Chronicles of England [English].

St. Albans:  Schoolmaster Printer, [ca. 1486]
Fol.   π⁸ a⁸ b-z⁸ ⁊⁸ ↄ⁸ A-I⁸ K¹⁰.   [290] leaves (π1, a1, K10 blank).
In the preliminary quire the second, third and fourth leaves are signed 'a', 'b', 'c'.
Woodcuts.
On the date, see BMC.
ISTC ic00479000;  GW 6672;  Goff C479;  BMC XI 303 (IB. 55708);  Bod-inc C-196;  Duff 101.

GIP number:	C36
Shelf-mark:	Sp Coll Hunterian Bv.2.17 (see main library entry for this item)
Variants:	π2r, line 1: ‘(red)H(black)Er ...’ not as BMC and GW ‘(red)H(black)Ere ...’;  π2r, line 4: ‘... ſhoꝛli ...’ not as BMC ‘... shortli ...’;  a3v, line 21: ‘... And fro crist wos boꝛne. vn to’ not as BMC ‘... And fro crist was borne. vn to’;  b6v, line 30: ‘... namd albiō ...’ not as BMC ‘... namdalbiō ...’;  b7r, line 1: ‘(red)I(black)N ...’ not as BMC ‘(red)I(black)n ...’;  B7r, line 2: ‘... wos called ...’ not as BMC ‘... was called ...’
Note:	3 cm wide stub between a7 and a8.
Provenance:	Thomas Lewkenor (16th century):  inscription with cropped surname “Thomas Lewkenor(?)” on i3r. John Ratcliffe (1707-1776), book collector:  lot 1394 in Bibliotheca Ratcliffiana (1776). William Hunter (1718-1783), physician and anatomist:  purchased by Hunter for £7.7.0 at the Ratcliffe sale according to the annotated British Library copy of the Ratcliffe sale catalogue (shelfmark 822.d.6). University of Glasgow:  Hunterian bequest, 1807;  Hunterian Museum label on front pastedown, with former shelfmark “Ab.9.16”.
Binding:	England, 18th-century gold-tooled red goatskin;  covers have a single fillet border together with corner-pieces made-up of a floral tool, separate stars, and an unidentified tool of a ducal coronet above an encircled inverted dolphin - a binder’s ornament (rather than armorial stamp indicating ownership), which appears in various guises on mainly French but also on English bindings (ex inf. Philip Oldfield 7 Sept. 2013);  gold-tooled spine;  dark green-edged leaves;  front free endpaper and second flyleaf have a fleur-de-lys watermark.   Size:  269 x 210 mm.
Leaf size:	262 x 199 mm.
Annotations:	Very occasional marginal annotations in English in a 15th/16th-century hand e.g. on the date of the battle of Agincourt on G2v;  frequent marginal annotations throughout in English in various 17th and early 18th-century hands with some paraphrasing of text and responses to text;  the title of “Pope”, which appears frequently in the text, is deleted in black ink almost throughout;  a passage of nine and a half lines on o6v relating to the legendary female Pope Joan is scored through - though a later owner has reinstated the censored lines in the outer margin;  16th-century pen trial on K8v “Rygth Trusty And Wylbelouyd mayst[ter] I gave no”;  possible early ownership inscription (partially deleted and cropped) in upper margin of π2r.
Decoration:	None.
Imperfections:	Wanting the three blank leaves π1, a1 (stub visible), and K10;  also wanting K9 (containing the explicit, colophon, and printer’s device) - explicit and colophon supplied in manuscript on a rear flyleaf bearing a Pro Patria watermark;  outer margin of π2 damaged and repaired, with slight loss of text.