13. Phalaris (1485, see p. 4).

The computation of the date by Olympiads is very uncommon, in early printed books: it is however the most ancient classical method. Each Olympiad is a period of four years, and the first is computed to have commenced in July, B. C. 776: so that July A. D. 1 corresponded with the beginning of Olympiad 195. The computation ceased for practical purposes in A. D. 395, and the present revival is of an artificial kind, in which the expression “every fifth year,” which by a Greek could be applied to an Olympiad (Πενταετηρίς), was taken in its ordinary sense and used for computation. Thus “in the 297th Olympiad from the birth of Christ” was in the present book taken to represent (297 × 5 =) A. D. 1485. A similar use is found in the 1472 (Venice) edition of the Epigrams of Ausonius[13]. But the 1494 (Parma) edition of the Declamations of Quintilian contains a futile attempt to use the ancient method, for it was printed “Olympiade quingentesima sexagesima octaua qui est annus a salute christiana M.cccc.xciiii quinto non. Iul.”, whereas it would properly have been 1493. And M. A. Giry (Manuel de Diplomatique, 1894, p. 96) records an unintelligible attempt to use this computation in a deed of 1102.

Copies known.

1. Oxford, Corpus Christi College. Perfect. Owned by John Lacy, and Herbert Randolph (1724). Marked Χ P. 3. 12, then Δ. 1. 14.

2. Oxford, Wadham College.

3. John Rylands Library, Manchester. Perfect. Marked in the Spencer Library S. 5. 3, and 15835 (G. 237).

Fragments:—Bodleian (parts of i 4, i 6, now Auct. R. supra 9): Corpus Christi College, Oxford (parts of l 2 and l 7): St. John’s College Library, Oxford (one leaf): Trin. Coll. Camb. (one leaf of sign. d): Westminster Abbey Library (four leaves of sign. k).

14. Alexander (1485?, see p. 4).

There are editions of the Textus Alexandri by Pynson in 1505, 1513, 1516 and by Wynkin de Worde, 1503.

Fragments known:—St. John’s College, Cambridge (c 2 and c 3 [?]): Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (two leaves, n 3 and one unsigned; probably part of the Alexander).

15. Festiall (1486
7, see p. 4).

Printed in “1486,” “on the day aftir Seint Edward the kyng”: which would seem to be March 19, 1486
7. This book is distinguished by the occurrence of many woodcut engravings, and by the use of a woodcut capital G (52 times). This latter is the only woodcut letter used in the early Oxford Press (see Bradshaw in the Communications of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, iii. 136). In the same paper (p. 138) Bradshaw suggests that the eleven large cuts were perhaps intended for an edition of the Golden Legend, and that the five smaller ones belong to a lost Oxford Primer on Horae. The text is nearer to that of Caxton’s second issue (1491) than of his first (1483). The two sets of woodcuts are as follows:—

Larger kind (general size, about 4½ × 4½–5½ in.).
 
1. ( ) 1r. Woodcut of the Crucifixion, laid sideways.
 
2. ( ) iv. Woodcut of St. Christopher bearing Christ, beneath a canopy.
 
3. h 5v. Bishop under canopy, with two trees (facsimile in Dibdin’s Ædes Althorpianæ).
 
4. i 5v. Martyrdom of St. Thomas.
 
5. k 7r. Stoning of St. Stephen (facsimile in Dibdin).
 
6. l 2r. St. John the Evangelist (?) with cup and palm-branch, between two figures.
 
7. l 6r. Murder of the Innocents.
 
8. l 8v. Murder of Thomas a Becket.
 
9. m 5v. The Circumcision.
 
10. n 6r. The Conversion of St. Paul.
 
11. o 7v. The Annunciation.
 
 
Smaller kind (general size, about 2½ × 1½ in.).
 
12. c 4v. Crucifixion.
  d 8v. Space for woodcut.
  e 2v.   Do. ?
 
13. e 3r. Pentecost.
  e 5r.   Do., the same woodcut.
 
14. f 2v. The Trinity.
 
15. h 1r. St. Andrew with his cross, with a book and trees.
 
16. h 1r. St. Andrew with his cross.

The prints are rude in execution, the foliage of trees being generally indicated simply by horizontal lines (as in a French Ortus Sanitatis of about 1485). The shoes, sword-scabbards, and the like are often entirely black, showing that the cuts were intended to be coloured by hand. They appear to be entirely unknown elsewhere. See plate V.

Copies known.

1. Bodleian. Imperfect. Wanting all ( ), c 3, c 4, g 4, k 4, k 5, o 4, o 5, r 5, s 3, s 4, s 5, s 6, z 1, z 3, z 4. Marked Auct. R. supra 5. The variations of signn. h and i show that this is a later issue than no. 2. Owned by William Little.

2. Bodleian. Imperfect. Wanting all ( ), a-f, g 1, g 2, h 1, i 6, k 1–3, k 6–8, l 3, l 6, l 8, o 3, p 6, r 4–6, t 1, t 6, x 1, x 2, x 7, x 8, y, z: but y 2, y 5 are inserted from Hearne’s fragments. This was William Herbert’s copy: no. 730 in the Utterson sale 1852, where it was bought by the Bodleian for £6 10s.: marked Auct. R. supra 7.

3. John Rylands Library, Manchester. Wanting a 1, a 2 (supplied in manuscript), z 4. Owned by Ratcliffe (sale, no. 1430, £3 2s.), then Alchorne, then Johnes. No. 15409 (E. 237) in the Spencer Library. Dibdin’s collation is very faulty. Signn. h, i are of the later kind.

4. Lambeth Library. Wants z 4 (blank). The variations in signn. h, i are of the later type. Once archbp. Tenison’s copy. Marked once lxiii. 1. 19, now 38. 2. 23. f.

A copy occurred for sale in Rodd’s 1831 catalogue, priced £6 6s.

Fragments:—British Museum (one leaf, y 3, in MS. Harl. 5919, no. 139): Wadham College, Oxford (1½ leaves): Brasenose College, Oxford (several leaves): parts of two leaves (q 6 and another) were offered by A. Iredale, bookseller of Torquay (catal. 31, Oct. 1887, no. 1) for 21s.

The Printing Press at Oxford ceases its work suddenly in 1486
7, and there is no reason for this stop at present known. The printing at St. Alban’s ceased at about the same time. It has been suggested that Rood left Oxford for Cologne, where a Theodericus printed books in 1485 and 1486 in a type similar to that of the Ales and Latteburius. In this case Hunt may have continued for a short time alone, and then relinquished the work.