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John Lydgate, Tragedies of Princes 1558
The Tragedies of Princes 1558, also called The Fall of Princes, was a long poem written by English poet John Lydgate in the 1400‘s and printed by John Wayland in London around 1558. The poem tells about the lives and tragic deaths of many historical and legendary figures in England, as well as figures from classical mythology and the Bible.
It was translated into English by Lydgate, also spelled Lidgate (ca. 1370 to 1451), a Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds. He was born in Lidgate, near Suffolk, England and was admitted to the monastery in 1382, was a student at Oxford from 1406 to 1408, and he probably wrote this poem at the abbey somewhere between 1431 and 1438. It is a translation and extension of Giovanni Boccaccio’s De Casibus Virorum Illustrium, a Latin work about the fates of famous men, and Lydgate’s work is a Middle English poem that was heavily influenced by Chaucer, as can be seen in the style and length of the poem here - it is composed of nine books and some 36,000 lines, and is written in rhyme royal stanzas, a rhyming form introduced into English poetry by Chaucer. It is the last and longest of Lydgate’s writings, and arguably his masterwork.
There were four editions of the Fall of Princes: two by Richard Payson, in 1494 and 1527, one by Richard Tottel in 1554, and John Wayland’s ca. 1558, and many of Shakespeare’s histories are dramatic interpretations of The Fall of Princes. A sixteenth century work entitled A Mirror for Magistrates is a sequel to the Fall of Princes.
John Wayland was a printer and scrivener of some notability in England. He was born
in Cranford in Middlesex, England about 1508 and died about 1571. A scrivener was someone who could read and write, like a clerk or a scribe or notary, and Wayland
printed twenty-seven books between 1537 and 1558; he obtained several patents from Queen Mary for printing prayer books (Roman Catholic prayer books); the patents were granted for seven years at a time, which is what “Septennium” refers to at the bottom of the first leaf.
The book has six raised bands, a gilt title and elaborate gilt tooling on the spine, triple gilt fillets with corner devices on the cover, gilt dentelles on the front and rear paste-downs, marbled endpapers with bookplates of Christopher Beaumont William Pease and John William Pease in the front and back, all the edges are gilt, and it has the rare extra leaf at the end which contains a copy of a letter from Queen Mary granting John Wayland patent rights for seven years to print and publish books without interference from anyone else during that period; Mary was queen from 1553 to 1558 and this patent was issued at Westminster on October 24, 1553 and ran to 1560, which protected Wayland’s rights and gave him a tremendous amount of power when it came to books he wanted to print.
The book measures 13 1/4 x 9 1/8 in. wide and is in absolutely superb condition. The binding is exquisite, the pages are clean and crisp, with no hints of browning or soiling, just a beautiful copy of an important work in the style of Chaucer from the mid 1500’s, with the rare patent leaf from Queen Mary at the end, and a copy of the Mirror for Magistrates from 1610 is selling for $25,000 at a website that specializes in Tudor poetry and drama.
The Tragedies of Princes 1558, also called The Fall of Princes, was a long poem written by English poet John Lydgate in the 1400‘s and printed by John Wayland in London around 1558. The poem tells about the lives and tragic deaths of many historical and legendary figures in England, as well as figures from classical mythology and the Bible.
It was translated into English by Lydgate, also spelled Lidgate (ca. 1370 to 1451), a Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds. He was born in Lidgate, near Suffolk, England and was admitted to the monastery in 1382, was a student at Oxford from 1406 to 1408, and he probably wrote this poem at the abbey somewhere between 1431 and 1438. It is a translation and extension of Giovanni Boccaccio’s De Casibus Virorum Illustrium, a Latin work about the fates of famous men, and Lydgate’s work is a Middle English poem that was heavily influenced by Chaucer, as can be seen in the style and length of the poem here - it is composed of nine books and some 36,000 lines, and is written in rhyme royal stanzas, a rhyming form introduced into English poetry by Chaucer. It is the last and longest of Lydgate’s writings, and arguably his masterwork.
There were four editions of the Fall of Princes: two by Richard Payson, in 1494 and 1527, one by Richard Tottel in 1554, and John Wayland’s ca. 1558, and many of Shakespeare’s histories are dramatic interpretations of The Fall of Princes. A sixteenth century work entitled A Mirror for Magistrates is a sequel to the Fall of Princes.
John Wayland was a printer and scrivener of some notability in England. He was born
in Cranford in Middlesex, England about 1508 and died about 1571. A scrivener was someone who could read and write, like a clerk or a scribe or notary, and Wayland
printed twenty-seven books between 1537 and 1558; he obtained several patents from Queen Mary for printing prayer books (Roman Catholic prayer books); the patents were granted for seven years at a time, which is what “Septennium” refers to at the bottom of the first leaf.
The book has six raised bands, a gilt title and elaborate gilt tooling on the spine, triple gilt fillets with corner devices on the cover, gilt dentelles on the front and rear paste-downs, marbled endpapers with bookplates of Christopher Beaumont William Pease and John William Pease in the front and back, all the edges are gilt, and it has the rare extra leaf at the end which contains a copy of a letter from Queen Mary granting John Wayland patent rights for seven years to print and publish books without interference from anyone else during that period; Mary was queen from 1553 to 1558 and this patent was issued at Westminster on October 24, 1553 and ran to 1560, which protected Wayland’s rights and gave him a tremendous amount of power when it came to books he wanted to print.
The book measures 13 1/4 x 9 1/8 in. wide and is in absolutely superb condition. The binding is exquisite, the pages are clean and crisp, with no hints of browning or soiling, just a beautiful copy of an important work in the style of Chaucer from the mid 1500’s, with the rare patent leaf from Queen Mary at the end, and a copy of the Mirror for Magistrates from 1610 is selling for $25,000 at a website that specializes in Tudor poetry and drama.
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