FENN, John. Original Letters, Written during the Reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV, and Richard III. By various Persons of Rank or Consequence; Containing many curious Anecdotes, relative to that turbulent and bloody, but hitherto dark, Period of our History; and elucidating, not only Public Matters of State, but likewise the Private Manners of the Age… London: Printed for G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1787. 2 vols., 4to.
The first edition and first publication of the Paston Letters, one of the most remarkable bodies of private correspondence to survive from medieval England. Written principally by members of the Norfolk Paston family and their circle during the fifteenth century, the letters provide an extraordinarily immediate record of English life during the Wars of the Roses: political upheaval and violence sit alongside property disputes, marriages, family quarrels, court gossip and the everyday business of an ambitious gentry household.
Among the correspondence first brought into print here are the celebrated letters of Margery Brews to John Paston III, written during their courtship in 1477. In one, Margery addresses John as her “right well-beloved Valentine”, in what is generally regarded as the earliest surviving English Valentine love letter. Her affection is interwoven with the rather less romantic realities of negotiations over her dowry, and she asks that the letter be kept strictly private. Elsewhere the collection preserves vivid contemporary reports of the violence and political uncertainty of the period, including the fate of William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk.
John Fenn acquired the Paston manuscripts in 1774 and published this first selection in two volumes in 1787. Later that year he presented the fruits of his labour to George III and was knighted.
Provenance
Contemporary ink ownership inscription “Muncaster” to the engraved title of volume I, apparently that of John Pennington, 1st Baron Muncaster (1737–1813). The association is particularly apposite: according to long-standing Pennington family tradition, an ancestor, Sir John Pennington, sheltered Henry VI at Muncaster following the Battle of Hexham in 1464. The King later proclaiming 'the luck of Muncaster'.
Later armorial bookplate of Thompson of Clements.
Size
28 × 22 cm.
Condition
An attractive and complete copy. Later tan half calf over marbled boards, spines with raised bands, red morocco title-labels and black morocco volume-number labels, lettered and ruled in gilt, dates gilt at foot. Bindings sound and well presented, with light rubbing, marking and normal wear to the calf, corners bumped.
Contents generally very good, with scattered foxing and spotting, somewhat heavier to occasional leaves and plates. The hand-coloured illustrations retain good colour. Large folding Paston pedigree complete, with a short closed tear at one fold without loss. All called-for illustrations present.
Bibliographical Note
First edition, 1787 — original two-volume publication of the Paston Letters, preceding the corrected and expanded second edition issued later the same year.
Vol. I: xxxiii, [55], 301 pp.; Vol. II: [4], 341, [23] pp.
With two engraved title pages incorporating views of Caister Castle, two hand-coloured engraved frontispieces, a further hand-coloured plate of the Badges of the House of Lancaster, large folding Paston pedigree, and 14 engraved facsimile plates (I–XIV) of autographs, paper-marks and seals.
References
ESTC N10147.
