RESERVED
An unrecorded John Day imprint drawing upon the text of Latimer’s Frutefull Sermons from the 1570s but released with a new title page that renders the collection as Sermons Preached by the Right Reverend Father in God. Though resembling a single copy of Latimer’s sermons held at Cornell University, this imprint is textually distinct from that one, adding to our knowledge of the output of one of the most influential of Elizabethan printers. Boosting the appeal of this volume is its provenance to the Romantic poet Samuel Rogers who seems to have had it rebound in what is - to our eyes - a bizarre stamped binding from the 1820s and given the resulting volume to his friend, the surgeon Dr William Henry Williams.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Small quarto in eights bound probably in the 1820s by Remnant and Edwards in blind-stamped maroon roan, likely commissioned by the book collector Samuel Rogers before he gave it away. Rubbing to edges and cracking to outer hinges; binding remains sound. Gilt lettering to spine: Latimer’s Sermons; Bernher 1552 - referring to the book’s editor, Augustine Bernher. All edges gilt. 1820s shot-silk endpapers with the bookplate of ‘William Henry Williams M.D. F.L.S Of Gonville and Caius College Cambridge, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons’ (Williams became Fellow RCS in 1817 providing a terminus post quem for the insertion of this bookplate). Amicably inscribed by Rogers on the first newly inserted flyleaf: ‘To Dr Williams from Samuel Rogers with affectionate Regards.’
The title page which has an attractive woodcut border most closely resembles but is textually distinct from the unique copy of Sermons Preached, which is held by Cornell - OCLC 64061442. The collation however is quite different to this text and resembles much more closely the printed text of Frutefull Sermons (STC 15278 & OCLC 4715166): Part 1 [a]2 a-p8, q4; colophon dated 1571; Parts 2/3 B-T8, U4; 2A2-4; 2B8-2I8, 2K3 - apparently lacking 2A1, f149 which is the title page to Part III and 2K4, a blank. The text is close cropped throughout often touching headlines; the woodcut depicting Latimer preaching to Edward VI appears as expected on f21v of Part I, laid down. Manicules scattered through Part I, notably f65r and f77r; Part 2 manicules at f5v-6r; calculation of time elapsed since publication made in 1720 to Pt II, f148v; Greek annotation at f212. Some browning and light staining; a few closed tears but a very good copy overall.
CONTEXT: These sermons by Latimer helped usher the Reformation into England and it is suggested that ‘the preaching of Latimer more than the edicts of Henry’ established the Reformation in English peoples' hearts. Bishop Latimer was burned at the stake upon the ascension of Mary to the throne. Samuel Rogers (1763-1855) was a celebrated poet in his lifetime who inherited his wealth from his banker father. A connoisseur and collector, Rogers was also immensely well connected and this gift to Dr Williams no doubt stemmed from those manifold connections.
