[ELIZABETHAN WOMAN BOOK OWNER]. The Bruised Reede, and Smoaking Flax, some sermons

London: R[obert] Dawlman, 1631. Second edition. Poor. 12mo. [52], 140, [10] (all but one numbered "140"), 141-381, [18] pp. Title-page very soiled and partially defective. Ideal copy collates A¹² a¹² b⁶ B-F¹² G¹²(-G10+chi⁶) H-R¹² S¹⁰, this copy is INCOMPLETE, lacking D12, G4, H10, I2-11, R1 and R12 (a blank). Contemporary stiff English vellum wrappers (very wrinkled and soiled), gilt armorial stamp of the Royal Order of the Garter on both sides. Textblock mostly detached from vellum, gatherings almost completely unsewn. Poor condition but unsophisticated, and priced accordingly. THIS TATTERED AND INCOMPLETE ELIZABETHAN BOOK POSES MANY QUESTIONS, FIRST AND FOREMOST THE EARLY OWNERS OF IT, THE CHAIN OF CUSTODY BEING A MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF THE GARTER FOLLOWED BY A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY WOMAN WHO HAS RESISTED IDENTIFICATION.

It is most likely that the armorial stamp of the Order of the Garter would have appeared on a book that was being presented by the king, in this case Charles I (r. 1625-1649), to one of his 24 Knights Companion. Who was this man?

The title-page bears a very early inscription: "Martha Prowse, her book." Who was this woman? She is not mentioned on the Early Modern Female Book Ownership site, nor indeed in any census or family records consulted by us. It is possible that she was related to one Anne Lock Prowse who was studied by Micheline White in: "Women Writers and Religious and Literary Circles in the Elizabethan West Country: Anne Dowdriche, Anne Lock Prouse [etc.]" (Modern Philology 103.2, 2005, pp. 187-214).

Another inscription, written in the margin of fol. G11v, reads "Martha [illegible]." In the margins of pp. 119 and 243 are micrographic inscriptions of the Lord's Prayer within ovals.

The writings of Richard Sibbes (1577-1635) were enormously popular during the seventeenth century. Recent interest in his life and career has been expressed by Kittredge Cherry, scholar of LGBTQ history in her "Richard Sibbes: Queer Puritan theologian for the LGBTQ community?" (online at QSpirit).

Not in Pforzheimer. The last copy at auction of any early edition of "The Bruised Reede" sold fifty years ago.

STC 2nd ed. 22480. ESTC S107876 census: Cardiff Univ., Univ. Toronto, Bodleian, Dr. Williams's Library (now John Rylands), Folger (2 copies), Garrett-Evangelical Theological, and Princeton.

Census of "The Bruised Reede" (all early editions) at public auction:

1975: 1638 sixth edition
1971: 1631 second edition
1970: 1638 sixth edition
1960: 1631 second edition
1955: 1631 second edition
1938: 1631 second edition
1934: 1630 first edition. (Inventory #: 4370)