Xenophon

Xenophons Treatise of Housholde

      London: Thomas Berthelet, 1537. Exceptionally scarce early English edition of this classic work in surprisingly good condition. Architectural border to title page. Small paper flaw ro A8 leaving small chunk of loss to bottom margin not affecting text. 62 leaves plus colophon leaf. Collates complete. This copy has numerous neat contemporary ink marginal notes and two ink names to the title page. The earlier name is cropped slightly and illegible. The second name is probably 18th century and is of Joseph Berisford. The page block has been trimmed at some point and whilst this still leaves reasonable margins and is well away from the text, the ink notes have in some cases suffered. Bound in recent full calf. A very tidy, complete and clean example of this rare edition. 'Berthelet [Berthelot], Thomas (d. 1555), printer, was probably of French origin, and perhaps related to Jacques Berthelot (d. 1541), bookseller at Caen from 1527 and at Rennes from 1539 to 1541. The first mention of !Berthelett!, resident in the parish of St Dunstan, Fleet Street, London, is when he applied on 23 August 1524 for a licence to marry Agnes Langwyth, widow, at St Bride's, also in Fleet Street. On 27 September that year his first book, a small tract by the monk Galfredus Petrus of Bayeux, Opus sane de deorum dearumque gentilium genealogia (STC 19816.5) was printed !at the sign of the Roman Lucrece!, Berthelet's premises midway along Fleet Street. At this time printers were being warned against handling books labelled as heretical or seditious, and Berthelet was summoned before the vicar-general in March 1526 for printing A Devout Treatise upon the Pater noster and other works, without first submitting them for licence. He later reissued them, having obtained the necessary privileges. In 1528 he printed Thomas Paynell's translation of Regimen sanitatis Salerni, one of the most popular medical books, which was widely translated. Between 1531 and 1545 he printed all fifteen of Sir Thomas Elyot's works. Among his later publications were a few yearbooks of Edward III (1527!32; STC 9562, 9565) and Sir Anthony Fitzherbert's La novel natura brevium (1534; STC 10958), showing his familiarity with the legal world of Rastell and Pynson. Berthelet may not have immediately succeeded Richard Pynson (d. 1530) as king's printer, for John Rastell printed the statutes of 21 Henry VIII during the closing months of 1529, but he was already holding that office by 22 February 1530 when he was granted the annuity of !4 that went with it. He held the office until Henry's death, printing all statutes and proclamations with exemplary skill and efficiency, and on one occasion being ordered to produce a proclamation immediately, if necessary setting the type himself. His account submitted for payment covering the period 9 December 1541 to 12 June 1543 details not only quantities and costs of proclamations but also special purchases of books for the king, with the style and price of binding. Also king's business were several works fostering uniformity in religion such as the Bishops' Book (1537; STC 5163) and the King's Book (1543; STC 5168), of which multiple editions had to be printed. Following Henry's death in 1547 Berthelet did not seek to renew his patent as king's printer, which was taken up by the ardent protestant Richard Grafton under Edward VI. Berthelet was granted a coat of arms in 1549, and may have retired to live in his house in the adjacent parish of St Andrew, Holborn. He died in London on 26 September 1555, leaving a second wife, Margaret, and two sons: Edward, a lawyer of Lincoln's Inn, and Anthony, still a minor. His funeral, held at some point before 26 January 1556, was celebrated with great pomp, attended, as Machyn relates, by many priests, clerks, and mourners, and a concourse of his fellow craftsmen in the book trades, although it is not recorded where he was buried. His nephew Thomas Powell, who was free of the Stationers' Company in 1556, ran the business under Berthelet's name for several years.' - DNB. . Early Edition. Full Calf. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo - 5.25 Inches.