Otia sacra optima fides.
Mildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of Westmorland (1601-1666)
Category
Books
Date
1648
Materials
Place of origin
London
Collection
Blickling Hall, Norfolk
NT 3215678
Summary
Bibliographic description
[2], 143, 148-149, 146-147, 144-145, 150-174, [4] p., [2] folded leaves of plates : ill. (metal and wood cuts), tables ; 4to. Running number: 7197. Without final gathering of two leaves signed *2. With author's manuscript corrections on pages 3, 16, 24, 35 and 57. Page 99 is not a cancel. Imperfect: wanting folded plate between I4 and K1. Provenance: early Jacobean armorial bookplate (Franks 32740): Or, three eagles displayed in fess sable, lettered 'Ri: Wynne Serjt: at Law' and with motto 'Ad ardua' [probably Richard Wynn (1656-1719), MP for Boston, Lincolnshire, 1698-1700 and 1705-1719, Serjeant-at-law, 1710. Of Bedwell Park, Hertfordshire -- cf. Alumni Cantabrigienses. Wynn was succeeded as MP for Boston by Sir Richard Ellys (1682-1742), of Nocton Hall, Lincolnshire, in whose library this book remains. But possibly Sir Richard Wynn (d. 1742), also educated at the Inner Temple, who became a serjeant-at-law in June 1705, was knighted in April 1719 and who died in 1742, aged 90 -- cf. History of Parliament]. Manuscript inscriptions in pencil on first front fly-leaf: price "1-0" and in nineteenth or twentieth-century hand "By Mildmay Fane, Earl of Westmoreland". Author's manuscript gift inscription on recto of second front fly-leaf: "Simon Henden ex dono Honoratissimi d[o]m[in]i Le De Spencer. Anno 1649. Tu mihi donasti Librum; quae dona reuoluam? Munere non possum digna referre tuo" [i.e. written by Mildmay Fane, Earl of Westmorland (1601-1666), who from 1626 was styled Lord Le Despenser. Simon Henden was probably a member of the Henden family of Benenden or Biddenden, Kent. The Henden's seem to have been a very extended family in that part of Kent. Alumni Cantabrigienses lists one Henden (no first name) who was at Emmanuel College, April 25, 1638; Gray's Inn, March 24, 1637-8. He is described as of Kent, perhaps named John, son and heir of Sir Simon, of Benenden. The author Mildmay Fane was born in Kent and educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge (matriculated 1618). There was a radical Seeker named Simon Henden, of Benenden, who published an attack on Presbyterians in 1652 entitled 'The key of Scripture-prophecies: or, A glass of some new discoveries']. Manuscript inscription in different hand on recto of second front fly-leaf: "Janr 2 1687 Giuen to my younger son John Henden" [see note above on Henden family provenance]. Manuscript inscription on verso of second front fly-leaf: "under Otia Sacra" [i.e. catalogue entry note for anonymous works, written by John Mitchell (ca. 1685-1751), librarian to Sir Richard Ellys (1682-1742)]. Manuscript initial on third front fly-leaf: "M." [i.e. catalogue code of John Mitchell (ca. 1685-1751), librarian to Sir Richard Ellys (1682-1742)]. Manuscript doodles or symbols in pencil on rear fly-leaf. Binding: seventeenth-century English full calf; sewn onto three tawed leather cords; double blind fillet border with additional double blind fillet running parallel to spine-edge; gilt dotted roll pattern along board edges; rebacked (twentieth-century?) in tan sheepskin, with burgundy morocco gilt title label. Red sprinkled textblock edges. Printed waste (English, seventeeth-century[?]) lines the spine.
Makers and roles
Mildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of Westmorland (1601-1666) William Marshall (fl.1617-1650)