The books issued in 1509 were of all kinds. Funeral sermons on Henry VII and the Countess of Richmond, congratulatory poems addressed to Henry VIII, and a very large number of popular poems and stories, among them such books as Richard Cœur de Lion, The Conversion of Swearers, The Fifteen Joys of Marriage, The Parliament of Devils, and Hawes’s Pastime of Pleasure. Perhaps the most interesting of all is the edition of Henry Watson’s version of the Ship of Fools. Only one copy of this beautiful book is known, which is printed on vellum and is preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale. Henry Watson was an assistant of De Worde’s and acted partly as printer and partly as translator. Another book of this year is worth noticing, the first edition of the York Manual. Though it has a full and clear colophon stating that it was printed by De Worde, in fact the statement is repeated twice over, there can be no doubt that it was printed abroad; the type both of text and music, the illustrations, the device, the peculiar size of the paper all go to prove this.
In 1510 a much smaller number of books, only about eight, were issued. The printer seems to have been taking a rest, for he never in any future year prints so small a number. Two curious books were issued in this year, King Apolyn of Tyre, and the Birth of Merlin, and in the following year The Demaundes Joyous. This delightful though sometimes unedifying little book of riddles contains specimens which I remember having been asked as a child, and I suppose they are asked yet. “How many cows’ tails would it take to reach the moon?” with the simple answer “One if it were long enough.” “How many sticks go to a crow’s nest?” “None, for lack of feet.”
In 1512 appeared the History of Helias, Knight of the Swan, another book only known from a single copy printed on vellum, now in the library of Mr Hoe of New York. One fact about the book is worth noting for the benefit of future bibliographers and that is that neither in the catalogue of the sale in which it appeared nor, consequently, in Mr Hazlitt’s description in his last volume of Bibliographical Collections and Notes, is there any reference to the book being printed on vellum.
In 1512 there appeared also the first grammatical work by Whittinton, whose various books became so popular that De Worde sometimes issued as many as four editions of one work in a year. At that time printers had not enough type to admit of their keeping it standing for any length of time, and as labour was very cheap they preferred to reset the type for small editions and not print off a very large edition, which perhaps might lie on their hands for a long time.
So many and so varied were the productions of De Worde’s press—he printed between seven and eight hundred known books—that it is hard to pick out any for special notice. In 1515 he issued an edition of the Way to the Holy Land, which was reprinted in 1524. In 1516 Capgrave’s Nova Legenda Angliae, of which a copy on vellum is in the Bibliothèque Nationale. In 1517 we have Troylus and Cressede; in 1518 Oliver of Castile. In 1519 the Orchard of Syon, of which several copies were printed on vellum. In 1521 he issued a book of Christmas Carolles, of which there is a fragment in the Bodleian; it contains the well-known carol,
“The bores head in hande bring I
With garlands gay and rosemary
I pray you all synge merely
Qui estis in convivio.”
In 1522 an edition of the Mirror of Golde for the sinful soul appeared with De Worde’s name in the colophon, but the edition is identical with one issued simultaneously by John Skot. From the type it is clear that Skot was the printer, and an examination of several of De Worde’s books about this time shows that they were also produced by Skot.