PRIMERS OF THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.
Little is known respecting the Primers of this reign, and yet several editions were published. My object will be to give some information on the subject, in the hope that more may be elicited from your correspondents.
There is an edition of the year 1559, 4to. Two copies only are known at present; one in the library at Christ Church, Oxford, and the other at Jesus College, Cambridge. It has been reprinted by the Parker Society. This Primer contains certain prayers for the dead, as they stand in that of Henry VIII., 1545. In short, with the exception of "An Order for Morning Prayer," with which it commences, this Primer follows the arrangement of that of 1545; some things, relative to saints, angels, and the Virgin Mary, having been excluded.
But I have in my possession another edition in 12mo. of this reign, of which I can trace no other copy. My book wants the title, and consequently I cannot ascertain its date. It was formerly in Gough's possession. I am inclined to think that it is earlier than the edition reprinted by the Parker Society.
Unlike the book of 1559, mine commences with the Catechism, but the subsequent arrangement is the same. The differences, when any exist, consist in a more literal following of the Primer of 1545. The Prayers for the Dead are retained as in the book of 1559. The Graces, also, are more numerous in my edition, and some of them are not found even in King Henry's book. One consists of an address, as from the master of the family, with an answer from the other members. In some respects this is similar to a form in King Edward's Primer, while in others it is altogether different. At the close of the Graces, the book of 1559 has the words "God save our Queen and Realm," while in my edition the reading is the same as in the book of 1545, "Lorde, save thy Churche, our Quene, and Realme," &c.
In "The Dirige" there is a very singular variation. In 1559 we find "Ego Dixi, Psalm Esaic xxxviii.;" in 1545 it is only "Esa. xxxviii.;" in that of 1546 the form is "Ego Dixi, Psal. Esa. xxxviii.;" and my edition has "Ego Dixi, Psal. xxxv.," being different from all the rest.
Some curious typographical errors are also found in my edition. In the Catechism the word king is substituted for queen. In the third petition in the Litany for the Queen, we have "That it may please thee to be hys defendour, and gevinge hym," &c.; yet in the previous clauses the pronoun is correctly used. It would seem that the printer had the Primer of 1545 or 1546 before him, and that in these cases he followed his copy without making the necessary alterations.
Such are the more remarkable differences between my edition and that of 1559.
There is a Primer of this reign in the Bodleian, quite different from mine and that of 1559. In this the Prayers for the Dead are expunged, and the character of the book is altogether dissimilar. Two copies of this book exist in the Bodleian, which have been usually regarded as different editions. From a careful examination, however, I have ascertained that they are the same edition. One copy has the title, with the date 1566 on the woodcut border; the other wants the title, but has the colophon, bearing the date 1575. The latter is the true date of the book, and the date on the title is merely that of some other book, for which the compartment had been used in 1566. Such variations are common with early books. I have several volumes bearing an earlier date on the title than in the colophon. Thus, the first edition of Sir Thomas Elyot's Castle of Health has 1534 on the title, and 1539 in the colophon. The latter was the true date. It may be remarked that the two books in the Bodleian of 1575 will together make up a perfect copy.
Some of your correspondents may be able to mention another copy of the edition which I possess. I am very anxious to discover another.
Thomas Lathbury.
Bristol.