Overview Facsimile
Description
Show TEI/XML Download TEI/XML Print Description

An almanack for the yeare 1655

F-pped

Odense, Syddansk Universitetsbibliotek, Herlufsholm 742.1

Charlotte Epple, Fragmentarium, 2026 (Born Digital)

General Information

Title An almanack for the yeare 1655 being the third since leap yeare : wherein is contained the severall lunations, quarterly ingresse of the sun, and several tables of necessary use, with moderne transactions, a discription of highwayes, and principall faires in England and Wales / by VV. Burton.
Shelfmarks Herlufsholm 742.1
Page/Folio Reference Pastedowns
Material Paper
Place of Origin Oxford
Date of Origin 1655
Persons Printed by Henry Hall
Script, Hands

Mix of antiqua and English Gothic typeface.

Original Condition

More about the Condition

Octavo format, two quires á 16 pages.

Current Condition

Extent Two uncut sheets
Dimensions 330 x 209 mm
More about the Current Condition

For each pastedown, a full uncut sheet of eight leaves was used, meaning the fragments constitute an entire copy of this 16-leaf edition. There is some loss of text on the edges of the sheet.

Book Decoration and Musical Notation

Description

Red ink used for some headings and emphasis of certain words. The print contains a zodiac man illustration.

Content

  • Content Item
    • Persons William Burton
    • Text Language English
    • Title Calendar and astrological prognostications
    • Front cover v
  • Content Item
    • Persons William Burton
    • Text Language English
    • Title Highways in England and Wales, fairs & late mutations
    • Back cover r

History

Origin

Oxford
Remarks

This almanac was pulled from the market during or shortly after production because of a conflict between the London Stationers’ Company and the University of Oxford. According to Oxford bibliographer Falconer Madan, the university was paid a yearly fee by the company for the exclusive right to print amongst other genres almanacs, but no such payments had been made since 1643. As a reaction, the university started printing their own books again, resulting in the Stationers’ Company beginning to pay again in 1655. A condition of the conflict’s resolution was that books printed that year, like Burton’s Almanack, were to be destroyed. Hence, it only survives in a few binding fragments at the Bodleian Libraries and Oxford college libraries. Madan notes that none of the known bindings contain more than the first sheet - the calendar and prognostications - questioning if the second sheet reached production at all. This present fragment proves that it did - it is the only known surviving example of the second half relating to highways, fairs, and late mutations.

Host Volume

Title Edward Simpson, Chronicon historiam catholicam complectens
Date of Origin/Publication 1652
Place of Origin/Publication Oxoniae, excudebant L.L. & H.H. apud Tho. Robinson
Shelfmark Herlufsholm 742.1
Remarks

Dark leather Oxford binding decorated only with triple lines along each edge, presumably made in 1655 or soon after.

The host volume belonged to Herlufsholm Skole, a private Latin school located in Næstved, Sealand founded in 1565 on the grounds of a secularised Benedictine monastery, St Peders Kloster. The old library of Herlufsholm was transferred to the University Library of Southern Denmark in 1968-69. This book is part of a donation made to the school by count Otto Thott (1703-1785), who became warden of the school in 1763 until his death in 1785. Well-known for his book collecting, he gave about 6000 volumes to Herlufsholm’s library in several shipments beginning in 1777.

Bibliography

Back to top