Osborn fa27

          Sir Thomas More, Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation. England;
     ca. 1540's. Paper, with watermarks of hand with the initials "PB"
     resembling Bricquet 11383 (Neuberg 1537), and a pot; i (modern) + 119 +
     i (modern) ff.; 303 x 206 mm.; 1 column 28-32 lines.

          I-II (8), III (8, -7), IV-XV (8). Catchwords at the end of every
     quire.

          Anglicana and secretary script. Chapter and section headings and
     names are in a large Gothic bookhand. Bound in modern limp vellum with
     green ties.

          Once owned by Sir Geoffrey Pole (d. 1558). Sold by Sotheby's, 10
     July 1986, Lot 9 to the Osborn Collection.

          Comments: The title given is "A dyalogue of comforte by an
     hungaryan in latyne and translated owte of latyne in to Frenche and
     owte of Frenche in to Englishe." This work was written during the time
     that More was imprisoned in the Tower, April 17, 1534, before his
     execution on July 6, 1535. After his death, the text was circulated in
     manuscript form among his family and close friends but was not
     published until Queen Mary's accession in 1553. Only two other
     manuscript texts are known.


To request this material for use in the Beinecke reading room, please go to Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog.