farfel_n09_021_580

Wynkyn de Worde, who succeeded to Caxton's press +
material published very little during the 1st few years, being
content c a few reprints. In 1495, he issued a translation
of the Vitae Sanctorum Patrum of Jerome. This translation
was the work of Caxton + was only finished, as de Worde
writes in the colophon, on the last day of his life. It
was rendered from the French edition printed at Lyons
in 1486 (Goff H214); but, as might have been
expected, it attained little popularity + was never
reprinted

(ca. 1422-1491) Caxton at the age of 70 was at work on his 2nd longest
translation, Vitas patrum, a collection of lives of
the Desert Fathers, wrongly ascribed to St. Jerome.
This manuscript was Caxton's own property + nothing
could be done with it until his affairs were settled
which took some time. De Worde published it at the
earliest possible moment after Caxton's death.

de Worde did not put his name to any book
before 1494.

Henry Plomer --> "The Vitas Patrum woodcuts were native work, +
serve to show the utter want of skill manifested by
English woodcutters of that period. They are badly
drawn + coarsely cut, while the title page consisted
of a hideous block, having the words Vitas Patrum
in white on a black ground."

39 small woodcuts -- Eufrosyne cut shows
a group of 3 (women seated, 2 kneeling)
- occurs 3 times

The last leaf xx^6 is occupied by a large woodcut of Caxton's
device, such as he used in work issued after 1487 + which
was adopted by de Worde in his earlier productions.
E. Hodnett - 87x67mm series 800 to 839.
#822. A woman seated under a canopy instructing a little girl c a book.
A man praying.