Another point to be noticed about this book is the date, which here, fortunately, is quite clear. Among the early printers there is very considerable variation as to the day on which the new year began. Putting on one side the foreign and considering only the English printers, the dates narrow themselves to two, January 1st and March 25th, so that any date falling between these two may be in two different years, according to the habit of the printer. For instance, March 1, 1470, will really mean 1470 if the printer began his year on January 1st. If, on the other hand, he did not begin it until March 25th, the real date will be 1471.
Fortunately, Caxton frequently added to his dates the regnal year, which gives at once a definite solution. For instance, his edition of the Cordyale was begun the day after Lord Rivers handed him the manuscript, on February 3, 1478, and finished on March 24th following, in the nineteenth year of Edward IV. Now, the nineteenth year of Edward IV. ran from March 4, 1479, to March 3, 1480, so that Caxton's 1478 was really 1479, and his custom was, therefore, to begin his years on the 25th of March.
As has been said earlier, it is probable that Caxton began his printing in England with small pamphlets, and of these a considerable number have come down to our time, but as the majority are unique, it is impossible to conjecture how many may have utterly perished. The most considerable collection is in the University Library, Cambridge, which owns a series, originally bound in one volume, which was in the collection of Bishop Moore presented to the University in 1715 by George the First. This library was peculiarly rich in early English books; indeed, the great majority of those now at Cambridge formed part of it, and their acquisition was mainly due to the exertions of that much maligned person, John Bagford, whom Moore employed to search for such rarities, and who did so with conspicuous success.
Amongst these priceless volumes one stands out pre-eminent. It was until recently in an old calf binding, lettered on the back, "Old poetry printed by Caxton," and contained eight pieces, the Stans puer ad mensam, the Parvus Catho, The Chorle and the Bird, The Horse, the Shepe and the Goose, The Temple of Glas, The Temple of Brass, The Book of Courtesy, and Anelida and Arcyte. Five of these are absolutely unique; of the others a second copy is known.
These books must have caught the popular taste, for of several we find second editions issued almost at once. A second issue of the Parvus Catho is known from a unique copy belonging to the Duke of Devonshire. York Cathedral possesses the only known copy (with the exception of a few leaves at Cambridge) of the second edition of The Horse, the Shepe and the Goose, and a unique second edition of The Chorle and the Bird.
All these little poetical pieces agree typographically. They contain nothing but the bare text, and are without signatures, headlines, or pagination. Probably they were all issued at intervals of a few days, and not many printed, so that the second editions may have been issued only a few months after the first.
There are three other early quartos to be noticed, which are of quite a different class from those just mentioned. These are the Sarum Ordinale, the Propositio Johannis Russell, and the Infancia Salvatoris.
The Sarum Ordinale, or Pica, was a book giving the rules for the concurrence and occurrence of festivals, containing an explanation for adapting the calendar to the services of each week, in accordance with the thirty-five varieties of the almanac. This book would be in very considerable demand amongst those officiating in services, and would be a good method of attracting the attention of the priests to the new art, so that no sooner had the book been printed than Caxton struck off a little advertisement about it. "If it plese ony man spirituel or temporel to bye ony pyes of two and thre comemoracions of salisburi use enpryntid after the forme of this present lettre whiche ben wel and truly correct, late hym come to westmonester in to the almonesrye at the reed pale and he shal have them good chepe. Supplico stet cedula." The quaint Latin ending, "Pray don't tear down the advertisement," was then perhaps a customary formula attached to notices put up in ecclesiastical or legal precincts, but it might naturally be supposed that those most likely to damage or tear down advertisements would be uneducated people, who would be ignorant of Latin.
