1469–70.
In Herbert’s Ames, iii. 1393 we read:—“In the late Tho. Osborne’s catalogue of books for sale in June 1756, No. 1345 ‘Plinii Secundi Epistolarum, Liber primus. Exemplar elegans, literis initial. colorat. corio turcico, fol. deaur. lineis rubris & auro elegans ornat. 15l. 15s. Oxon. apud F. Corsellis. 1469.’ To which is added this note, ‘Hocce unicum est exemplar notum, a variis allegatum, et vix uni visum adeo ut Phoenix librorum dici mereratur [sic], certe primus est ex libris a Corcellis impressis, cui nomen suum adjunxerit, secundus vero ordine omnium quos unquam ille impressit, priorem scilicet scimus fuisse, Jeronymi Expositionem in Symbol. Apostol. Oxoniae 1468. Anno 1470, varia idem typographus impressit Opuscula, addito in fine nomine, sed nec unicum eorum reperitur hodie integrum. Possident quidam amatores fragmenta aliqua poematum Latinorum, ut Gerardi Lystrii Rhenensis, &c. Carmen Listrii lividorum hominum venenosas linguas, &c.’ This raised the curiosity of the book collectors, who considered this article as a confirmation of what R. Atkins had asserted about printing at Oxford. They all flocked to Osborne’s shop, who instead of the book, produced a letter from a man at Amsterdam, filled with frivolous excuses for not sending them to him. They were disappointed, and looked on the whole as a Hvm; however the Plinii Epistolæ, and Ger. Listrii Oratio, &c. afterwards appeared at an auction at Amsterdam, and were bought for the late Dr. Ant. Askew; and were sold again at an auction of his books, by Baker and Leigh, in Feb. 1775. Lot 2064, and 2622, to which articles are annexed, viz. to Lot 2064, ‘Ad finem hæc verba, Impr. Oxon. apud F. Corsellis, 1470, Manu recentiore exarata sunt.’ Also to lot 2622, ‘Hæc verba, Imprim. Oxon. ap. Corsellis, 1469, Manu recentiore exarata sunt.’ To those who are at all conversant in early printing, the dates will appear at first sight a bungling forgery.” So far Herbert’s Ames, cf. Bowyer and Nichols’s Origin of Printing, 2nd ed. (Lond. 1776), p. 171. The full entry of art. 2064 is “Listrii (Ger.) Oratio habita in Enarrationem Dionysii Halicarnassii; Dionysii Orbis expositio e Greco tralata Prisciano interprete; Ejusdem Carmen in venenosas Linguas Hominum, & Epicedium doctissimi Adoloscentis Ingenisissimique Petri Thessaliensis”: sold to Mr. Dent for £2 3s.: art. 2622 has 1569 for 1469, and was sold to Capt. Smith for £1 6s.
In the Auction Catalogue of the Library of Dr. Abr. de Vries of Haarlem (Amsterdam, Frederick Muller, 1864) art. 181 was:—“Corcellis.—Collection de lettres, copies authentiques, déclarations et notices en 1756 et 57 sur l’imposture fameuse du falsaire G. Smith, à Amsterdam et la Haye, qui fabriqua une édition de Plinii epistolae, avec souscription: Oxoniae, Corcellis. 1469. Hedwigii liber 16. ibidem. 1470, etc. et trompa Mr. P. v. Damme et autres en Angleterre.—Recueillie et conservée pour prouver son innocence à la falsification et annotée par Mr. v. Damme. 12 pc. MS. Collection très-curieuse, contenant e. a. 7 lettres de Smith à v. Damme, une lettre forgée ou falsifié du Comte de Pembroke, une lettre de P. Burman Sec., copie d’une déclaration de Meerman, etc. etc.” It is to be hoped that this interesting collection will be brought to light again.
In the Monthly Miscellany, or Memoirs for the Curious (June 1708), p. 177 it is stated that in the Bishop of Ely’s Library (now at Cambridge) are books “of the first printing in England at Oxford in 1469.”