Trussell, John

4to (7 1/4 x 5 3/8 in.; 185 x 140 mm). Woodcut printer's device on title-page (McKerrow 283), woodcut and type-ornament headpieces, with first leaf A1, blank save for signature mark and type ornament; quire B in fairly convincing facsimile on period paper, lower fore-edge corner of A4 lost, one segment of type-ornament headpieces of A3v and A4r traced over in pencil, scattered browning and staining. Crushed brown morocco gilt by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.

Cashel Cathedral Library (GPA-Bolton Library), Cashel, Ireland (Christie's London, 23 June 1993, lot 202). acquisition: Purchased at the foregoing sale through Bernard Quaritch

STC 24296; ESTC S95592; cf. M. A. Shaaber, "The First Rape of Faire Hellen by John Trussell," in Shakespeare Quarterly VIII, 4 (1957): 407–20

4to (7 1/4 x 5 3/8 in.; 185 x 140 mm). Woodcut printer's device on title-page (McKerrow 283), woodcut and type-ornament headpieces, with first leaf A1, blank save for signature mark and type ornament; quire B in fairly convincing facsimile on period paper, lower fore-edge corner of A4 lost, one segment of type-ornament headpieces of A3v and A4r traced over in pencil, scattered browning and staining. Crushed brown morocco gilt by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

First edition, one of two recorded copies. Trussell's poem has been long—if tenuously—associated with Shakespeare. Wolf and Fleming relate in their biography of Rosenbach that "With much fanfare the Doctor told of his scholarly find in The Rape of Faire Hellen, 1595, which he had bought at the Britwell sale in 1922 for £100. He now valued it at $50,000 [bidders, take note], for, he said, after much research he was able to establish it as the first plagiarism of Shakespeare, written by one of his Stratford neighbors, John Trussell, who cryptically addressed one of the dedicatory sonnets to Shakespeare, used the metre of Venus and Adonis, and lifted the title and plot, only slightly varied, from The Rape of Lucrece, which had appeared the year before" (p. 349).

Dr. R. was not alone in looking for a Shakespearian connection with The Rape of Faire Hellen. Others have suggested that Shakespeare and Trussell were cousins, as well as neighbors, and in his edition of Robert Southwell's Triumph over Death (St.Louis: The Catholic Library, 1914), John William Trotman argued that all of what is popularly known as Shakespeare's works actually came from the pen of John Trussell.