| [23] | Le Morte Darthur, edited by H. Oskar Sommer, Ph.D. Vol. III, p. 335. |
| [24] | ‘The Biography and Typography of William Caxton, England’s First Printer,’ by William Blades, 8vo, 1877, p. 22. In this, and in his larger work, ‘Life and Typography of William Caxton, England’s First Printer,’ 2 vols. 4to, 1861-1863, Mr. Blades has given a very learned and complete history of Caxton and his times so far as they relate to him. |
| [25] | ‘like a circle in the water, Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself Till by broad spreading it do reach the bank.’ See First part of King Henry VI, i. 2, and the Variorum notes thereon. |
| [26] | Englishmen, who feel shame and sorrow for the loss of the only perfect first copy of our National Epic, may yet be glad to know it has an honoured place with our worthier kinsfolk across the Atlantic, in the rich library and museum of Mr. and Mrs. Abby Pope: ‘And, so sepulchred, in such pomp doth lie, That kings, for such a tomb, would wish to die.’ |
| [27] | Dibdin’s Typographical Antiquities, 1810, vol. i, pp. 242, 254. |
| [28] | Dibdin’s Supplement to the Bibliotheca Spenceriana, vol. ii. p. 213; or Ædes Althorpianæ, vol. vi. p. 213. I would here express my thanks to Earl Spencer for sending to the British Museum for my use his Caxton, and his unique copy of Wynkyn de Worde’s first edition of Morte Darthur, as also for favouring me with details of information respecting the former; and to the Earl of Jersey for permitting me to examine his Caxton at Osterley. |
| [29] | ‘Caxton followed the usage of the scribes in this particular; for, with one exception only, and at the very end of his career, where the title of the book is printed alone in the centre of the first page, his books appear without any title page whatever. Wynkyn de Worde adopted the use of title-pages immediately after the death of his master.’ Biography and Typography of William Caxton, England’s first printer, p. 45. By William Blades, 1877. |
| [30] | As the passage is worth preserving I have given it at the end of the volume, [Note A], p. [488]. |
| [31] | Vol. i, p. xxviii. |
| [32] | Ibid. p. lviii. |