Pole, De concilio, Rome, Paolo Manuzio, 1562, eighteenth-century English paneled calf

Pole, Reginald. De concilio liber Reginaldi Poli cardinalis. Rome: Paolo Manuzio, 1562

[Bound with:] Pole, Reginald. Reformatio Angliae ex decretis Reginaldi Poli cardinalis, Sedis Apostolicae legati, anno MDLVI. Rome: Paolo Manuzio, 1562

[And:] Cumberland, Richard. [Manuscript:] Appendicula de Legibus quibus tenebantur patriarchae, tam ante quam post Diluvium, usque ad tempus quo solennirer sancitum est Foedus Mosuicum: Quod leges continet praecipuas quibus tenebatur Populus Judaicus post Exodum ex Ægypto, etc.

First editions of Cardinal Pole’s De Concilio and De Reformatio, Paolo Manuzio’s first productions from the “Aldine press” in Rome, both probably issued in February 1562, typographically very similar, and apparently intended to be sold together. Second editions of both works (reset and without errata) were printed by Paolo later the same year (UCLA 672.5, 673.5).

Paolo followed his father’s practice of making corrections while printing was still in progress and also after the sheets had gone through the press. Two stop-press and fifteen post-impression corrections were detected in nine copies of the Concilio examined by Curt Bühler (see: "Paulus Manutius and his First Roman Printings" in Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 46 (1952), pp. 209-214).

The appended manuscript (54ff., 21-22 lines, the last line on 2 pages trimmed) is a tract by Richard Cumberland (1632-1718) on the natural laws that might bind contemporary Christians and Old Testament judicial precepts, or Mosaic laws. It is most probably in the hand of the antiquary Maurice Johnson. It was printed in a posthumous collection of Cumberland’s works, Origines Gentium Antiquissimæ (London 1724), pp. 398-480, edited by Squier Payne “from his Lordship’s Manuscript.”

The Johnson of Spaulding Family copy.

Three works in one volume, 4to (208 x 148 mm). De concilio: Roman type, 31 lines plus headline. collation: A-S⁴ (B4 a blank): 72 leaves. Reformatio Angliae: Roman type, 31 lines plus headline. collation: A-G⁴: 28 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title-pages and final versos, early marginalia, 106pp. manuscript tract at end, with the following manuscript and stop press corrections: B3^V with "ipse" corrected to "ipsę"; fol. 1, line 23 (of text) reads "id unquam" by erasure from "id nunguam"; fol. 15 with marginal note "Heb." crossed through in ink; fol. 21, marginal note "Marc, Id" been corrected to "Marc. 16" ink; fol. 26^V, line 8, a comma has been supplied after "Ephrain" in ink; fol. 33^V, line 19,"que" has been corrected to "qua" in ink; fol. 45 misnumbered and corrected in ink; fol. 47 misnumbered and corrected in ink; fol. 48, line 4, "securitate"has been emended to "securitat" in ink; fol. 59, line 13, "Conciliorum" has been altered to "Consilierun" in ink; fol. 59^V, line 15, by erasure behind "a" (of original "ante") text now reads "jam a te dictum est"; fol. 59^V, line 27, a period has been supplied after "dedit" by ink; fol. 60, line 17, "eadem" has been corrected to "eādem" in ink; fol. 60^V, line 11, "acta" has been corrected to "actæ" in ink; fol. 64, ink deletion of the incorrect first errata note (the printer was able to eliminate this error by means of a stop-press emendation); fol. 28, the last heading reads "ESPONSIO," rather than "RESPONSIO"; fol. 43, line 20, reads "Concilia," a stop-press emendation; title-page of Reformatio without comma after "ANGLIAE"; fol. 11^V, line 29, with "cupientes" corrected in ink to read "capientes"; fol. 18^V, line 24, erasure at the end of the line following "purgati, &." (Some foxing and browning, occasional marginal dampstaining.)

binding: Eighteenth-century English paneled calf (218 x 160 mm), covers with blind floral frames, spine with raised bands in six compartments, second and fifth gilt-lettered, edges stained yellow. (Joints cracked with upper cover nearly detached, overall rubbed with some loss.)

provenance: Maurice Johnson (1688-1755), armorial ex libris (Johnson’s cipher on title, with date 1735; annotation in his hand) — Johnson, family library (Ayscoughfee Hall, Spalding, Lancashire) — Marsden, family library (Saffron Walden) — Christopher Marsden, his sale (lots 1-183), Sotheby's London, 23-24 March 1970, lot 117 — Bernard Quaritch, London, purchased in previous sale (£110) — Sotheby's London, 26 July 1982, lot 296 — Alan G. Thomas, London, purchased in previous sale (£143). acquisition: Purchased from Alan G. Thomas, London, 1982. references: (1) UCLA 672; Renouard 185/3; Edit16 27779; USTC 850096; Barberi pp. 110-111; (2) UCLA 673; Renouard 185/4; Edit16 27773; USTC 850098; Barberi p. 113