Leaf from The Chronicles of England

Title

Leaf from The Chronicles of England

Heading

A leaf book

Description

Chronicles were popular from the early Middle Ages onwards. The first Chronicles to be printed in England emanated from Caxton’s press, in 1480 and again in 1482. They extend from the supposed settling of Britain by Albinia and Brutus to the year 1461. Caxton knew that the work would have a market, having published it ‘at the request of diverse gentlemen’. Caxton followed Brut’s manuscript chronicle for the time down to 1419. He presumably used civic chronicles and Werner Rolewinck’s Fasciculus temporum when compiling the rest, and he added a table of contents and a concluding prayer. Caxton never followed his sources slavishly, and one of his additions was to expand references made by Rolewinck to the invention of printing.

Typographically, the book is noteworthy as the first English printed book to contain through the arrangement of the table of contents an alphabetical index. It is the first time that Caxton uses line justification and signatures (found on the first page of each quire).

This leaf describes the year in which Henry, duke of Lancaster died, Edward Prince of Wales married the countess of Kent, and John of Gaunt, son of Edward III, was made duke of Lancaster. The leaf is from a leaf book, that is, a single leaf accompanied by an essay. The very fact of its sale thus packaged is a sign of the collectability of Caxton’s output.

Place of Publication

Westminster

Publisher

William Caxton

Date of Publication

1480

Format

Folio

Century

15th

Illustrations

Manuscript