De Gulden Passer. Jaargang 66-67

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Plantin books in Sir Edward Dering's library
Nati Krivatsy

Among the holdings of the Folger Shakespeare Library, there is a manuscript catalog of books owned by Sir Edward Dering, bart. (1598-1644), compiled ca. 1640-ca. 1642. The shelf-mark is V.b 297, formerly Phillipps MS 22360. Part of the catalog, consisting of 18 leaves is a shelf list, another part is arranged by subject. It includes printed books on a variety of subjects, e.g. travel, history, philosophy, science, heraldry, religion. Some leaves are missing, but one can tell that Sir Edward Dering's library must have numbered about 2,000 volumes.

Sir Edward Dering, a well-known antiquarian, resided in Surrenden, Kent. He was a member of the Long Parliament for Kent and was chairman of the Committee of Religion. The earliest known manuscript of a Shakespeare play is the so called ‘Dering Manuscript’ (now at The Folger Library) in which the two parts of King Henry IV were conflated around 1623 for a private performance at Sir Edward Dering's house at Surrenden.

Dering's catalog referred to above, lists 480 works; out of these 228 were printed on the Continent. The entries for each work contain the title, author, place of publication and date, the amount paid for it, and the shelf-mark in red ink. One of the volumes mentioned in this catalog is now at the Folger Library and bears on its title-page the same shelf-mark as the one in the catalog.

From this catalog of Sir Edward Dering's library I have assembled the books printed at the Officina Plantiniana, and on the following pages these works are described in detail. I have included information about the authors and the circumstances under which some were written. There is information provided on illustrators, editors, and also on how the work was received. The nine volumes produced at the Officina Plantiniana reflect the many interests of Sir Edward Dering and some of these works are listed in his account books which are preserved at the Kent Archives Office at Maidstone.

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1) Nicholas Harpsfield's Dialogi Sex Contra Summi Pontificatus, 1566 (PP 1018) attacks ‘pseudo-martyrs’. Harpsfield, a theologian, left England in 1550 because he disapproved of the religious changes made under Edward VI, and during his exile that lasted till 1554 he chiefly resided at Louvain where he was on intimate terms with Sir Thomas More's friends. The book listed in Sir Edward Dering's catalog was written during Harpsfield's imprisonment in the Tower, since he refused obedience to the prayer-book and the Queen's injunctions in October 1559; he remained a prisoner till his death in 1575. Harpsfield managed to send the manuscript to his friend Alan Cope in Flanders who published it under his own name, but put as a colophon at the end of the book: A.H.L.N.H.E.V.E.A.C. (Auctor hujus libri, Nicolaus Harpsfield, eum vero edidit Alanus Copus).¹

The shelf-mark for this volume in Dering's library was ‘38 12’, probably meaning the twelfth volume on shelf 38. The entry reads: ‘Alanus Copus Anglus: dialogi Sex pro Summo Pontificatu, Monastica vita, Sanctis,... et Sacris Imaginibus. Antuerp 1566. 4.’ Apparently Dering did not know the identity of the author; in other instances, even if the author's name does not appear on the title-page, Dering would reveal it if he knew who it was.

2) In Sir Edward Dering's catalog, under the shelf-mark ‘4 15’ there are two books listed: the first published in 1578 by Christopher Plantinus, the other in 1602 in London. The entry in Dering's hand reads: ‘Hollandiae et Zelandiae Comites cū iconiƀ Michaēm Vosmerum. Antwer̄p̄, 1578’ (PP 2475). This folio volume contains 36 portraits of counts and countesses of Holland and Zeeland, engraved by Philippe Galle after drawings by Willem Thibaut,² with descriptive text in verse.³

The volume is of special interest because it appears in Sir Edward Dering's account book under the date of November 10, 1626. This account book is preserved at the Kent Archives Office in Maidstone among the family papers of the Dering family and it includes numerous entries for the purchase of books. Unfortunately in many cases one can not be certain which

1 The Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford 1921-22, v. 8, p. 1316.

2 Hollstein's Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings... Amsterdam [1949], v. 7, p. 82.

3 For detailed description of the sources of the illustrations, see PP p. 2411.

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book is referred to. There are two entries on p. 64v: ‘Nov. 10. A heraldry booke of the Dukes of Brabant with purtraicts and armes 00-4-00’; the following entry reads: ‘Another of the EE of Holland and Zeland etc. 00-02-00’. This last is the work listed above. It would be very interesting to know from whom Dering acquired this book 48 years after its publication? The price indicated in the catalog for the two books bound together is 0 5 6. It could be that this price includes the price of the binding, but one can only guess. Another explanation might be that Dering bought another copy of the same book in 1626 for presentation to someone - he had many antiquarian friends with whom he collaborated. This volume with full-page engravings was probably much in demand.

3) On the verso of leaf 5 in Sir Edward Dering's catalog is the entry: ‘11 22 Joħis Goropij Becani oa - viz. Hermathena. 2. Hieroglyphica. 3. vertumnus. 4. Gallica Francica. 6. Hispanica. [etc.] Antwerp 1580. 0 14 0’ (PP 1255). This beautifully printed folio volume, consisting of six parts, each with separate title-page and pagination, was edited by Laevinus Torrentius, bishop of Antwerp, after the author's death in 1573.⁴

The author, Jan van Gorp, latinized his name as Joannes Goropius Becanus, taking Becanus from his birthplace, Hilvarenbeek in Brabant. After studying in Louvain, he traveled extensively in Italy, France, and Spain. Later he practiced medicine at Antwerp. According to a contract dated 26 November 1563, Christopher Plantin entered into partnership with four rich merchants of Antwerp, one of them being Goropius Becanus.⁵ After a while he abandoned his profession and devoted himself to the study of ancient cultures. Some of his ideas were quite peculiar; for example he maintained that the first man, Adam, spoke Flemish. To prove his theory, Becanus presented etymologies in a work entitled ‘Indo-Scythica’. All his works were left in manuscript to Laevinus Torrentius who edited them.

The second part of the above work, Hieroglyphica, is embellished by illustrations of Hieronymus Wierix⁶ and has a dedicatory epistle by Christopher Plantin, addressed to Gasparus Studlerus Zurchius. Gaspar van Zurich was a merchant in Antwerp who lent money frequently to Plantin (cf. letter to Hendrik Niclaes, dated 2 aug. 1567).

4 Biographie Universelle, Ancienne et Moderne, 2 ed., Paris [1880], v. 3, p. 441.

5 C. Clair, Christopher Plantin, London 1960, p. 38.

6 BT 1316.

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4) Sir Edward Dering's library included a copy of an early history of Ireland. The entry in his catalog reads: ‘36 6 Ricħds Stanihurstus: [De re]bus [Hiber]nicis. Appendix è Siluestro Giraldo [Cambren]si: cum annotationiƀ Stanihursti. Antwerp: 1584. 3 0’. The author was born in Dublin, later studied at University College, Oxford, and came to know Edmund Campion while an undergraduate. After his first wife's death in childbed on 26 August 1579, Stanyhurst left England for the Low Countries and he never returned to England. Under the influence of Campion, the religious views of Stanyhurst changed and his conversion to Roman Catholicism probably occurred soon after he arrived on the continent. First he lived in Leyden, later moved to Antwerp, where Plantin published the above work,⁷ a treatise on the early history of Ireland down to the time of Henry II, with an annotated appendix of extracts from the Welsh 12th century historiographer Giraldus Cambrensis on Ireland. The work is dedicated to the author's brother-in-law, Patrick Plunket, 7th baron Dunsany, who married a sister of his late wife.⁸

Stanyhurst undertook the writing of the above work because he wanted to satisfy the curiosity of the cosmopolitan society he lived in for a little-known land. His perspective on Ireland was influenced, no doubt, by his deepening attachment to the cause of Catholic reform of his native island. Stanyhurst was criticised for writing from an English point of view. The first part of his work was devoted to a detailed description of contemporary Ireland, the other three dealt with the arrival and settlement of the Normans in Ireland up to the year 1200. De Rebus in Hibernia Gestis represents Stanyhurst's reflection on the formation of his own community in Ireland and on the environment in which he grew to manhood.⁹

5) The manuscript catalog of the collection of Sir Edward Dering lists under the shelf-mark ‘38 3’ a volume containing four different works, for which he paid 5 shillings. The second item in this volume is entered as: ‘Jus-

7 PP p. 2109.

8 G.E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, London 1916, v. 4, p. 553.

9 C. Lennon, Richard Stanihurst the Dubliner 1547-1618. A biography with a... text On Ireland's Past, Blackrock 1981, p. 42.

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tus Lipsius: de Amphitheatro. Antuerpiae 1598’ (BT 1937). First published in 1584 by Christopher Plantin, this is a revised and enlarged edition.¹⁰

Justus Lipsius, leading humanist of the Netherlands in the second half of the sixteenth century, was a personal friend of Christopher Plantin and Jan Moretus, both bringing practically all his works in editio princeps on the market.

We know from Sir Edward Dering's account book and correspondence that he frequently attended performances of plays and had a sizable collection of playbooks.¹¹ It is not surprising to find among his books this treatise on the amphitheater.

6) In Sir Edward Dering's library there was a folio volume, entered as ‘18 8 Annales magistratuū S.P.Q.R. stephanū Vinandum Pighium. Antuer̄p̄. 1599 0 10 0’ (BT 4002). In 1615 the author's friend Andreas Schottus published a second and third volume which do not appear in the Dering catalog.

After finishing his studies Stephanus Vinandus Pighius visited Italy and remained there eight years to study Roman antiquities, mainly transcribing inscriptions. When he returned to Flanders, cardinal Granvelle appointed him in 1555¹² to be in charge of his large library in his palace at Besançon¹³ and encouraged him to continue his studies of Roman history. The Cardinal was advisor to Margaret of Parma, ruler of the Netherlands from 1559 to 1567, but he had to leave in 1564 because of the Beggars' revolt. His departure overjoyed the population and was regarded as the first sign of the waning of absolute monarchy.¹⁴ Cardinal Granvelle was a patron of Plantin and helped publish the Polyglot Bible even after he had to leave Flanders.

Afterwards Pighius was entrusted by the duke of Cleves with the education of his son, and Pighius traveled to Italy in 1575 with the young Frederic

10 BB, v. 3, p. 898.

11 T.N.S. Lenham, ‘Sir Edward Dering's Collection of Playbooks, 1619-1624’, Shakespeare Quarterly, 16, 1965, p. 145-153.

12 M. van Durme, El Cardenal Granvela (1517-1586), Barcelona 1957, p. 289.

13 M. Piquard, La Bibliothèque du Cardinal de Granvelle, Besançon 1939.

14 Tibor Wittman, Les Gueux dans les ‘Bonnes Villes’ de Flandre (1577-1584), Budapest 1969, p. 124.

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Charles. His pupil, however, died on February 9, 1575,¹⁵ and Pighius returned to Xanten. With the help of the duke of Cleves, he was made a canon of St. Victor and there Pighius remained till his death in 1604.

7) In Sir Edward Dering's catalog there are some volumes listed which contained several works published separately. Under the shelf-mark ‘49 21’ is a quarto volume of fourteen individual pamphlets, the last one published by the Officina Plantiniana. It is interesting to note that 11 pamphlets from this quarto volume are still bound together, now at the rare book room of the General Theological Seminary in New York City.¹⁶ So far I have been unable to find information on who removed three items from the volume. It is quite possible that someone, perhaps a bookseller, bought this volume at one of the series of auctions during the nineteenth century, where Sir Edward Dering's library was dispersed; finding the volume too bulky, the new owner may have decided to take out some items.

The entry for the work produced by the Plantin establishment shows the hesitation whether to enter it under the name of the editor or the author? It reads: ‘[Franc: Sweertius]: Deorū Dearumqe capita ex antiquis numismatiƀ Abraħ Ortelij, illustrata per Franc: Sweertium. Antwerp 1612’. The complete imprint, as given in the printed catalog of the Bibliothèque Nationale, is: ‘Antverpiae, in officina Plantiniana, apud viduam et filios J. Moreti, 1612’. This book, containing engravings of the portraits of gods and goddesses found on ancient coins, reflects Sir Edward Dering's interest in antiquities.

Abraham Ortelius is probably best known to us as a mapmaker, whose atlases contain information about the world known to persons living in the sixteenth century. He also collected coins and his work described above was printed as early as 1573 with a dedicatory epistle addressed to the Hungarian scholar Johannes Sambucus, whose emblem book Christopher Plantin published in numerous editions, starting in 1564.¹⁷ The 1612 edition of Orteli-

15 Stephanus Vinandus Pighius, Epistolarium, published by Henry de Vocht, Louvain 1959, p. 368.

16 Jason P. Rosenblatt, ‘Sir Edward Dering's Milton’, Modern Philology, 79, 1982, p. 376-377.

17 BT 4241.

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us' Deorum Dearumque Capita was considerably enlarged with annotations by Franciscus Sweertius.

8) Heraldry was one of the subjects that interested Sir Edward Dering and his antiquarian friends. There is a work by Jean Jacques Chifflet about the coats of arms of the members of the chivalric order of the Golden Fleece under the shelf mark ‘40 3 Joħes Jacobus Chiffletius: Insignia Gentilitia equitū Aurei Velleris Antuerp: 1632 46’. The National Union Catalog pre- 1956 imprints lists only one copy of this work at the New York Public Library. The order, founded by Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy on the occasion of his marriage in 1429, was dedicated to Saints Mary and Andrew. The number of knights in the order was limited to 24, under the authority of the duke as grand master; it became a symbol of Burgundian power. In 1477, when Mary of Burgundy, daughter of Charles the Bold, married Maximilian of Austria, the office of grand master passed to the Habsburgs.¹⁸ Chifflet was asked to write the above work by the king of Spain and in it he attempted to show that the House of Austria was superior to that of Hugues Capet, founder of the Capetian dynasty which reigned in France from 987 to 1328. This provoked controversy.¹⁹

9) Poland's greatest neo-Latin poet, Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski (1595-1640), a Jesuit priest, was also represented in Sir Edward Dering's library by a volume published at the Officina Plantiniana B. Moreti in Antwerp. The entry in the Dering catalog reads: ‘71 3 Mathias Casimirus Sarbieuius: Poemata. Antwerp. 1634 0 10’. Sarbiewski's chief poetic work, his lyrics, was published in 11 editions during his lifetime, 50 posthumously. The large number of editions and translations of his Latin poetry into almost all European languages testifies to his great popularity.²⁰ Sarbiewski combined classical with Christian sentiments. Some schools, English especially, used his odes as Latin texts in place of Horace's, and Hugo Grotius in his enthusi-

18 New Catholic Encyclopedia, New York 1967, vol. 6, p. 599 and vol. 3, p. 78.

19 Dictionnaire de Biographie Française, Paris 1959, vol. 8, col. 1146.

20 New Catholic Encyclopedia, New York 1967, vol. 12, p. 1084.

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asm went so far as to prefer the ‘divine Casimire’ to Horace himself. Among Sarbiewski's patrons were Pope Urban VIII, the duke of Bracciano, Cardinal Francesco Barberini, and the king of Poland, Wladyslaw IV; from 1601 to 1640 he was court poet and preacher.²¹

The Folger Shakespeare Library

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21 Maren-Sofie Rostvig, The Happy Man: studies in the metamorphoses of a classical ideal 1600-1700, Oslo 1954, vol. 1, p. 91 and 463.

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Samenvatting

The Folger Shakespeare Library (Washington, D.C.) bewaart, als handschrift 297 (olim Phillipps MS 22360), de bibliotheekcatalogus van Sir Edward Dering ( 1644). Negen van de vierhonderdtachtig titels werden uitgegeven door de Officina tiniana (1566-1634).