Folio Society Numbered Limited Edition – THE LIFE OF SAINT EDMUND KING AND MARTYR. A stunning facsimile production of a medieval manuscript in which every page is a masterpiece. In 1433 the young King Henry VI (just eleven years old) spent Christmas through Easter at the abbey of Bury St Edmunds, one of the largest religious foundations in fifteenth-century England. At the end of his stay was admitted to the abbey’s confraternity. To cement the abbey’s relationship with the king, abbot William Curteys conceived the idea of commemorating Henry’s visit with a “life” of the Anglo-Saxon king, St Edmund, the patron saint of the abbey. The man charged with the task of translating the “life” of St Edmund was John Lydgate, a monk at the abbey and the pre-eminent poet of the fifteenth century. Lydgate combined the story of Edmund’s life with that of a more obscure saint, Fremund, supposedly Edmund’s nephew. It is hard to overstate the importance of the resulting manuscript, both as a monument to the development of the English language, and for its illustrations – 118 images, forming narrative sequences integrated to form a coherent visual parallel to the text and with a careful fidelity to detail. The completed manuscript that was presented to the young king remained in his library until after his deposition. Though a later inscription shows that it left royal hands for a time and came into the possession of John Touchet d. It was acquired by The British Library in 1742. In both the number and quality of its illustrations and in the degree of integration, The Life of St Edmund, King and Martyr is unsurpassed. This Folio Society facsimile edition of The Life of Saint Edmund King and Martyr has been reproduced from the manuscript MS Harley 2278 in the British Library through digital photography by Lawrence Podes and printed at Cambridge University Press. The facsimile faithfully captures the beauty of the “life”. The binding, devised by David Eccles, is beautifully grand, with red leather onlays on goatskin, ornamented with coloured and gold foils to a design drawn entirely from elements within the manuscript itself – note the Plantagenet royal arms nestling within the illuminated T. All copies were hand-bound by the craftsmen of Smith Settle in Yorkshire. Limited to 1010 numbered copies. Facsimile of MS Harley 2278. Reproduced using digital images by Laurence Pordes. Printed on Furioso paper from the Biberist mill in Switzerland. Bound in full Nigerian goatskin with leather onlays, blocked design by David Eccles. Handmade laid-paper endleaves from the Fabriano mill. All edges gilt, silk ribbon marker. Companion volume by John Lydgate with an introduction, transcript and commentary by A. S. G. Bound in buckram, with gilt lettering and decorations on cover and spine. Bound in buckram with gilt framed red leather tablet and black title to spine edge. CONDITION: Book appear UNREAD and are in NEAR FINE condition. There are a few very small light hair-line scratches to the fore-edge (see photos 4 & 5) and a tiny mark on the top front corner of the front cover where the book has rubbed again the side of the solander box (see photo 5). The commentary volume again appears UNREAD and in FINE condition. Solander box is in NEAR FINE condition. All items are sent at cost price whether purchasing a single or multiple items.
