THE FABLES OF ESOPE
(see page [62])]
The Golden Legend, Caxton's most important work, was finished, so far as regards the translation, on the 20th of November, 1483. In the second prologue the printer tells us that when beginning the translation the magnitude of the task and the heavy expenses of printing made him "halfe desperate to have accomplissd it," and he proposed to put what he had already done to one side and leave the work. The Earl of Arundel, however, encouraged him to proceed, not only by promising to take a certain number of copies when finished, but by the offer of an annual gift of a buck in summer and a doe in winter. Thus assisted, Caxton finished his translation and printed the book, and some idea of the task involved may be gathered from the fact that the work consists of 894 printed pages, each page containing two columns of 55 lines. It is illustrated with a frontispiece, eighteen large and fifty-two small wood-cuts. The translator compiled his version from three sources, for he tells us that he had beside him "a legende in frensshe, another in latyn and the thyrd in englysshe."
The French edition which Caxton used has been clearly identified in a curious manner. In one or two places it contains bad misprints which Caxton translated blindly. In the life of St. Stephen the words "femmes veuves" have been misprinted "Saine venue," which Caxton renders "hole comen," in spite of the words making no sense. In the life of St. Genevieve "a name" occurs in place of "a navire," which appears in the English version as "at name" in place of "by ship." This French version is of great rarity, the only two copies known being in the British Museum and the Cambridge University Library.
Fortunately, the Golden Legend is one of the commonest of Caxton's books, though every copy is more or less imperfect. The finest is that which formerly belonged to Lord Spencer, which was made perfect as regards the text with leaves from other copies, and is, with the exception of these leaves, very large and in fine condition. In 1577 it belonged to Robert Hedrington, who appears to have owned many Caxtons.
The three books which follow the Golden Legend, and which are all dated 1485, are of very great interest. These are the Morte d'Arthur, the Lyf of Charles the Great, and the History of Paris and Vienne, all printed in folio.
Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur, that cycle of stories connected with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and as Sir Walter Scott called it, the best of all English romances, is perhaps the most interesting volume that Caxton ever printed. Two copies only, one perfect, the other wanting a few leaves, are now known. The first has a long and interesting pedigree. It first appeared at Dr. Bernard's sale in 1698, when it produced the magnificent sum of two shillings and ten pence, passing into the vast library of the Earl of Oxford. Osborne, the bookseller who bought that library en bloc, sold the volume to Bryan Fairfax for five pounds, and in 1756 it passed with the whole of his library to Mr. Child, the banker, at a valuation of two pounds, twelve shillings, and six pence. While safely preserved at Osterley at the beginning of last century, it raised the most covetous feelings in the breasts of the two great Caxtonian collectors, Lord Spencer and his nephew, the Duke of Devonshire, who both made overtures for its acquisition. It had almost been ceded to the latter in exchange for some work of art, when it was discovered that it could not legally be parted with, and it remained at Osterley until 1885, when Lord Jersey's library was sold. At this sale it was purchased by Mr. Pope for a sum little under two thousand pounds, and left England for America, where it still remains. The second copy was obtained by Lord Spencer in 1816 at the sale of the library of Mr. Lloyd of Wygfair. Both copies are in very fine condition. The complete book consists of 432 leaves, the first being blank. There are 38 lines to a page, and as these run straight across, instead, as is so often the case, being made up into two columns, the effect of the whole, with the wide margins, is very striking. Sir Thomas Malory's translation from the French was finished in the ninth year of King Edward IV.,—that is, about 1470,—but apparently no manuscript of it is now in existence.