1560 An Oversight and Deliberacion upon the Holy Prophete Jonah, John Hooper. Tisdale, London

A lot to unpack with this book, please bear with me as I go through the first few layers.

A scarce and important Protestant work, but incomplete and the price reflects condition; a 2020 Forum Auctions sold a complete 1550 edition (more common) for 2,800 pounds (Lot 81, Nov. 18). I can't find a record of this edition, printed by Tisdale in 1560 (after the 1550 edition) selling at recent(ish) auction, other than my copy.

This copy is missing its first gathering of prefatory material (eight leaves, per the catalogues). It is also missing the leaves signed A1, X1, X8 and the last gathering of eight ("Z"). The sermons start at A2, so it seems like all prefatory material may have been purposefully removed.

Oddly, the title page of this edition has been replaced by the title page of the 1550 edition, but comparisons to online examples (like the Forum example noted above) show typographical differences that distinguish this as the 1560 edition. For example, the sermon four chapter break in this edition is not well-defined, as it is in the 1550 edition. Also, this edition employs the woodcut faces at the e4 verso that Tisdale used on his title page.

About the Work -

I'll try to summarize, but a better description of all of this could be found by reading the early Actes and Monuments (Foxe) description of Hooper's martyrdom and the Dictionary of National Biography for Hooper.

My overly simplistic summary - Hooper was a passionate reformer (falling under the Protestant label). His work included calling out excesses and silly non-biblical traditions within the established church (whether it was Protestant or Catholic). During the Protestant King Edward's reign, he gave these sermons, in London, to the King, comparing the time period to that of the biblical Jonah. Edward appreciated the sentiment and encouraged his placement high in the church, but even though he was Protestant Hooper was ruffling feathers because he was fighting corpulence within the church.

Several years after these sermons, this book, Mary came into power and brought Catholicism with her. The established church tried and tried to get Hooper to recant his reformer ideas, but when he refused, they gave him the death penalty, burning him at the stake. So powerful were his words, that the entire time of his imprisonment, they silenced his ability to speak or write. Mary continued to burn hundreds of reformers at the stake. During Mary's reign, the possession of these sermons could be seen as evidence of reformer leanings.

Interesting note, in the 19th century the English built a monument to Hooper and when excavating the site of his burning, they found a burnt stake which can still be seen in the Folk Musuem.

When Mary died (1558), Elizabeth came to power, swinging the political landscape back towards the reformer cause, and Tisdale felt that he could republish this important work without reprisal.

Provenance -

A "William Huse" is written within the book. The "Huse" name was an abbreviation for the Hussey household, who were players in the Catholic/Protestant drama of the 16th century. Early in the century their forebearer John Hussey served as Chief Butler of England, but he was executed in a plot to discredit the thrown (1537). From that point on, the Hussey family was on the edge of political acceptance, with various factions serving as sheriffs, others being Catholic, and others being reformers. I have no idea where this "William Huse" fell, or even if he was among the known Hussey family.

Bibliographic Details -

The printer, Tisdale, didn't date his printing but the date of the printing is known because he registered the printing with the Registers of the Company of Stationers (you can see this register in the book A Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers, V5, 1560 (the year at top of page), this book printed in 1894).

Proquest offers the 1560 Hooper book in full, and without a subscription you can view the title page.

Worldcat only lists a digital copy of this edition, OCLC 646661407.

The Universal Short Title Catalogue lists it as 505773, and the ESTC lists it as S104216, both listing the same copies, but when reviewing the copies I find that the ESTC lists many of them as "unverified" and I have suspicion that they are simply reporting that the libraries state they have the digital copy.

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 9 x 14.5 x 3 cm. Calf binding. Boards with double frame of blind fillet, with corner gilt florets and a central gilt rose tool. Spine with six raised bands; six compartments with a central gilt floret, one compartment with the author and title in gilt on black Morocco. Facsimile title page from wrong edition.

No pagination

Collation – Missing first gathering (*8) and A1. Title page from a different edition. A2-A8, B-H8, I6, K-U8, X2-7 (X1 and 8 missing), Y8, missing Z gathering at end.

Condition -

See pictures. Odd darkened leather around flower gilt tools to binding. Some rubbing and corner wear to leather bindings. Lots of bookseller notes on blank binder’s endpapers. Title page is a facsimile from the wrong edition. MIssing the prefatory leaves, which were a gathering signed with a * (according to the catalogues). Text block is toned throughout. Some moisture marks from edges, mostly marginal. Occasional rust spot, dog-eared page, thumb, page edge chip, etc. Some annotations at bottom of D3 verso. Name inscription at bottom of E4v, and E5r. H6v with some copywork of text above, in an old hand. More annotations on I6v. More names and copywork at M8v, N1r. Top corner of T and U gatherings with some damage. X1 and X8 missing. Bottom 1” of Y8 missing. Missing the Z gathering.