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The European Library
UNITED KINGDOM
This page is maintained by
Mr. John Lowery
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Viles, Edward , Black Bess; or, The knight of the road. A tale of the good old times |
| Penny dreadfuls - sensational stories published in weekly parts - were an important feature of Victorian popular literature. Often anonymous, and inspired by the melodramas of the day, they formed a lively part of 19th century sub-culture in Britain. One of the most comprehensive collections of these scarce and fragile items was built up and then bequeathed to the British Library by music-hall performer Barry Ono (real name Frederick Valentine Harrison) in 1948. It contains almost 700 penny novels and magazines, together with advertising posters, handbills, manuscript notes and letters. 'Black Bess; or, The knight of the road', published in 254 parts and frequently reprinted, is one of the highlights of the collection - its plot loosely based on the story of the highwayman, Dick Turpin, and full of wild adventures, narrow escapes, and improbable incidents. Although attributed to Edward Viles, a well-known author of the genre, it is generally accepted that the dramatist and journalist, John Frederick Smith, had some responsibility for the text. The copy in the Ono collection contains 20 plates, originally given free with the parts to attract customers, and is bound with 2 sets of wrappers and 4 additional front covers for different editions or issues of the work. |
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Parker, Matthew , De antiquitate Britannicae Ecclesiae |
| This London binding of c.1572 is believed to have been commissioned for presentation to Elizabeth I by its author, Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury. Although the Queen was given gold-tooled leather bindings as gifts, her personal preference seems to have been for velvet bindings. Paul Hentzner on a visit to the Royal Library in 1598, noted that the books were all “bound in velvet of different colours, though chiefly red, with clasps of gold and silver; some have pearls, and precious stones, set in their bindings”. Although the structure of this binding would have been made in a binder's workshop, the decoration would have been sewn by a professional embroiderer. Matthew Parker commissioned many bindings from the leading London workshops of the day including Jean de Planche, the Morocco Binder and the MacDurnan Gospels Binder. Specially bound copies of Parker's own and other works were bound for recipients including Cambridge University Library and possibly Lord Burghley. From 1572-75, Parker's bindings were produced in his private bindery, established in the Archbishop's London residence, Lambeth Palace. The book is bound in green velvet worked with gold and silver threads and coloured silks. The subject of the design, a deer park, may be a punning reference to Parker's name. |
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Unknown , Biblia latina |
| This Bible, the first large-scale use of the invention of movable printing-type in the West, was the work of a partnership dissolved in 1455 after the work was complete. Work was well advanced by the end of 1454, as attested by Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (later Pope Pius II) in a letter of 12 March 1455 to Cardinal Juan de Carvajal: ‘Nothing has been exaggerated about that amazing man near Frankfurt. I have not seen complete copies of his Bible, but I did see quires of various parts of the text, in very fine and proper letters which Your Honour could read without any trouble and without using your glasses. ... I shall try to buy a volume for you but I fear this will not be possible, not only because of the distance, but because copies are sold even before they are completed.’ Many, including this lavishly decorated paper copy, married the new technology with the old, combining print with high-quality illumination. The result set a standard in book production in many ways still unsurpassed today. 51 copies are now known, of which 12 are printed on vellum and 39 on paper; 20 are perfect. The British Library owns two of these, on both paper and vellum. |
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Unknown , Royal letter promulgating the text of Magna Carta |
| 'Magna Carta' is one of the most famous of all documents, widely regarded as the corner-stone of liberty in the English-speaking world. It does not, however, contain any sweeping statements of principle; instead its text consists of a series of detailed concessions on legal procedure and feudal rights wrung from an unwilling King John (reigned 1199-1216) by his noble opponents in 1215. 'Magna Carta' has long been considered the chief constitutional defence against arbitrary and unjust rule in England. It was effectively a treaty of peace between King John and a group of leading noblemen who had rebelled against him for reasons the charter itself makes clear: his financial and military demands to aid his foreign wars were oppressive; taxation was arbitrary and extortionate; the King imposed arbitrary punishments; and feudal rights were ruthlessly exploited for financial gain. In the course of a meeting in June 1215 between the King and the nobles at Runnymede, near Windsor, a document was presented summarising the nobles' demands. John's Great Seal was fixed to this document to signify his assent to it. The document sealed at Runnymede is probably that known as the Articles of the Barons, which is also in the British Library. The royal chancery then turned the list of demands into a formal grant in the name of the King. The text of this grant was disseminated in the form of royal letters patent, which were sent to bishops, sheriffs and others throughout the land. Only four of these letters, the 'originals' of Magna Carta, survive. Two are in the British Library; the others are held by Lincoln and Salisbury Cathedrals. Magna Carta was promptly overturned by the Pope, to whom John had given the overlordship of England. Civil war was renewed, and John died while still fighting the rebels. |
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