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 FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

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mm rewarded, malefaetors fmnysshid, and the ydle peple to be put to laboure, tluit he, wyth the Hoblet of the royame, may regne glorUnuly in eonmierinye his enheritaance, that verray peat and charity may endure in both hi* royama, and that merchandise may have hit courte, in tueh wise that every man enchew synne, and encrece in

that it your most humble servant, in gree and thanke. And I shall pray Almighty God fur your long lyf and welfare, whiche he preserve, and tend yow thacamplisshment of your hye, no- ble. Joyous and virtuos desires, amen. Fynyishid the last day of Marche, the yer of our Lord God a thosaund foure hondred and Ixxiiii." In the first edition of this book there were no cuts, but in the second there are ; and in the second and third chapters it is said, " Jhis game wot invented by Philometer the philosopher, for the correction md instruction of a wicked king."*

The second edition of the Game of Chess, " is rare to see except in the carious libraries of collectors of books," saj-s Bagford, " contains onlj eighty-four leaves, nas twenty-nine lines in a page, and is illustrated with twenty-four wood cats.

1475. A Boke of the hoole lyf of Jason. With- out date ; but supposed to hare been printed in this year. Folio.

Another production from the prolific pen of Le Fevre, who is said to have composed this, and three other books, prior to his History of Troy, in wluch he partially touches upon Jason's con- quest of the golden fleece ; the former were con- sidered too great to insert in the latter. Caxton's prologue contains a curious description of the hangings set up in the castle of Hesden, in Ar- toise, upon the river Canche, by Philip, duke of Burgundy, founder of the Order of the Knights of the Golden Fleece. Anstis says, that no other writer has described these hangings, which is said were destroyed in 1 553, when ue town and castle were demolished by Emanuel, duke of S*TOY, one of the emperor Charles V's generals.

Caxton conclude the volume with a prayer to the young prince, (Arthur) begging him to ac- cept his humble performance ; he continues, " Whom I beseech God Almighty to save and

'Attaliu, who died two hundred yean before Chriat, ud succeeded Eumeoefl as king of i>argamti8, is sap- posed by some to tiave been the inventor of Chess. — Chess ismfntionwl in the Romance of the Rote, and In Orlandi ftnoto. Alxo we read in Cbaucer, —

■ Athahis tbat made the f(ame

First of the Chesse, so was his name.

We also find in The Workt t^f Armorie, by John Bosse- vell, printed by Richard Toltel, in Flete Street, London, 1371. 4to.

"This j;ame was first invented by Athalos^ aa Master Q. CbiQcer reporteth in bys dreame.'*

In " the olden time," says a modern writer, the Game of Chess was emp h a tica l l y described aa " tlbe game of (sinces and ladies."

Foi a catalog;iie of the works on the Game of Chess, in- doding notices of aathors and anonymous publicatioos, with an account of many manuscript and rare books on Chess, see the BiMiogTopMcat and Rrtrotptcthe Miicel- l—f, London, 1830.

increase in virtue, now in his tender youth, that he may come unto his perfect age, to his honour and worship, that his rename may perpetually be remembere<l among the most worthy. And after this present, everlasting life in heaven, who grant him and us that bought us with his blood, blessed Jesus, Amen." The date of 1475 is fixed by Mr. Ames ; and Mr. Dibdin thinks the romance of Jastm was the earliest specimen of Caxton's press in England. Some writers assign the date of 1477 to this work.

We think it better to give a short account of what is most peculiar in the first production of the art ; which, though a subject well known by the curious, and to the profession, it is presumed may not be unacceptable to several persons, into whose hands this work may chance to fall.

With respect to their forms, they were gene- rally either large or small folios, or at least quar- tos: the lesser sizes were not in use.

The leaves were without running title,* direc- tion-word, number of pages, or divisions into paragraphs.

The character itself was a rude old Gothic mixed with Secretary, designed on purpose to imitate the hand-wnting of those times; the words were printed so close to one another that it was difficult and tedious to be read, even by those who were used to manuscripts, and to this method; and often lead the inattentive reader into mistakes.

Their orthography was various and often arbi- tr^T, disregarding method.

They had very frequent abbreviations, which in time grew so numerous and difficult to be understood that there was a necessity of writing a book to teach the manner of reading them.

Their periods were distinguished by no other points than the double or single one, tJiat is, the colon and full-point : but they a little after in- troduced an oblique stroke, thus /, which an- swered the purpose of our comma.

They used no capital letters to beg^n a sen- tence, or for proper names of men or places.

They left blanks for the places of titles, initial letters, and other ornaments, in order to have them supplied by the illuminors, whose ingeni- ous art, though in vogue before and at that time, did not long survive the masterly improve- ments made by the printers in this branch of their art. Those ornaments were exquisitely fine, and curiously variegated with the most beautiful colours, aud even with gold and silver; the margins likewise were frequently charged with variety of figures of saints, birds, beasts, monsters, flowers, &c., which had sometimes re- lation to the contents of the page, though often none at all: these embellishments were very costly; but for those that could not afford a great price, there were inferior ornaments, which could DC done at a much easier rate.

The name of the printer, place of his resi- dence, &c., were either wholly neglected, or put

• Some of the early printed books of Caxton have no title pacts.

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