INDULGENCES -- Letters Patent in English, issued by Henry VIII for a contribution to St. James's Chapel, founded in memory of those slain at the battle of Bosworth Field. [London: Richard Pynson (?), c.1511] Four copies of the indulgence, in two settings, on two sheets, 4° (231 x 172mm). Gothic type, each 19 lines, fine historiated woodcut initial 'C' with figure of St. James of Compostella (44 x 42mm.), in two states. (Slightly shaved, a little worming.) In modern cloth folder. Provenance : Sotheby's, 27 November 1967, lot 80, bought by Lord Kenyon. STC 14077c.36 and 37. All four indulgences are uncompleted, which partly explains their clean condition. Copies of both settings are at the Bodleian, Harvard and the British Library (imperfect). The two different settings appear together on a single sheet in all known copies except that at the Bodleian. The two settings have four textual variants, listed in Lord Kenyon's correspondence, which accompanies the lot. The woodcut initial is also slightly different in each setting: both are copied from a Spanish indulgence for pilgrims to St. James at Compostella, printed in 1503 at [Toledo, by the successors of Peter Hagenbach]. It seems likely that an English edition of this Compostella indulgence was the model for the present woodcut. (2)
INDULGENCES -- Letters Patent in English, issued by Henry VIII for a contribution to St. James's Chapel, founded in memory of those slain at the battle of Bosworth Field. [London: Richard Pynson (?), c.1511] Four copies of the indulgence, in two settings, on two sheets, 4° (231 x 172mm). Gothic type, each 19 lines, fine historiated woodcut initial 'C' with figure of St. James of Compostella (44 x 42mm.), in two states. (Slightly shaved, a little worming.) In modern cloth folder. Provenance : Sotheby's, 27 November 1967, lot 80, bought by Lord Kenyon. STC 14077c.36 and 37. All four indulgences are uncompleted, which partly explains their clean condition. Copies of both settings are at the Bodleian, Harvard and the British Library (imperfect). The two different settings appear together on a single sheet in all known copies except that at the Bodleian. The two settings have four textual variants, listed in Lord Kenyon's correspondence, which accompanies the lot. The woodcut initial is also slightly different in each setting: both are copied from a Spanish indulgence for pilgrims to St. James at Compostella, printed in 1503 at [Toledo, by the successors of Peter Hagenbach]. It seems likely that an English edition of this Compostella indulgence was the model for the present woodcut. (2)
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
