University of Virginia Library

The Missing Term Catalogue
by
Cyprian Blagden

IN Volume II of his reprint Professor Arber has a leaf (pp. 565/6) with only this note on it: Here should come in, if it were ever published, The Term Catalogue for Michaelmas Term, 1695....A long-continued search .... has quite failed to prove either the publication, or the non-publication, of this particular Number: and there the matter must be left for the present." That was nearly 50 years ago; so far as I know the search is still on.

Common sense, while vigorously asserting that some books must have appeared between June and November 1695, can easily invent reasons why no Catalogue was published for that period; in fact, there was no Catalogue for Hilary 1689 because, during the uncertainty of the 'Glorious Revolution,' no Hilary Term was kept. The Catalogue for Easter 1689 contained "the books printed since Michaelmas Term before," and is, in consequence, about twice the normal length. But the Catalogue for Hilary 1696 (the next after the missing one) is shorter than the average and has the usual title. If, therefore, it can be proved that books appeared normally during the summer and autumn of 1695, it is a reasonable assumption that there was a Catalogue which listed them.

Two notes by John Locke make the assumption almost a certainty. In a pocket book[1] in which he kept a careful record of all books and pamphlets received there is this entry for Tuesday 18 February, 1695/6: "Recd of A[wnsham] C[hurchill] term cats for Trinity and Mich." These are unlikely to be for any other year than 1695, particularly when he recorded on Wednesday 17 March 1696/7 the receipt of "The catalogues of the books printed the 4 Termes of the last year & Hilary terme of this".

Though Robert Clavell, who is generally thought to be the compiler of the Term Catalogues, cannot produce comparable evidence for the existence of the

Michaelmas Catalogue, he can prove to us that books did appear in the relevant period and he tells us, in a roundabout way, which they were. It would still be pleasant to find a copy of the missing Catalogue, partly because it would give us a little more information and partly because it would prove the validity of my theory. But at least it is possible to reconstruct a list of titles which would have been included in the Catalogue for Michaelmas 1695.

At the end of Number 12 of the second series of the Term Catalogues,[2] Clavell advertised "The General Catalogue of all the Books Printed in England since the Dreadful Fire of London 1666. to the end of Hilary Term, 1673." This series ran to Trinity 1674 (no. 18), and early in 1675 Clavell produced the second edition of The General Catalogue, which he entered in the Registers of the Stationers' Company on 10 February. The third series ran for 24 issues and ended with that for Trinity 1680; late in the same year appeared the third edition of The General Catalogue. The fourth series ran for longer than the others, and the Catalogue for Trinity 1695--the last of this series to survive-is numbered 58 (misprinted 57); but the expected General Catalogue, of which the title page is dated 1X6, includes in its main body no books listed after those in the Hilary Catalogue. The gap is filled by 2 1/2 pages of "Books Published in Easter, Trinity and Michaelmas Terms, 1695." These pages are numbered 125 to 127, form, with the blank page 128, signature Kk and are linked to the previous signature Ii by the proper catchword 'Books'.

What determined Clavell to round off his fourth series in 1695 rather than one or more years earlier, I do not know; but it is worth noting, in view of his interest in publishing the prices of books,[3] that in 1695 there occurred one of the periodic agreements between booksellers and bookbinders about the prices of binding.[4] What caused him nine months' delay in carrying out his determination is equally obscure, though disputes about the binding agreement and the final lapsing of the Licencing Acts may have had their effect. What is certain is that he minimized the effects of this delay by compiling the Supplement of books published in the Easter, Trinity and Michaelmas Terms of 1695.

This Supplement to the 160 Catalogue contains 208 titles arranged under the expected headings-'History', 'Physick', 'Musick', 'Poems', 'Miscellanies', 'Law' and 'Divinity' (though the word 'Divinity' is omitted). There are no sections for 'Lib. Lat.' and 'Reprinted', just as there are no sections for them in the main body of the Catalogue; and there are no 'Advertisements'. From the 'History' section it is easy to see how Clavell worked.[5] The first two titles are the only two History books in the Easter Term Catalogue; the next four are the first four in Trinity (the fifth in Trinity, Comber's The Church History Clear'd

from the Roman Forgeries, appears in the Supplement under 'Divinity'). The next four in the Supplement are reprints, three from Easter and one from Trinity. The last nine are, by deduction, those published in Michaelmas. Of these, six are not mentioned elsewhere in the Catalogues; Pufendorf's introduction to History and Romae Antiquae Notitia appear as second editions in later Catalogues, and Brown's Lives of the Princes of Orange as a new book in Easter 1694.

This pattern-Easter new books, Trinity new books, Easter reprints, Trinity reprints, balance for Michaelmas (new and reprints undifferentiated)-is followed exactly in the sections for 'Poetry', 'Miscellanies' and 'Musick', and with one slight modification in that for 'Physick'. In the 'Law' section (the only one to give prices but no booksellers' names), the first five titles are those listed as new in Michaelmas 1693 and the next four those in Hilary, Easter and Michaelmas 1694; there was no section for Law books in Trinity 1694. The next three are from Trinity 1695 and the thirteenth appears as a reprint in Hilary 1695; the sole new title for Hilary 1695 appears also in Hilary 1694 and the sole Easter 1695 title appears also in Michaelmas 1693, though with a different imprint. The remaining two titles in the Supplement were presumably published in the Michaelmas Term 1695. In the 'Divinity' section, much the largest with 108 titles, the first 67 are taken straight from the Trinity and Easter Catalogues (in that order); of the remaining 41, four appear somewhere in the Easter or Trinity Catalogues (one, as already mentioned, under 'History') and the rest must be presumed Michaelmas titles. But this section is untidy in every way; whereas from the other sections of new books in the Easter and Trinity Catalogues all the titles are included in the Supplement except Emblems for the King and Queen and Vassor's Letters written by a French Gentleman (both from 'Miscellanies'), the 'Divinity' section omits a number of books which, according to the rule. it should contain.

Before giving the list of 71 titles which I deduce were first published or reprinted between June and November 1695 and which I am fairly sure were printed in a Catalogue for Michaelmas, I want to draw attention to three points:

1) The titles are normally shorter even than the short form used in the main body of The General Catalogue; but Clavell makes no differentiation between his setting of those titles which we know appeared in the Term Catalogue for Easter and those which I think appeared in that for Michaelmas.

2) Booksellers' names are always given, except in the 'Law' section; but there are no addresses and occasionally Clavell leaves out one or two names or lumps them together under 'and others'.

3) In his Preface to the 1600 Catalogue Clavell explains that he has omitted the prices of books because various factors "render the Prizes of most Books uncertain"; by 1695 he has decided to put in the prices of Law books and (because these prices are the same in all shops?) to leave out booksellers' names.

Suggested list of books first published or reprinted in MICHAELMAS TERM 1695 (I have added numbers and such Wing references as I have been able to find.)

• [Divinity]
• Hooper of Lent. [H2700]
• Monrow's Enquiry. [M2439]
• Principles of the Cyprianic Age. [S288]
• Young's two Assize Sermons. [Y70]
• -his Sermon July 11. [Y62]
• Gross Error and Hypocrasie detected.
• Drake's Sermon July 8. All 7 for W. Kettilby. [D2126]
• Crook's two Sermons. B. Tooke [C7229]
• Dr. Comber's Offices, Nov. 5. Jan. 30. & May 29.R. Clavel[C5463] *a
• An Essay of Friendly Reproof. R. Cumberland. [E3280]
• Bull's Letter to a Protestant Clergyman. [B5412]
• The Contrariety of Popery to the blessed Word of God. [B5410]
• -The Church's Request to all her faithful Children. [B5409]
• An Exhortation to Trust in God. All 4 for J. Whitlock. [B5411].
• The Grand Enemy of the State. H. Newman.
• Tillotson's 16 Sermons, the 2 Vol. published by R. Barter. R.. Chiswel
• . Burnet's Reflection. R. Chiswel [B5860]
• Reflection upon a Libel lately printed, entitled, The Charge of Socinianism against Dr. Tillotson considered, &c. quarto. [Ll144]
• Whitefoot's Discourse upon the 1st. Peter. [Wl862] *b
• Williams's fourth Sermon.
• -his Sermon before the Lord-Mayor Sept. 28. All for R. Chiswel. [W2727] *c
• Hascard's Sermon Nov. 10 D. Brown. [H1116]
• Ashton's Discourse of Wills and Testaments. [A4046]
• Vincent's Sermon, octavo. Both for B. Aylmer [V405]
• The Snake in the Grass. C. Brome. [L1156]
• Pelling of Holiness. [P1084]

---

189




• -his Sermon Octob. 13. Both for W. Rogers. [P1104]
• Fundamental Charter of Presbytery. C. Brome. [S286]
• Pious Addresses of the Heart to God. J. Sprint
• Edwards of Atheism. J. Robinson. [?E2l5]
• Dorrington's Familiar Guide. J. Wyat. [Dl936]
• Curbin's Sermon Sept. 22 R. Baldwin.
• Meggot's Sermons, oct. [M1633]
• Talbot's Sermon May 1.[?T121]
• Luzanzey against the Socinians, oct. [D2420]
• Malbranch's Search after Truth, Fol. All for T. Bennet. [M317]
• Impar Conatui. W. Kebelwaite. [H2407]

History

• Du Pinn's History, 7th. Vol. Fol. [part of D2643]
• Romae Antiquae Notitiae oct. Both for A. Swalle and T. Child. [K298]
• An account of the Siege of Namure, quarto. For T. Goodwin. [E3582A]
• Diogenes Laertius, Eng. 2 Vol. oct. R. Bently, and others. [Dl5l7]
• The Inhumane Cardinal, twelves. R.. Wilkins.
• Puffendorf's Introduction to History, oct. For M. Gilliflower. [P4177]
• History of the Wars of Ireland. N. Boddington.
• Brown's Lives of the Princes of Orange, oct. For T. Bennet.
• History of the Campagne in Flanders, 1695. For Wotton. [D295]

Physick

• Sydnem's Works, Eng. oct. R. Wellington. [S6305]
• Harvey of the Small-Pox. W. Freeman. [H1078] *e
• Chirurgorum Comes, oct. 4. Advice to a Physitian. Both for H. Newman. [W292]
• Charrier's Chirurgery, twelves. D. Brown.

Musick

• Thesaurus Musicus. [?T874]
• Collection of New Ayres. Both for D. Dring.
• The Compleat Flute-Master.
• The Self-lnstructor of the Violin.
• Innocent Recreation. All three for J. Miller.

Poems

• Denni's Poems, Fol. R. Cumberlaine.
• Flagellum Muliebre, quarto. J. Whitlock.

Miscellanies

• Body of Geography, Fol. A. Swalle and T. Child. [T869]
• Hale's Magnetismus Magnus, oct. [H250]
• Contemplations, 3d. part. Both for W. Shrewsbury. [H235]
• Multum in Parvo. [Cocker] J. Marshal.
• The Spirit of tacobitism. J. Whitlock.
• Anglia Grata. J. Taylor.
• Stillingfleet of Resignation, oct. H. Mortlock. [?S5572]
• Bossus's Treatise, oct. [L804]
• Rapin's Reflections. Both for T. Bennet.
• Colinson's Compleat Book-keeper. H. Newman.
• 11. Writing Scholars Companion. J. Wyat. [W3725A]

Law

• Keble's Statutes at large, Fol. in one Vol. 3l. [K120]
• Lex Customaria, oct. 5s. [C665]

Notes