Mel Caeli, Medulla Evangelii; or, The Prophet Isaiah's Crucifix

[MLewens]

Hello from across the "pond"! My name is Mike and I'm located in Appleton, WI, USA.  I've been an avid reader all my life so books have always been an interest of mine. I'm hoping some of you fellow readers over there in the UK can help me out.

 

A few years ago we were going thru one of my deceased grandmother's cedar chests and found a very old book titled "Mel Caeli, Medulla Evangelii; or, The Prophet Isaiah's Crucifix".  It was published in Yorkshire, England in 1656.  Thought it was pretty neat and put it away for safe keeping.  Well, life happen,s and it was forgotten about until a few weeks ago when it came up in conversation.  I dug it out and did some quick Google searches on it.  Turns out there is not a lot out there.  From the best I can tell, there are about 7 original physical copies of this book worldwide (based on WORLDCAT.com). One of those is at the Stanford University here in CA, USA.  I have sent images of the book to them and they have unofficially determined the book to be a match to theirs.

 

I'd like to find out more about this book and thought a forum like this (especially in the UK) would be a good place to start.  Google searches don't really bring up too much.  Most of what I know I've learned from reading the short descriptions in the WORLDCAT listings from universities and private libraries.  Anyone here know anything about this book?  Kind of neat holding a 360 year old book.  My 11 year old daughter is really interested in it, too!  I'm seriously thinking of getting one of the reproduction copies off of Amazon so I can read it without actually having to touch the real thing.

 

Thanks in adavance and everyone have a really great weekend!

 

Mike

[vodkafan]

Certainly seems to be a great find. And something nice to have in the family

[vodkafan]

It seems the author was a Quaker? He wrote a number of religious books about that time. Can't seem to find much about him though and may be getting him mixed up with other Thomas Calverts

[Chrissy]

One thing I found, related more to where the book was printed / sold rather than the book itself is this from the Kings College London website. 

 

During Shakespeare’s time, but also long before and after his life, the main centre of London’s – and indeed Britain’s and Europe’s – book printing and book trading industry was situated in the direct vicinity of St Paul’s Cathedral. Starting in the early 14th century, long before the invention of printing, St Paul’s precincts and sometimes even the Cathedral itself were used to store books and writing materials. When King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, the buildings on the site were seized by the Crown and afterwards sold mainly to printers and booksellers. The new bookshops did not only occupy the former religious buildings lining the churchyard and adjoining streets, but they had also installed themselves against the Cathedral’s walls. As a result, in Shakespeare’s time, the precincts of St Paul’s were synonymous with the book trade. Walking around St Paul’s nowadays, one can easily remain oblivious to this part of St Paul’s history, since all traces of the once flourishing book trade on the site have gone.

 

I noticed that the title page mentioned 'Paul's Chrurchyard' and thought it would probably be related to St. Paul's Cathedral in London. It looks as though that may be the case. 

 

ETA

It looks like a little information can be found on Thomas Calvert in the book written by Willian Ellerby & James Piggott Pritchett entitled 

A History of the Nonconformist Churches of York.  Edited May 14, 2016 by Chrissy

[MLewens]

Vodkafan & Chrissy... Thanks for the interesting info!

 

I've found some info in one of the WORLDCAT listings of the other 7 physical copies that indicates there were 2 editions of this book. I have to go out and mow the lawn before it rains today, but when I'm done I'll come back in and post again.  Having a good time digging up info on this book... LOL

[MLewens]

Here is probably the most interesting info I've located myself using the WORLDCAT resource.  This is lifted from the listing description for one of the physical original copies located at the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA, USA:

 

*****

 

Note [18], 78, 85-352 [i.e. 350], [4] p. ; 4to   Text continuous despite pagination   Running title reads: Medulla evangelii; or, The prophet Isaiah's crucifix   P. 350 misnumbered 352   With two final contents leaves   A reissue, with cancel title page, of the edition with imprint dated 1656 and with "cœli" in place of "cæli" in first line of title

 

*****

 

The way I'm reading this (and I could be wrong) is that my copy is a previous issue since it has the "cæli" spelling in the title.  There is some hand written script at the top of the title page that has the date "March 16, 1669" but it looks like a name written to the left of that date and then something I can't make out to the left of that. I've attached an enlarged image of that area.  Maybe this is the same cancel title page referenced above... just don't know.

 

Other than that, almost all of the 7 original books that I found reference a gold stamp (4th Duke of Hamilton) on both covers.  My book covers do not have this stamp. However, I also found that the stamp itself is dated 1658-1712.

 

So... I'm really hoping this is an original first issue copy of the book.  In the far upper left corner there is a hand written "No. 57".  It is in an ink darker and different penmanship than the script written on the title page.  Maybe this is the 57th book to be bound.... Ha Ha Ha, one can only dream.  I'm starting to get the itch to purchase the modern reprint of the book I found on Amazon.com so I can read this literature without actually touching the real thing.  Might be easier to read, too, as a lot of the letter "s" are printed as "f" in the original.

 

 

I'd upload a pic of the gold stamp but it looks like I'm out of memory...

[vodkafan]

I think you are probably right that it may be of the first imprint, the changes in spelling are a big clue. You really need to get it looked at by an expert.  The 57 is intriguing. The print runs were probably not huge but  books were not always sold ready bound as they are today. I have another theory about the 57. I am guessing that the book was taken to America by a group of Quaker pilgrim settlers , who were a close knit community, and in preparation for the journey, as a gift the books may have been given out one each and numbered. I have been to old churches here in the UK where the prayer books and song books are numbered the same way. But I am only guessing after all.

[vodkafan]

It's interesting I have found references to two Thomas Calverts,alive at the same time both quakers, one born in Ireland in 1617 and the other, who is definitely the writer of your book, reputed to be born in York....the Irish born Calvert is a branch of the same family. There is also mixed up in this Giles Calvert, London Quaker bookbinder and seller, who's sister Martha Simmonds was a major figure in the Quaker movement  (she was accused of witchcraft etc). She married Thomas Simmonds who took over Giles Calverts publishing work when he was imprisoned around then. There is no doubt that all these Calverts knew each other and may have been related.

!656 was an important year because it was when the first Quakers arrived in America. Your relative may be one of these? The first Thomas Calvert I mention above was brought over by his son and died in Delaware in 1685.

[Hayley]

I love finding interesting old books! This definitely was an intriguing find and so nice that it belonged to your Grandmother! 

 

I don't know anything about the book or author but I think the writing on the left of the date you said you can't read says 'Ex Libris' (meaning the person the book belonged to) and the name looks like 'Hoslop' to me.

 

I don't know if you already know this as well but the 3/6 in pencil on the front cover suggests it was sold, at some point, for 'three and six' - which I think was three and a half shillings. Which I know because, funnily enough, I have a book with exactly the same number in (much more recent than yours though, from 1836) and my mom (who remembers the old currency) told me that's what it was!

 

Good luck finding more information 

[MLewens]

Thanks vodkafan & Hayley... that is some really interesting information!  I have to leave for work in a few minutes but have tomorrow and Thursday off so I'll be able to post some more that I found out here.

[MLewens]

I work a 12-hour swing shift (5:30-5:30) and yesterday's run on day shift pretty much wiped me out.  Up at 3:30 am... work... get home at 6:00 pm. I made it to 8:30 pm before  calling it quits for the day.  Spent all of today home with my 1-1/2 year old daughter trying to keep her out of mischief... and failed. LOL

 

My grandmother's side of the family was two, maybe three, generations direct off the docks of Oslo, Norway.  My grandmother and great aunt would go back to the "old country" about every ten years or so.  In fact, I found out that the chest this book came out of was actually either her father's, or grandfather's, that was sent here by cargo ship to America from relatives in Norway.  It is labeled with "America" spelled "Amerika".  Both my grandmother and great aunt were avid readers but I don't remember either having many religious based books around the house.  They were both into travel and my great aunt was a personal assistant to a very long-running city mayor (30+ years) and she traveled all over the world.  I suppose it is possible the book was passed down through the family to my grandmother, but I would think unlikely.

 

I'm liking vodkafan's suggestion about a connection with the Quakers as there are at least three pretty solid settlements of Quakers here in Wisconsin that migrated over from Pennsylvania sometime in the 1700's.  All are within 2-1/2 hours driving time from me. It might be interesting to make contact with the main Quaker churches in those areas and send them the magnified image of the inscription with the name from the title page... see if it gets recognized.  If this is valid I would wonder how it got into the my grandmother's hands?  The only possible connection I can think of there is that my grandfather, who died long before I was born, was a very strong and well connected Free Mason.  I don't know if there even would be a connection there as I know nothing at all about the Free Masons, other than they are a pretty tight-knit group... just pulling at straws.

 

Another likely scenario, and this was suggested by my mother when I told her about this website, is a family friend that I've only met maybe twice in my life... she's English, and a life-long school teacher. Mom filled me in on some details over the past couple of days.  Her name is Joan, that I always knew.  She came to America in the mid 60's as a young exchange teacher through a city-to-city program (great aunt Joyce's connection) and lived with my grandmother for her entire year here in America.  Yup, also an avid reader according to mom.  The three of them (Joan, Joyce and grandmother) remained friends the rest of their lives and I do remember Joan coming here to visit at least three times but I only saw her twice, the last time being around 1983, or so.  I could very well see Joan being the link to how this book made it over here and into grandmother's chest which had all kinds of odd personal stuff in it.

 

The really interesting thing is Hayley's reference to the penciled in 3/6 on the inside front cover.  If the book was sold for 3-1/2 shillings at some point, then maybe it didn't come over with the Quakers as a gift and more likely made the trip with Joan during one of her trips back to America (or home after one of Joyce and grandmother's trip to Norway/England).  I doubt the two would of bought the book themselves while in England, if so, why would it be in the chest of stuff???... you would think it would have to of been a special gift of some sort.

 

I guess the reference to the price would be determine it... is 3-1/2 shillings typical in the late 1600's where it might have been purchased to be handed out as a gift for the Quakers' Atlantic crossing??? Or, is this more typical for much later in time where it would mean the book had to of been in England well after the Quakers left and more likely linked to Joan or some other means to come to America???  Hayley... any ideas here prior to 1836?

 

I have noticed some very faint words written in the margins towards the front of the book when taking pictures of specific pages.  Part of me really wants to go through that book page by page for more clues to it's history. I've hesitated to touch it as much as possible since Stanford confirmed it as a match to their copy.  The image with the hand in it (wife's) was one of three sent to Stanford... ever since then I have worn latex gloves and have left it alone knowing it is very likely the real thing. LOL  Wouldn't it be cool if you could get a "God's-eye view" movie of an object/person as it/they moved backwards through time and see all the places and events that took place around it/them???

Well, it's 11:45 pm here so it's time for bed.  Have a good morning everyone!

 

Mike