SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
355
1531. John Tors. Nothing is known of this person, more than the appearance of his name to a small work of eight leaves, intituled Gradut comparatiimum cum verbis, ^c. Quarto. At the end, " Imprjmted at London, in Poules chyrche yard, at uie svgne of saynte Nycolas,by ine John Toye." JoKn Scot's device is at the conclusion.
1532. Ditd Alexander Barclay, a priest of St. Mary Ottery, in Devonshire. We have al- ready quoted largely from his poem of the Ship of Foolt ; but he is more memorable for having been the earliest writer of Ecloguet in the Eng- lish language. Barclay's age is not known, but ke must have been very old.
1532. The first exclusive patent for printing a hook in England, was granted to Thomas Godficay, for the History nf King Boccus, at the coste and charge of Dan Robert Saltwode, monk ofsaynt Austens of Canterbury, 15 10. He printed other works cum gratia et privilegio. An Epistle of Ertumtis to Christopher Bishop of Basyle, eoncentiny the eating of Jlesh. London. 1522. Sextodecimo. The tcorks of Geoffray Chaucer. London. 1532. Quarto. And many others. God&ay resided at Temple-bar, and continued in business ontil the above year. Ames assigns to Godfiray the following monogram.
1532. In the privy purse expenses of Henry VIII. (edited by Nicolas, 8vo.) are the following entries. " Paied to Westby clerk of king's closet for Tj mtase bookes. And for vellute for to covr them iiij/. xj<. To Rasmus one of the armerars gamisshing of bookes and div's neccssaryes for the same by the king's comanndment, xj/. vs. vijrf. To Peter Scryrener for bying vellum and other stttf for the king's bookes, iiij/. To the boke- bjnder, for bryngyng of bokes fro hamptonco'te to yorke place, iiijs. viijt/. To Rasmus the ar- merar, for the gamisshing of iiij-xx. vj. bookes as apperith by his bille, xxxiiij/. u. And paied for sending of certeyne bookes to the king's bokebynder, ij»."
A tolerable correct idea may be formed of the superb manner in which books were bound, that were designed for the use of the cathedral or other principal churches, from the following ex- tract of an inventory of copies of the gospels, belonging to the cathedral church of Ubcoln, about this period : — Imprimis, A text after Matthew, covered with a plate silver and gilt, having an image of his majesty, (the Saviour) with Uie four evangelists ana four angels about
the said image; and having at one corner an image of a man, with divers stones, great and small; begining in the second less: and a transmigration, wanting divers stones and little pieces of the plate. Item, One other text after John, covered with a plate, silver gilt, with an image of the crucifix, Mary, and John, having twenty-two stones of divers colours, wanting four, written in the second less: Est qui prior me erat. — Dugdale's Monast. Anglic.
These accounts prove that a degree of splen- dour was lavished on the exterior coatings of books almost unknown to our day.
1532. Gerard Morrhios flourished at this time as one of the most celebrated Parisian Greek printers. The ardour and diligence of this eminent typographer in the multiplication of Greek books appear in eleven distinct im- pressions in one year. His learning, no less than his liberality, may be reasonably inferred from the elegant Latin preface to the Lexicon Graco- Latinum, ^c. in which he declares that the augmentations found in it had been carefully prepared by persons of competent erudition, whom ne had engaged at great expense. And to the Inlerpretatio Didymt in Odysseam, a perspicuous Greet epistle is prefixed ; in which he avows, that his own love of philology inclines him to risk his whole fortune for the public benefit. This, he says, his late costly impression of the Lexicon Griecum has sufficiently indicated : that he is far from emulating the example of sordid typographers, who, intent only upon their private gain, execute their impressions in a slovenly and inaccurate manner ; thus bringing the art itself into contempt ; that therefore he has engaged correctors of approved ability, by whose means his establishment will acquire a reputation of faithfulness and correctness beyond those which preceded it ; of which, he trusts, this accurate edition of the Scholiast will convince the public. At the end of this volume he subscribes himself Gerardus Morrhius, Germanus. His impressions are usually dated from the Sorbonne.
As the singular device of Morrhius presents an enigma, which neither La Caille nor Mattaire has explained, I may venture, says Mr. Gres- well,* to suggest, that the figure exhibited in his titles is that of Vice ; femaJfe form above, but changing beneath " tn monstrum horrendum If infarme." The Greek motto above, may imply : " I neither possess sweetness, nor the means of procuring it." That beneath, is the well known adage : Nocet empta dolore voluptas." In some of the smaller specimens of this device the figure holds a mirror, as if to contemplate her own deformity.
This interesting printer was a warm friend of Erasmus, to whom a letter of his is cited by Mattaire, in which he evinces his prudence and moderation, by disapproving of the violent mea- sures of the Sorbonne against that scholar.
Mattaire finds no mention of Morrhius after the year 1532.
- View of the euly PaiislaD Greek Press, vol. i. p. IM.
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