Hi all,
A bibliographical query. Henry Sidney's accounts of 1556-58 list a
part payment of 10 pounds (of a promised 40) 'lent to' Humphrey Powell
‘for the imprinting of the statutes of this realm [=Ireland] and other
books’ (HMC I, 364). Powell served as King's Printer in Ireland from
1550-66. Molyneux in his account in Holinshed confirms that Henry
Sidney ‘caused the statutes of Ireland to be imprinted which never
before were published’. But the earliest edition of Irish statutes
appears to be STC 14129 (London: Richard Tottell, 1572), and the STC
printer index lists no likely imprint under Powell. Do those who know
about such things think Powell did print an earlier version now no
longer extant? Or that the Powell commission came to naught and the
Tottell edition is the one Molyneux had in mind? Or perhaps there is
an earlier edition and I'm just missing something obvious? EEBO is no
help, since its version of STC 14129 is missing the first six or so
gatherings: no potentially useful prelims.
Best,
Joe
Joseph Black
Professor & Director of Graduate Studies
Department of English
Bartlett Hall 452
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA 01003
413.545.5495
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