Missal. Use of Sarum

Median folio (329 x 224mm.), printed in red and black throughout, title-page with large xylographic initial “A”, woodcut illustrations, typeset music, woodcut printer’s device on final verso, early manuscript inscription on final verso, nineteenth-century straight-grained green morocco with blind fillet borders, spine lettered in gilt with date "1502", red edges, lacking 8 leaves (quire g⁸), small hole in +2 with loss of a few letters, standard deletions in calendar with slight loss, a few leaves with small marginal tears, extremities rubbed

Henry Compton (1632-1713), bishop of London, armorial bookplate dated 1701 (on his death his substantial library was split between St Paul’s and the Colchester Corporation); St Paul’s Cathedral, London, engraved bookplate and inscription “St Pauls” on title-page with inventory number (erased) and shelfmark 4.C.12; Law Society, armorial bookplate and stamps on title-page

Henry Compton was one of the seven, and the only ecclesiastic, who invited William of Orange and Mary to intervene in the succession to the English throne in 1688, and was appointed as one of the commissioners to revise the liturgy of the Church of England.

C 4230; GW M24701; STC 16175; Duff 331 (as 30 September 1500); Moreau 1502/105 (as 1 October 1502); Weale-Bohatta 1397=1401. ISTC lists just four copies, all in the UK (two in Cambridge, one of which is imperfect, one in Norwich, the present copy, plus a fragment in Oxford).

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A rare and attractive missal produced by the dominant Parisian liturgical printer of the time. There has been dispute about the date printed on the first page, “Anno dominice gratie .M. CCCC. ii. kl. Octobris”, which Duff interpreted as the second kalends of October (30 September) 1500. Bibliographers now accept Curt Bühler’s argument (Library Quarterly, 1943, pp. 338-40) that the date is rather to be read as “1502, on the kalends of October” for the second kalends was much more commonly expressed as “pridie kalendas” than as “secundo kalendas”. Duff had believed that Du Pré died in 1501, but Anatole Claudin showed that his date of death was the autumn of 1503.