O
19. Oxford Exeter College: 9M19907a. Consulted March 2011. t.p.: “Strype Memorials vol 2 . B. 1 c. 32. / Hearn’s Robert of Gloucester 646 / Nubrigensis 770.” Endpaper after end of poem, secretary hand: “Pieres the plowman / The boock of the prophete”. O10
20. Princeton University: Special 1550 Langland. In later calf ruled and blocked in blind with emblem of Bridgewater Library. Bookplates of Bridgewater Library and Grenville Kane.
21. State Library of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia): RareS 821.15 V. Jan McDonald, Rare Books Librarian: “It has been rebound, probably in the nineteenth century, and its page edges gilded, probably at the same time as it was rebound. The title page has been remounted. It is otherwise in beautiful condition. It also includes several pages of handwritten notes.” Owned by the Rev. John Mitford, notes dated 1806 and 1825: references to other scholars and quotations referring to poems mentioning plowmen. Mitford went on to edit Gentleman’s Magazine for many years later in the century.
22. UCLA, Clark Memorial Library: Chrzanowski 1550l*. Bookplate of William Foyle. http://www.clarklibrary.ucla.edu/chrzanowski-collection/64-the-vision-of-pierce-plowman-nowe-the-seconde-time-imprinted-by-roberte-crowley-william-langland-imprinted-at-london-by-roberte-crowley-1550.
23. University of Illinois: 821 L26p 1550.
24. University of Leeds: Brotherton Collection Safe LAN. Wanting final leaf. LEEDS
25. University of Texas Harry Ransom Center Book Collection: PR 2010 A1 1550c. Inscribed George Froeburg, 1587.
26. University of Toronto: STC 00235. Title page mounted. Thanks to Pearce J. Carefoote for the information on this copy.
27. Williams College: STC 19907a. vault, Copy 1. Bound in purple leather. This is most likely the copy purchased for $40 by James F. Drake on November 5, 1914 at the auction of the Stickney and Wilson libraries by the Anderson Auction Company, New York (New York Times, November 6, 1914, “Art Notes,” page 10). Drake “was one of the two booksellers most instrumental in the formation of the Chapin Library” (Wayne Hammond, Assistant Librarian, 1997: http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1997/06/msg00151.html). But Drake also worked with the Huntington Library and some of his papers went to the University of Texas, both of which also have copies of this edition. CHAP(1)
28. Williams College: STC 19907a. vault, Copy 2. J. Harsen Purdy copy, bound in green leather. First three gatherings from Cr2; rest of Rogers’s 1561 edition (see below). CHAP(2)
29. Yale Beinecke: ID L 26 550c. Majority of sheets from Cr2, but Cr1 sheets for gatherings I, P-T, X, Y. Variant I-quire from Cr1. Notes by Ian Cornelius: “‘Nicholas Smith’ and ‘Francis Smith’ (sometimes ‘Francis Smith Bray’) are entered on page after page, perhaps over some ?years, since a few of the entries are competent calligraphy. Sig. ¶4v (the blank facing the opening of the poem) is crammed full of Latin: someone has copied the poem's Latin lines (with preference for the verse) and indexed the lines to folio numbers on which they appear. At the bottom of this cramped page: list of Anima’s various activities ?and corresponding names. Everything is written in a smallish early-modern hand, perhaps the same responsible for a small number of Latin marginal and interlinear notes in the poem. Two examples: on sig. A1r, ?“Insomnium Pierii” beside line “I slombred into a sleping, it swy3ed ?so mery”; and, on sig. L3v, “they moote” glossed interlinearly as ?“possent”. Lines are numbered (every 10) in the prologue and first two passus. Y(1)
30. Yale Beinecke: ID L 26 550d. The inner fold of gathering ( is reversed, so that the sequence of pages is 5/6/3/4 (Hailey). Bookplate: Ogden Goelet. This copy is totally clean (Ian Cornelius). Y(2)
31. Collection of John Wolfson copy 1. Wolfson(1)
32. Collection of John Wolfson copy 2. A mixed copy, with second edition sheets predominant. ( and ¶ are from STC 19907, A and B from 19906, and the remainder from 19907a, with leaf Ee3 wanting. Wolfson(2)
33. Collection of D. L. Cumming, Coulsdon, Surrey. Owned by the seventeenth-century book collector Frances Wolfreston. See Morgan, “Frances Wolfreston and ‘Her Books’.”
34. Collection of Toshi Takamiya. “STC 19907a with 'seconde time', but I must tell you that the title page is inlaid.” Belonged to Horace Walpole Bedford, who gave it to Robert Southey on Oct. 16, 1794, Barrow Hill (19th century armorial bookplate) and W.W. Greg (Park Lodge, 1920). There is a pencil note (by Greg?) which reads 'Southey was at this time twenty, and it was in Oct. 1794 that his aunt, Miss Eliz. Tyler with whom he lived, turned him out of her house on account of his engagement to Edith [Tricher?], whom he married the next year'. I discovered now by Googling that University of Maryland Library owns at least two letters written by Southey to Bedford in 1794, referring to the present copy.
35. Biblioctopus (antiquarian bookseller, Beverly Hills, California), Catalog 34, January 2008, asking price $16,000 (http://biblioctopus.com/catalog34/catalog34.htm). A complete copy save for the final blank leaf. Very attractive (fine) 19th century full morocco, gilt, by Clark. Title page a bit dusty, 4 tiny holes in blank margin filled, upper corner of M1 repaired taking the shoulder note on recto and just touching the first letter of the first 8 lines on verso, small chip repaired at the blank edge of the last leaf and the lower blank margin is extended ?” at the bottom (not the lower half of the leaf as noted in the auction record). Provenance: Edmund Philips (bookplate removed); Henry Francis Lyte (bookplate at rear); Bernard Quaritch (collation note dated 15/12/19 on rear endpaper), J. [ames]. O. Edwards, W. A. Foyle (Christie’s, London, Lot 362, $7,097 in 2000).
36. Whereabouts unknown: http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/16811/lot/50/ sold 23 June 2009. “seconde time”; early ownership inscriptions of R. Drummond of Carnock on final blank, bookplate of Patrick and Julie Pearson, modern half morocco, worn. Sold for 5400 sterling.
37. Whereabouts unknown: http://www.buddenbrooks.com/pages/books/25789/william-langland-attributed-piers-the-plowman/vision-of-pierce-plowman-nowe-the-seconde-time-imprinted-by-roberte-crowley-dwellynge-in-elye in early 19th century embossed calf by Hering, covers ruled in gilt, with ornamental borders in blind and large central strapwork. panels stained a darker shade, spine gilt, black morocco label, a.e.g. Later book label Of Viscount Mersey of Bignor Perk on front pastedown. (8)117 leaves (foliated). A very good, handsome and proper copy, wanting a final blank; blank inner margin of the title-page neatly restored, some slight soiling occasional. The binding with expert and unobtrusive restoration of the spine retaining most of the original leather. Tipped in at the front is Hering's receipt for the binding (1lune 2, 1819), which cost 12 shillings. - See more at: http://www.buddenbrooks.com/pages/books/25789/william-langland-attributed-piers-the-plowman/vision-of-pierce-plowman-nowe-the-seconde-time-imprinted-by-roberte-crowley-dwellynge-in-elye#sthash.VYle9kxx.dpuf. Four images (front and back binding, ‘cum privilegio’, passus 5-6 opening)
Crowley’s Third Edition (STC 19907)
1. British Library: C.122.d.9. (formerly 11623.c.37): extensive notes in a 16th-century hand esp re prophecy; “Duplicate from Exeter Coll. Liby” in an 18th-century hand; bookplate of Edward Burton; note by Philip Bliss “From Dr Burton's books at ChCh” [i.e. presumably Edward, not Robert Burton?; not in Kiessling]; purchased by the British Museum 1859. [Notes by Giles Mandelbrote.] D-quire supplied from Cr2. L
2. Cambridge University Library: Syn. 7.55.18. RCH: Catalogued as Cr2, but only the title page an d gathering A come from this edition; the rest of the sheets are of Cr3. Pencil verso of first flyleaf “A madeup copy, but beyond that – quaere = STC 19907a (HS Bennett)” bottom ink: Rustat Fund / 1871 – 231.” Reservation slip in back, 14/7/02 Lawrence Scanlon”. C
3. Cambridge University King’s College: M.28.45. CK
4. Cambridge University Newnham College: 617.2.LAN. Bound in red goatskin with stamp 8 in gold on both covers; Bookplate: “Ex musæo Henrici Yates Thompson” [Henry Yates Thompson (1838-1928); Signature on the front flyleaf: “Jno. Nickolls. 1741”. See http://armorial.library.utoronto.ca/node/36103. E-variant quire from Cr2, I-variant quire from Cr1. C22
5. Columbia University: 19907 BP 821.15. “There are a number of marginal notes in a later hand. The ?notes seem to be the effort of a previous reader to define words in the ?text, for example, the word ‘pere’ is underlined and in the adjacent ?margin is written ‘to look narrowly’. (There are dozens of these, far ?too many to note individually). The book has been rebound and many of the notes are at the very outer ?limit of the fore edge. There is a faint note on the verso of the front ?endpaper that reads ‘$35 [Flosmers(?)] Sale May 6th 18[6]1 | priced in ?Bibl. Ang. Poet at £14 14s’. Our copy is from the Stephen Whitney Phoenix bequest, 1881, for which we ?have no item level details.” Information courtesy of Gerald W. Cloud. Online exhibition includes five facsimile images: https://exhibitions.cul.columbia.edu/exhibits/show/reading/englishcanon/pierceplowman which cite this as shelfmark Phoenix P821.15 I. CU
6. Duke University: D-9 L282V c.1. From sale catalogue: item 35. [LANGLAND (Wm.) THE VISION OF PIERS PLOWMAN. Now the second tyme imprinted]. Black letter, woodcut initials. Lacks title; ‘the printer to the reader’; and prologue, 2 leaves; sigs. D, H. Ff, and Gg1, 16 leaves in all. Qi, Dd4 and Ee4 defective with some loss of text, several leaves at the beginning frayed in the margins, some margins wormed, a few small repairs, but a possible copy. Extensive Ms. notes in a 19th cent. hand on fly-leaves. Sm 4to, old calf, rather worn. STC. 19907 or 19907a, [Robert Crowley, 1550], 30 gns.
7. Folger Shakespeare Library: STC 19907 Copy 1. HH129/24. Half calf and marbled paper over boards. MS. notes. Inscribed on t.p.: Thomas ffytton (?); Harmsworth copy. F(1)
8. Folger Shakespeare Library STC 19907 Copy 2. HH129/23. Limp calf binding; gilt ornament in center with initials “I M”; remains of ties and vellum MS. guards. MS. notes. Penciled MS. bibliographical note of Bernard Quaritch. Inscribed on front free endpaper: “Lord ffauconberg his booke 1677”; inscribed on t.p.: Tho: Belasyse 1652, John Marshall and Ric. Hen. Beaumont 1780; Belasyse family - R.H. Beaumont - Sir Mark M. Sykes - Britwell Court - Harmsworth copy. Final gathering Gg supplied from Cr2. Original binding: http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/detail/BINDINGS~1~1~13970~103308:Open-covers?qvq=w4s:/what/Sewn%20on%20four%20single%20raised%20alum%20tawed%20supports.;lc:FOLGERCM1~6~6,BINDINGS~1~1&mi=16&trs=18 F(2)
9. Kanagawa University, Japan (unverified)
10. National Library of Scotland: H.32.c.25. Some marginal annotations. A scored out ownership?inscription on the t.p. reads: “Joseph Rogers, my booke.” Another?scored out inscription on the t.p. verso reads: “Liber Tym(?)?Tourneur de Salop ex dono William Brayne, 13 die Novemb. Anno salutis(?)?1639.” This copy not in any online catalogue I have found; information courtesy of Eoin Shalloo, Curator, Rare Book Collections.
11. Newberry Library: VAULT Case Y 1853 .L225. Bookplates of R. Percy Alden and Louis H. Silver. Bound by F. De Coverly. Imperfect: t.p. partly torn away, repaired; 2d prelim. leaf and l. xxxi, cvi, cvii repaired; sign. P1 mutilated and repaired, with slight loss of text.
12. Oxford Bodleian Library: 40 Rawl. 272/273. Bound in two volumes and interleaved, with text very heavily annotated by Sir William Burrell. O
13. Oxford Bodleian Library: 40 P 30 Th.Seld. Sheet from other printing inserted in front flyleaf: not sure what the text is; it looks like it might have come from the printer’s this way. 16c annotations in Latin and underlining in text. On A.iir Selden is thinking of Gower! Verso of Gg.ii: “Liber John Alderfull” (repeated). On Alderfull see: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43149 which identifies him as holding an estate in Little Malvern, who died seised of it 1556 (son also John: could be him but he seems to go by Alderfold). Comment re John Malvern *ii recto ref. Stow. Front cover off.
14. Pierpont Morgan Library: call no. W 08 A; accession no. PML 46473. Misidentified in the catalogue as Cr2. Leaf Ee4 is from Cr2. Owned by Henry St. John Mildmay (1787-1848), Walter W. Greg (signature on the free end sheet). Gift of John J. Slocum, Jr. Binding brown tree-calf, gilt. In blue cloth case. Two armormial bkplates; W.W. Greg, Park Lodge, 1920 (inscrip.). PML
15. Queen’s University Belfast: Percy 571. Wants Gg2. See Thompson, “Bishop Thomas Percy’s Contributions to Langland Scholarship.” BTU
16. St. Mary’s College, Oscott, Archdiocese of Birmingham: RV 5. Catalogue number R03555. “C19th auction catalogue label [?] pasted to an end leaf when the work was rebound, at some date since c.1970. It had previously been bound with marbled papers. The work is listed, no. 615, in a house catalogue of 1880 complied by Canon William Greaney, where it is described as “Edited by Robert Crowley, London, 1550.” The text is unpaginated and incomplete. The surviving register is A-2Hiv. Quires A – D and 2G-2H have been completely re-backed, with some loss of text to lvs. Ai-Aiii. Thereafter the text is intact, usually with catch-words, up to leaf 2Hii, where the last line of the text and catch-word are missing. The text now ends with 2Hiv verso, the final line ending ‘in eche a place accursed’. Catchword: Monkes. So there is no colophon. Foliated initials at the start of the text, (In a summer season) and at the start of Passus primus –tertius; thereafter within the text on Ei v, Fi r, Hiv r, Kii r, Xiii v, 2Aii r, 2Biii r, 2Di r, and 2Eiv v. This seems to put our copy at odds with STC 19907, and all three variants listed by the ESTC, where the signatures end at 2Gii, or earlier. We have no knowledge of provenance, although what, I suppose could be an owner’s mark in an [?C18th] hand, Gu: Whitmore, is noted at the foot of 2Giv verso – an odd place for one.” Information courtesy of Gerard Boylan, Librarian.
17. Society of Antiquaries London: MR 32b. Bequeathed by A. H. Bright. Owner’s signature A.1r, “?Hardy Sac[cropped] / 1709”?
18. Southern Methodist University: 00712. Title page mounted; the last leaf (fol. lxvii) is supplied in manuscript facsimile. I have images of these, supplied by Eric White. Book label of the Newberry Library, with mounted label which reads, “This book has been removed from the Newberry Library.” This is likely the copy noted at The Newberry Library Check List Of Books Printed In English Before 1641 (1923), available online at http://www.archive.org/details/newberrylibraryc013788mbp, which mentions the manuscript status of the last leaf whereas the online description of the Newberry’s current copy does not mention anything about missing items supplied in manuscript.
19. University College London: Strong Room B 1550 L1. Variant setting for gathering L, on paper that is not that of the regularly-appearing “L”-quire, but one that appears several times in this edition’s final gatherings, indicating that it was set shortly after the final sheets of the edition were printed (Hailey, “Robert Crowley and the Editing of Piers Plowman (1550),” 159). On the title page is a drawing of bear-baiting. Some underlining by early reader sporadically throughout. L38
20. University of Aberdeen: pi 82115. Wanting t.-p., 4 other leaves from the prelims., and last leaf of text.
21. University of California at San Diego: PR2010 .C76 1550. Half-millionth title in the library, 1968: http://libraries.ucsd.edu/historyofucsd/newsreleases/1968/19680524.html saying “the second state appears to be the most rare of all, with only two copies known in England and two in the Americas-one at the Newberry Library in Chicago and the copy given to the UCSD Library.” Second tyme. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.31822038199956 (on Hathitrust). Thomas Warton’s signature on flyleaf, with some annotations by him and by a 16c hand. Indication that it’s same copy: U of California cited as source; call number on end flyleaf=the same.
22. University of Delaware: PR2010 .C7x 1550. From the library of Sir Richard Drummond of Carnock, d. 1592, with his signature in endpaper; from the library Patrick and Julie Pearson, with their bookplate. Rebound in paper and leather over boards.
23. University of London: [S.L.] I [Langland – 1550]. Wants final leaf. From the library of Sir Louis Sterling. Bookplate of G. Walter Steeves. Catalogue of Exhibition entry, folded insert (not glued). “About a dozen copies of the first edition, of the same year, are recorded, including two on vellum (BM, Rylands). No copy is known to remain in private hands in England. Lent by Sir Louis Sterling.” Also: typed entry—by librarian? “crimson levant morocco, gild edges, A FINE LARGE COPY, VERY RARE.” A few more notes by librarians—reference to “passages which are suppressed from most of the modern editions.” A few marks of early readership: “Thomas” on t.p. Four passages marked by lines: F.1.r, passus 5, “Seke saynt truth … and thus sayd Reson.” L.iii.r, passus 9, “Should no christen creasure … Ne fayle paine.” N.ii.r, passus 10: “Litle had lords to done” > “lands from her heirs.” Margin: “fo. 82.” Q.iii.r, passus 11: “Qui reddit unicuique … Mat. xvi.” L30
24. University of Michigan: PR2010 .C95 1550. Imperfect: leaf Gg1 lacking; replaced with leaf from a copy of the 1st ed. Signature in a 17th century hand on title page: John Hunt. Leather booklabel: Ex libris Cortlandt F. Bishop. Initials stamped on verso of title page: H. F. S. [i.e. Henry F. Sewall]. Manuscript notes in several hands relating to authorship on the front fly leaf. Probably bound by Charles Lewis in full calf.
25. University of St. Andrews: Typ. BL.B50 CL. STU
26. University of Texas Harry Ransom Center Pforzheimer Library: PFORZ 798 PFZ. Carl Howard Pforzheimer (1879-1957), former owner.
27. Wellesley College: Piers. WEL
28. Collection of John Wolfson. A third edition copy, complete but for the final text leaf Gg1, supplied from Cr2. Wolfson
29. Yale University, Beinecke: ID L26 550bb. Bookplates of Edward Vernon Utterson, 1776?-1856; Robert Hoe, 1839-1909; Beverly Chew (1850-1924). Binder’s ticket: C. Hering. This copy has been washed: traces of annotation are visible (Ian Cornelius). Y(1)
30. Yale University, Beinecke: 1972 2642. The title page and “To the Reader” are from a copy of Cr1; rest from Cr3. Y(2)
31. Whereabouts unknown: Sotheby’s Lot 22, sale L07411, 13 December 2007, London. Description: “underlining and pencil annotations in pencil in a later hand, seventeenth-century signature ‘Eliza[beth] Goodere’ on title page, later signature ‘T.J. Mathias’ above, modern quarter brown morocco, reddish-brown cloth boards, marbled endpapers, lacking final two leaves of text (2F4, 2G1, supplied in pen facsimile) and final blank 2G2, title slightly soiled, some occasional marginal damp-staining” (http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?sale_number=L07411&live_lot_id=22, accessed 16 July 2008).
32. http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2015/property-collection-robert-s-pirie-books-manuscripts-n09391/lot.507.html
33. http://www.liberantiquus.com/book.php?book_id=2573 : ‘An excellent copy in 16th c. English blind-tooled calfskin, joints rubbed, small losses. The boards are tooled with medallion portrait rolls separated by decorative architectural and floral flourishes. The roll is apparently Oldham’s no. 782, used on London bindings between 1530 and 1569. Spine with later gilding. The text is in lovely condition with only a few short marginal tears and the odd stain. The text is printed in Black Letter. A fine, unpressed copy of this rare and early edition’ For the binding, see Oldham, English Blind-Stamped Bindings, Plate XLVII, Roll no. 782.
Owen Rogers’s 1561 Edition (STC 19908) FOR AN UPDATED AND CORRECTED LIST OF THESE SEE Lawrence Warner, 'Owen Rogers and Piers Plowman's Crede, 1561: A Census of STC 19908,' in Later Middle English Literature, Materiality, and Culture: Essays in Honor of James M. Dean, ed Brian Gastle and Erick Keleman (U of Delaware P, 2018), pp. 189-218
1. British Library: 81.a.36. From the library of George III. T.p. "Tho. Randolphi pro Tho. filio."
2. British Library: C.71.c.27. tp signature top: "Humfre lloyd in anno 1564." next break, "Hwy pery clod na golud"
bottom, ink: "Lumley" or "Lumler." Lacks Crede. Humfre Lloyd translated "The Treasury of Health."
3. Cambridge University Library: SSS.22.7. Modern binding by F. Bedford, gilded pages, text cropped. Bookplate of Samuel Sandars; another bequeathed by him {TCC} to CUL 1894. Pencil inscription on modern flyleafs “Pearson.” No signs of readership or other ownership.
4. Cambridge University Library: Sel.5.151. T.p. crossed out “O-11-16.” Paper pretty moldy. Contains Crede. No signs of readership or ownership.
5. Cambridge University Library: Syn.7.56.40. Same bookplate as Syn. 7.55.25. Bound with A Dialogue between Experience and a Couriter” Lyndley. Printed 1566. PP copy: t.p. pencil looks like Farmer’s hand: “x See O.ii.16.” (previous item). Creed lacking; no signs of ownership or readership.
6. Cambridge University Sidney Sussex College: Bb.5.16Â?. Crede misbound before Vision. Signatures of Thomas Hornblowe, late 16c (signatures on Crede A1, A2), Thomas Skeffington (signature on Crede A1).
7. Chetham’s Library (Manchester): BYROM 2.I.3.50. wanting leaf H1 onwards.?Six-line 16th-century annotation in English on t.p. verso, concerning a debt between Richard [Shutlworth?] and Ann, wife of Richard [Dravew?] of [Salburii?].? 16th-century inscription on t.p.: “To my very lovinge ffriend ... Plumpton in Yorkshire ...” [cropped].? 17th-century inscription on leaf A1 recto: Thomas Houlden.? 17th-century inscription on t.p.: “Edward Kenyon is the treew pos[ess]or of this booke god make him a good man Amen.” Also on t.p.: “Edward Kenyon,” and on t.p. verso: “Edward Kenyon is the right.”? 18th-century inscription on t.p.: J Haddon.? English(?) full vellum binding, with waste (from previous binding?) 15th/16th century(?) manuscript waste in Latin, including music, written in black, red and blue. Also printed waste in English black letter, printed in black and red.
8. Duke University: RBR A-18 L282V. Bound by F. Bedford, marbled. Gilded leaves. Bookplate: William Horatio Crawford, Lakeland Cork. Bookplate (later): Willis Vickery. Pages cropped with some loss of headers in later passus and of some marginal annotations. F.i.v manicule “Lest the king and his councel”. Manicule and comment E.iv.r: “agains[t] Laweye[rs?]” (by “That law shalbe a labourer, and leade a fielde done” passus 4). F.i.v: manicule “Lest the king and his councel, your commons apere.” Cross by “And passed at the pardon, of S. Peters church / Now hath the pope power, pardon to raunte the people” (L.i.r, passus 7), likewise verso a few lines above “To purchase you pardons”. Mark next to “And is runne to religion, and hath rendred the Bible” (L.iii.v). Prophecy in passus 10: manicules by “And there shal come a king” (O.i.v) and “abot of abington” (O.ii.r) with comment rt margin of latter: “abbeys f/ putt down/ a king”. Xes next to ref to singing of masses and “on Troianus truth to think” P.iii.v., next P.iv.r by Luk. ref and between “rethren as of one blood” and “on Calueri of christis blud”Z/iiii.verso: “bishopps [sh]all louse [..]yer tenyae?? [..]altyes” (cropping, hard handwriting: but about disendowment). X by ref to Pope and cardinals Ff.iii.r. Likewise Gg.ii.r “That conscience shal not know by conritiron”. X by “Here is bread blessed and gods body” Gg.ii.v: X by “and god amend the pope.” GG.iii.r. By king’s prophecy in B.19, Gg.iiii.r “Of spiritus iusticie, for I iudge you all.” H.i.v: “Antichrist came than”. Inside back endpapers: modern pencil “259-1985 / lunxp” and then “426” last recto.
9. Folger Shakespeare Library: STC 19908. HH129/25. Red goatskin binding with a single gilt fillets and small tools at corners; label on inside front cover: Upham and Beet. Provenance: bookplates of Simpson Rostron and John Lloyd Balderston; Harmsworth copy.
10. Grand Valley State University (Michigan): PR2013 W4 1561
11. Harvard University: STC 19908 (A). Early autograph of Richard Taylor. From Ian Cornelius: Lacks the Crede. Cropped very close, occasionally shaving the edges of printed marginalia. A clean ?book, with the exception of the following: Autograph of “M. Richard ?Taylor” on recto of first flyleaf. Cross-references to Whitaker ?throughout, in a small neat hand, in pen and pencil. Maybe 10 in total. One cross-reference to Crowley's 1550 edition (entered on sig.G4v, beside the phrase "rimes of Robenhod"). A small ?number of other notes: an A.S. etymology (G3r), notice of the ?confession of the sins, and, on sig. O2r, "Wars of York & Lancaster" ?has been entered beside the line “And ere ... Caine shal awake".
12. Harvard University: STC 19908 (B). Ian Cornelius: A clean book, with the exception of the ?following: (1) on sig. S2v of Piers Plowman: “tripes” entered in ?margin as a gloss to “wombe clouts”, which is underlined. (2) on ?sig. D3v of the Crede: two ms additions to the “interpretation of ?certayn hard wordes”. Immediately below the first column: “Leode, a ?Person.” Immediately below the second column: “Wombe-clouts, ?tripes.” A reader with tripes on the brain!
13. Haverford College: Magill Library 96. Bound in 19th century calf-backed boards, gilt stamp of The Society of Writers to the Signet on cover. Six pages of MS notes by Richard Farmer. Sotheby Parke Bernet Sale 3694, #309.
14. Huntington Library: 62884. T.p.: Signature of “Nico: Atkinson” (17c?); Britwell sale, 2 April 1924:470. Bound by Roger Payne. Incl. Crede. Back cover off. (62885 is volume 2, Crede only: not sure why they go together)
15. Huntington Library: 62880. Incl. Crede. Binding signed by F. Bedford. Bookplate of Ross Winans, 1850. No other signs of readership. Winans also owned Hm128.
16. Huntington Library: 62885.
17. John Rylands University Library of Manchester: /4049. (leaf only?)
18. Keio University: PR2013W4 1561 (classification number); 120X@885@1 (call number).
19. The London Library: Ant. (Shelfmark denotes a rare book published before/up to 1800 and octavo in size.) Title page and Summe replaced with facsimiles from Bodleian copy, with separate signatures. Endpaper (front) missing. Inscription on end paper: “A poemme Santa Margaretta was wrote above ye year 1150 It began to exhibited a specimen of the Language of Saxon poetry and History—the author Wrote before Robert of Gloucester who wrote some part of the History of the Saxon and Norman Kings in meter which measure was used till the middle of the 17 Century. Sir John Gower one of our English poets calls Chaucer his Diciple ~ he there fore may be called the Father of our poetry Chaucer lived in 1380 in Richard 2d time He often makes mention of Lydagate a monk of Bury and of his good Friend Piers the Plowman ~ Chaucer.” Inscribed : Sarah King. John King in margin and on back page. Don. : The Dorset Natural History and Archeological Society, November 1944. Crede included.
20. Loyola Marymount University: PR2010 .A1 1561. Liber Antiquus; Purchase; 2003; 2003.89. Brown mottled calf over boards, blocked in blind. Brown marbled endpapers. Bookplate “J. O. Edwards” on upper paste-down.
21. National Library of Scotland: H.32.c.24(1). Ownership inscription on the?title page. Unfortunately the ink has been been smudged: “His booke anno donum 1635 Leates(?).” Information courtesy of Eoin Shalloo, Curator, Rare Book Collections.
22. Newberry Library: Case Y 1853 .L227. Armorial bookplates of Thos. Jolley and Joseph Grafton Minot. Title page mounted.
23. Niedersachsische Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek, Göttingen: 8 P ANGL 4028.
24. Oxford Balliol College. 525 a 1. Consulted March 2011. John Urry collates against Spelman copy now in the possession of Lord Weymouth. Catalogue entry: “Bookplate: Armorial bookplate of "[H.H.] Norris". - Bookplate: Balliol College bookplate (type 1). - Binding: Late 18th century(?) quarter calf, plain purple paper-covered boards. - Imperfect: Leaf N3 damaged at the foot (with the loss of the signature). - MS additions: Date and price "P. 6d." in ink on the title page. With early ink notes on the verso of the title-leaf, describing the author, his text and its publication history. The first six leaves bear marginal variant readings based on comparison with a manuscript. Short ink word-list on the recto of the final leaf. - Previous shelfmark: DD13-7. - Previous shelfmark: Az.6.13. - Previous shelfmark: UL.A.13.16. - Previous shelfmark: A.13.16. - Size: 21 cm.”
25. Oxford Bodleian Library. 40 P 39 Art.Seld. t.p. bottom, 16-17c hand: “Floruiot author anno Christi incarnati 1350 et regni Edoardi tertii 2 quo anno Eqicitum Garterioru- ordo institutia fuit.” Few other signs of readership.
26. Oxford Bodleian Library. 40 Rawl. 274. See separate item.
27. Oxford Bodleian Library. 40 Rawl. 275. Back cover, pastedown cut out so that original 16 or 17c ownership inscription shows: “Thomae [elaborate drawing] Pynnar / it was George Myddelton.” Pynnar was chief clerk of the kitchen under Elizabeth (1577), had been clerk and sergeant in household of Mary and deemed “acceptable”: see http://www.sp12.hull.ac.uk/lansdowne/la034/la034031.htm re Lansdowne 34, 31. T.p. “Ex Libris Mr Fulman.” And: “Suum cuiq3. Tho: Hearne Febr. 22.1723:4. This book I purchased to day out of Dr. Charlett’s Study. It formerly belonged to the learned Mr. William Fulman. Tho’ I have two other Copies of the Vision of Pierce Plowman, of this Edition, yet the Crede of Pierce Plowman (upon which I sret a great value) is wanting in both. I have quoted this Crede both in my Ed. Of Guil Neubrig. & in my Glossary to Rob. Of Glouc. From a Copy lent me by Thomas Rawlinson, Esq3. [then Fulman signature] See what I have said about Pierce Plowman, at the beginning of Rob Crowley’s Ed wch I have also.” Verso same note on Chichester being mayor in 1370 not 1350 as in other copy. Ink writing on outer pages “Pierce Ploughman”. Some glosses in text of Crede (Hearne?). Back flyleaf: “The Creed seems to have been written some yeares after the Vision, as appears by the mention of Wicklef, who appeared not till the end of K. Edward the third, and especially of Walter Brute who was later. [new para.] Of Walter Brute, mentioned in the Creed, c.iii. vide Foxe Act. Mon. p. 566. Ann. 1391. [new para.] Bale calls him Britte, p. 503. / Pits Brithus, p. 547. [new para] The Prayer and complaint of the Plowman extant in Fox Act. Mon. p. [blank] seems to be of the same age.”
28. Oxford Bodleian Library. Douce L 195. Marbled front and back pages, Douce bookplate. Incl Crede. Verso front flyleaf: upper left “x F. 353”. Then: “Douce / L. 195. / In Longmans catalogue 1814 £8..8..0 / In Longmans Bill. Anglo-poetica no. 573 £12..0..0 but without the rede. / A copy of the Crede (this edition) separate in the same work no. 517 £8..8..0 / and wanting two leaves.” Recto next, darker ink but same hand: “There is a MS of P. Plowman’s Crede at Trin. Coll. Cambridge. See / Mr Todd’s Illustrations of Gower and Chaucer, p. 121. / [lighter ink] Popes copy of this edition was in Mr Roscoe’s library. It had P. argument of / the Creed as cited in Warton’s H.E.P. I.287. / The prose summaries in this edition which begin after the 3d Passus aleast (?) in Crowley’s edition.” All that probably Douce’s hand. Older flyleaf next, signed “T. Warton.” top. “In the Crede mention is made of Water Brute, i.e. Brithe, a follower of Wickliff. See Tanner. Bibl. 127 and of Wickliff. / [indent] See P. Ploughman’s Vis. In Bib. Bodl. / Seld. Olim T. Hearne, cum Notatis L(?) Fulman, MSS. / [indent] See Obs. On Spenser II 217. / See Strype, Ec. M. II (266.)”. Later hand (Douce) below: “See Percys reliques Vol. 2.270.” Slip sewn in between E.i. and ii: “his legs “alyre like a lisel / i.e. al yre = all awrie”. Between G.iii and G.iv (procession of sins), in Warton’s hand: “The [Vibtmans?] of P. Plowman are very like the pageant / of the Last Judgment [name?] others in Mr Towneley’s volume by one Wakefeld.” Slip sewn in between PP and Crede, bigger one: “Q. if the cut or print is of Pyramus & Thisbe in the other edition of P. Plowman’s Crede be not the same as that in one of the Lutheran German marks? (Mr Dildin has it) that I purchased of Nohn?[?] Or is it a copy. In the middle of this German print is a ballad? Of this form”, below, drawn marble columns as if a book plate, pencil, “Der Neuntige” written in. Many items in Crede annotated in pencil; also more closely read in 16c.
29. Oxford Bodleian Library. Mal. 313. Recto first flyleaf: “A Copy of this book sold at Mr ?Hist’s Auctin in 1773 for £.3.0 – BM” Title page mounted. “Fr Aldrick?s 1574” (or 1594). A.i.r s^et, margin “s^ofte/?” bottom: “? softe. Sic Mss Laud F 22 & MSs. Digby 102 & 108. Bibl. Bodl.” A.ii.r, 16c hand? UL “and worth both his eares” and “deceyve the people”. “To sing there for Simony … his dettes” vertical line, “Non R[cropped] dentes” B.ii.v “[Lucif]ers [fa]ll”; “nine dayes together” UL. B.iii.r UL “He loked … die”. Rt mgn “Charity”? (chaste?). Q.ii.r “the same … est reus” vertical line. “Idiot pr[cropped] a singing” ?. Ff.iiii.r “Shale … shalbe” UL; “Pope is pride” plus a few others. [NO 3-page notes]
30. Oxford Bodleian Library. Mal. 314. Incl Crede. No signs of ownership. T.p.: “Written by Robert Longland, a Secular Priest, born in Shropshire.”
31. Oxford Christ Church. d.6.55. Original binding, early hand inside front cover: “Owen Rogers Edition / 1561. / The Crede is imperfect / The Vision biginneth / Prologus.” Misbinded; Crede first. Owner’s signature: ?Tinton Fuller M.D. (very difficult to decipher). Piers text begins sig. A.ii.r. A 16c hand has written sentences in every margin E.iii.v-iv.r; again, hard to decipher. Some figures amidst the letters (e.g., “5A7728d2d”). f.iiii.r, different, later hand: Thomas Lyllingbly” and other scribbles. G.ii.r drawing of crown surrounded by “E.R.” z.ii.v, large pencil, sentence diff. to decipher.
32. Oxford Corpus Christi College. Shelfmark not available.
33. Oxford Oriel College. 3.Wd.17. Given by Richard Cluet, Oriel College, 1615. Rebound in 1949. Cluet has added line numbers every ten lines through passus 4. R.iiii.r names of Anima underlined. Passages and lines marked sporadically throughout. End flyleaf, Latin text, on which written: “wrath F.3.6. Covetise F.4.6 [?]”.
34. Oxford St. John’s College: P.scam.1.lower shelf.11(1). Previous shelfmarks: Pi,166; Phi.4.21; Arch.B.28; a.1.17. Binding: 18th cent. mottled calf; gilt tooling on spine; blind roll around board edges; text block edges sprinkled. Note: labeled “28” at head of spine. Imperfect: lacking all after Ii2. MS additions: notes on front flyleaf. Bound with: one other work. “College ex legato inscription of Nathaniel Crynes,” dated 1745. Bookplate: STJ type 2 (roundel).
35. Pierpont Morgan Library: W 08 A. Catalogue: “Are 1st & last ff from another copy?” Binding brown morocco.
36. Princeton University: 3819.9.39.
37. Princeton University: 16th-56.
38. Queen’s University Belfast: Percy 572. See Thompson, “Bishop Thomas Percy’s Contributions to Langland Scholarship.”
39. The National Trust (United Kingdom): ICK (Ickworth). Armorial bookplate: The Right Honble. John Lord Hervey Created Baron of Ickworth ... 1702 [i.e. John Hervey, later 1st Earl of Bristol (1665-1751)]; Ms. inscription: Tho: & Isabella [i.e. Sir Thomas Hervey (1625-1694) and his wife Isabella (1625-1686)]; Manuscript note on the flyleaf: y over s.. Binding: Seventeenth-century plain calf binding; nineteenth-century gold-tooled lettering on spine. “As with many of our books it has pencil marks throughout with some underlining and these are likely to be by the 1st Earl of Bristol. His bookplate is pasted inside the front board and his parents, Thomas and Isabella, have also inscribed their names on the title page. There are two inserts, both copies of the same catalogue entry, one possibly annotated by the 4th Marquess or Marchioness of Bristol, for an exhibition in 1947 that this book was lent to. There is a pencil note in the book itself stating that it was exhibited again in 1958..
40. Trinity College Library: Press. From estc.bl.uk. I do not find this item in the catalogues of the Trinity Colleges of Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, or Hartford.
41. University College London: Strong Room B 1561 L1.
42. University of Chicago: PR2010.A1 1561. “Our copy of the 1561 edition includes no bookplates but that of the University of Chicago Library. It carries an accession stamp on leaf A.i., accession number 437384. Using the University of Chicago Library’s accession log books, I can tell you that this book was a gift, and it was added to the collection on May 5, 1915. The log book does not indicate the donor.?The only other paratextual information in this copy is on the binding. The binding carries a stamp by the binder, which reads, ‘KNOWLTON 1969.’?There are no manuscript annotations in this copy.” Information courtesy of David Pavelich.
43. University of Illinois: 821 L26p 1561.
44. University of Notre Dame: PR 2010 .R6 1561. Purchased from Christie’s auction, June 7, 2000. Lot no. 112 (Christie’s barcode: 06216788). Title restored at lower blank margin and with small stain, paper fault affecting biblical reference on D1v, occasional light stains and soil marks. Early 20th-century brown morocco by Zaehnsdorf, covers with triple gilt fillets, the upper cover with title, date and small ornament tooled in gilt, spine with raised bands directly lettered in one compartment and dated at foot, the remaining compartments gilt-tooled, gilt turn-ins, comb-marbled endpapers, gilt edges. Provenance : some old underlining and occasional annotations. http://www.christies.com/lotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=1794031.
45. University of Pennsylvania: PR2013 .A1 1561. Library copy bound in full blue leather with gold-stamped covers and cover edges; gold-stamped leather doublures; gold-ruled free endpapers; spine stamped in gold; title and imprint stamped in gold on spine on two raised panels; all edges gilt. Bookplate of Marsden J. Perry. Notes from Megan Cook: “There’s not a great deal of note about the volume, although it is very nicely bound indeed. The title page has pen tests and some other marks, including one in the upper right corner which I think is a signature, but I can’t decipher. In the upper margin of the title page is written “Haereditas mea prouidentia Dei” which, according to a ten second Google search, is the motto of the Wimble family of Sussex. Underneath the ornament at the bottom of the title page is written MCCCL (1350). Underneath that in a different, possibly earlier hand: “Temporar Ric[ard]i s[e]c[un]di.” There are also a few marks that might be indicative of sales, or could just be stray marks. On page T2r, the line “for may no blessing done vs bote, but it we wil amede” is underlined. On the same page, “1350” is written in the right margin opposite the line “A thousand threhundred, twyse twentye and ten.” This is possibly the same hand that writes “MCCCL” on the title page, and definitely not the hand that writes the R2 note. On the last page of this volume (I2r, which would be II2r if the compositor hadn’t gotten lazy), there is a mark opposite the line “Of a priuy payment, and I shall praye for you.” Other than that, the most remarkable thing about this volume is the absence of Piers the Plowmans Crede and the accompanying glossary—the first, you might know, of a text in Middle English and not (as some scholars claim) a glossary of Piers itself.
46. University of Texas Harry Ransom Center Wrenn Library Collection: Wd L265 550vc WRE. John Henry Wrenn, former owner.
47. University of Texas Harry Ransom Center Pforzheimer Library: PFORZ 799 PFZ.
48. Victoria and Albert National Art Library (London): Dyce 25.D.51. 16c hand sporadically throughout: “the mistery of the holy Trinite” on Y1r; Z.iii.v marks prophecy. Manicules in Dyce’s hand quite frequently; especially passages on marriage. Gathering G is stained brown from printer: Gg.i.r has faint ink from another printing. Gilt edges, paper around binding.
49. Wake Forest University: PR2010 1561. Bookplate of Robert Gathorne-Hardy.
50. Williams College: STC 19908 vault. William Morris copy. See http://williammorrislibrary.wordpress.com/
51. [Williams College: see item 28, Cr2 above.]
52. Yale University, Beinecke: 1978 181. Bookplate of Edwin Cox.
53. Yale University, Beinecke: Id L26 550F. Autograph (dated 1585) and ms. notes of Richard Harvey (1560-1623), author of Astrological Discourse upon the great and notable Coniunction of the two superior Planets, SATUREN & IUPITER, which shall happen the 28 day of April, 1583. He believed in “eyther a finall dissolution, or a wonderful horrible alteration of the worlde” for 1588 (p. 45). See Margaret Aston, “The Fiery Trigon Conjunction: An Elizabethan Astrological Prediction,” Isis 61 (1970): 158-87. On this copy, see Eve Houghton, ‘More Art and Lesse Vanity: Richard Harvey’s Copy of Piers Plowman’, https://beineckemargins.wordpress.com/2015/05/26/more-art-and-lesse-vanity-richard-harveys-copy-of-piers-plowman/ which includes one page with his annotations.
54. York Minster Library: O XXX.J.2. MS inscription on fly-leaf: Sir M. Sykes’ copy. With 2 extracts from booksellers’ catalogues inserted between leaves T3 and T4. Davies collection, 1875.
55. Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Medieval Manuscripts (Oregon), item CTS0901. For sale $7500.00. “Convincing new replica calf, simple horizontal gilt rules on flat spine. Nearly all headlines at least a bit shaved (the first leaf after the title with the headline almost completely lost), marginal annotations trimmed with loss of a letter or two, last quire noticeably browned, consistent moderate offsetting in text, title page and margins of one or two openings a little soiled, a short marginal tear and a paper flaw (neither with any loss). T.p.: “the author of this boke was John Malverne fellow of Oriel Colledge who finish this book. An. 1344 1342 and of E[cropped] an. 16. Se[cropped] Stow and s[cropped] in Appendix.” Front pastedown with engraved armorial bookplate of the Earl of Cromer (by J. F. Badeley, dated 1912). First few leaves with marginal ink annotations. http://www.abaa.org/books/349703706.html accessed 28 May 2011. This copy was sold for £1,410, lot 231, sale 9122, Christie’s London 6 June 2001.
56. Whereabouts unknown: Lot 47, The Trivulzio Collection. Part the Second. Catalogue of sale, February 6-11, 1888. “The title and first leaf is fac-similed by hand, as also is the Crede, … The ‘Crede’ of this edition is priced separately at eight guineas in the Bibliotheca Angla Poetica. This was Alexander Gardyne’s copy, and has his curious book-plate inserted. It also has a note in his handwriting to the effect that both Malone and Farmer said that they never saw a copy with the ‘Crede,’ though one is said to have been in the hands of Douce. To this memoranda is affixed a catalogue cutting of Alexander Pope’s copy, priced £28.” 18-19.
57. Library of Toshi Takamiya, Japan. Thomas Greillym (1634)- George Ballard (1732, antiquary)- Sir John Frederick, Bart (18th century bookplate)- Graham Pollard (bibliographer, his sale, Sotheby's, 4 July 1978, lot 406) copy. According to Ian Doyle, my mentor, who saw the copy, 'the binding was probably contemporary with initials of George Ballard, and the note on the flyleaf in his hand. Dd2-3 at end from another quarto, of Queen Mary's reign, in view of its content and the use of initials of two mid-century styles.'
58. Whereabouts unknown: Christie’s sale 9878: The library of Abel E. Berland, lot 77, 8-9 October 2001. Marginal tear on N1, a few leaves with minor staining and soiling, some pale marginal dampstaining. 18c sprinkled half calf, marbled boards (re-backed preserving original spine, corners repaired); quarter morocco folding case. Quotation from Bale and proposal that Chaucer wrote the Crede (but not Piers Plowman), 1577, discussed above. Pagination on versos, and publication date inscribed on title -- Daniel Wray (1701-1783), antiquarian (ink ex dono stamp on title verso: “Domus Carthus: Lond: ex dono Danielis Wray Arm:”) -- purchased through Pickering and Chatto at Sotheby’s (Hodgson’s), London, 25 May 1972, lot 16. http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=3098327.
59. Whereabouts unknown: Sotheby’s Lot 23, sale L07411, 13 December 2007. J.J. Conybeare, ownership signature on front endpaper, 1809; later signature “R.A. Potts” with inscription, endpaper. Bound in at the end is the single leaf “Song. Penned by John Grange,” given as “Imprynted at London by Henry Bynneman, 1577,” but apparently a nineteenth-century printing. See http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?lot_id=159419538.
60. Whereabouts unknown: Bonhams sale: Sale 15230, 27 March 2007. Library of Paul Betts. Lot 83. Some soiling and dampstaining, title and following leaf with margins repaired, central gatherings with some worming in inner margins (occasionally affecting text), small rust hole to k4, bookplate of John William Watson, later calf, rebacked and recornered. See http://www.invaluable.com/catalog/viewLot.cfm?lotTitle=ENGLISH+PRINTED+BOOKS+BEFORE+1641+&lotRef=N7P3ZB6S7T and http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=usa&screen=ResultDescPrint&iSaleNo=15230.
61. Whereabouts unknown: http://stardotstarbooks.blogspot.com/2007/02/book-stealing-from-leisure-hour-1892.html cites an ad in the Times (London) in which a Rogers is claimed to have been stolen from H. Sotheran & Co. Bookseller, 136, Strand, London, W. C.
62. :[Berkeley] lot 88 Christie’s sale 1587 New York, 12 December 2005, $8400. Some soiling and staining, some headlines cropped. 19th-century limp vellum. Provenance: Robert Doughty (contemporary inscription dated 1561 on verso of title, some marginalia throughout).
63. Whereabouts unknown: lot 395 in a U.K. auction, 2005: see http://www.artfact.com/auction-lot/langland,-william-ca-1330-1400-.-i-the-vision-1-c-si96ei829w (one must register to learn details of the sale). Lacking 18 leaves at the end containing the end of the Vision and the Crede, several headlines shaved, a few lost, title very lightly soiled.) Early 20th-century mottled calf gilt, sprinkled edges. Provenance: Edw. Browne, April 29 1687 (title inscription with note on text) -- Thomas Edward Watson (bookplate; by descent to the present owners).
64. Whereabouts unknown, Lot 47 of Addison and Sarova auction. “Wanting "Crede" (as usual) else complete though signatures Ff and Gg bound in each other's place. Early specked calf boards rebacked (19th c.) with title on label in gilt. Rubbing to hinges though binding firm, engraved bookplate of Waldo C. Bryant, bibliographical clippings laid down to pastedown and two tipped to gutters (on blanks), some manuscript notes to front end-papers in early ink, underlining and marginalia in period ink in places throughout, title mildly toned, else Very Good.” Price realized $11,500.00 (!). http://addisonsauction.hibid.com/lot/18217944/langland--william---the-vision-of-pierce-plowman-?tab=0&cpage=1 has many images, including of annotations (words underlined and defined, 18-19c hand?)
65. http://www.ilab.org/catalog_view/739/739_Pope%20catalogue.pdf: Pope’s copy, owned later by Warton. Roscoe sale 1816; Benjamin Heath sale 1859; unknown sale 1966. Warton described some of Pope’s annotations; Pope also noted “Robert Langland” as author: Maynard Mack, “Pope’s Books: A Bibliographical Survey with a Finding List: Appendix” in English Literature in the Age of Disguise, ed. Maximillian E. Novak, U of California P, 1977, 269-70.
Also noted
66. Langland, William, attributed author.] The vision of Pierce Plowman, newlye imprynted after the authours olde copy, with a brefe summary of the principall matters set before every part called Passus. Whereunto is also annexed the Crede of Pierce Plowman, never imprinted with the booke before. London: imprynted by Owen Rogers, 21 February, 1561. 286 pp. (unpaginated). Sm. 4to, full red morocco, gilt, by Sangorski & Sutcliffe; in a red cloth slipcase. £20,000
This copy belonged to Alexander Pope, and has a distinguished provenance. On a blank leaf preserved at the front is the signature of the poet and literary historian Thomas Warton, dated 1770, noting that he had been given the volume by Pope's literary executor William Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester ("ex dono Rev. in Chr. Patris Gulielmi Glocestrensis"). Beneath this inscription is a second note signed by Warton: "Liber olim A. Pope cuius manu nonnulla attinuntur," i.e. "a book once owned by A. Pope, with a certain amount in his hand." Warton describes this volume, and Pope's annotations, in the first volume of his History of English Poetry, published in 1774 (p. 287):
"In a copy of the Crede lately presented to me by the Bishop of Gloucester, and one belonging to Mr. Pope, the latter in his own hand has inserted the following abstract of its plan:
'The contents. An ignorant plain man having learn'd his Paternoster & Ave Mary wants to learn his Creed. He asks several religious men to teach it him, of ye several orders. First of a Friar Minor who bids him beware of ye Carmelites, & assures him they can teach him nothing, describing their faults, &c. but that the Friars Minors shall save him, whether he learns the Creed or not. He goes next to the Friars Preachers, whose magnificent monastery he describes; there he meets with a fat fryer, who declaims against the Augustines. He is shocked at his pride, & goes to the Augustines; they rail at the Minorites. He goes to the Carmes, they abuse the Dominicans; but promise him salvation, without the Creed, for mony. He leaves them with indignation, & finds an honest, poor Plowman in the field, tells him how he was disap- pointed by the 4 orders; the Plowman answers with a long invective against them.'"
Warton became poet laureate in 1785, and died in 1790. His relic of Pope was next in the collection of the historian William Roscoe, whose fine library was sold in Liverpool in 1816 (lot 1321); it reappeared at auction in the sale of the library of the Greek scholar Thomas Gaisford, in 1890 (lot 1431). The book has since been rebound, and contains the bookplate of Samuel Ashton Thompson Yates, and the later book label of Austin Smith. This must have been the earliest English imprint owned by Pope, and the 15-line note in his hand, on the verso of the fly-title to the "Crede," is especially appealing.
67. Sokol catalogue 7 August 2015, asking price £23,500: Lot 47 of Addison and Sarova auction, Price realized $11,500.00, sold 3/7/2015. Sigs Ff and Gg bound reversed. “… extensive marginalia in a later hand, bibliographical notes on front free endpapers in the same hand, ‘S. Sandes. ex dono p. d **?. 1681’ shelf mark above, bookplate of ‘Waldo Bryant’ on pastedown. C17th speckled calf, covers blind ruled to a panel design, blind fleurons to corners, rebacked circa 1900, spine with raised bands fleurons gilt in compartments, red morocco label gilt.” Addison and Sarova say: “bibliographical clippings laid down to pastedown and two tipped to gutters (on blanks), some manuscript notes to front end-papers in early ink, underlining and marginalia in period ink in places throughout, title mildly toned.” http://addisonsauction.hibid.com/lot/18217944/langland--william---the-vision-of-pierce-plowman-?tab=0&cpage=1 has many images, including of annotations (words underlined and defined, 18-19c hand?).
And:
The Vision of Pierce Plowman (London, 1550; Sowerby,description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp.,Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, 1952–59, 5 vols.) no. 4502),
