Dendrologia. Dodona’s grove, or, the vocall forrest / by James Howel, Esq.

[London] : By T.B. for H. Mosley at the Princes Armes in St Paules Church-yard, 1640.

1 volume ; 28 cm

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Great Britain -- England -- London, -- publication place.

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From dealer's description: "HOWELL, James (1594?-1666); Mary CHIVER. Dendrologia. Dodona’s grove, or, the vocall forrest. By I.H. Esqr [London : Printed] By: T[homas]: B[adger]: for H: Mosley at the Princes Armes in St Paules Church-yard, 1640. First edition. Folio. [12], 32, 39-135, 166-219, [1] p., [2] leaves of plates. 18th-century full calf, recently rebacked and recornered. Damp stain to text throughout, plates torn with small areas of loss to, neatly laid down, closed tears to frontis and final text leaf, both repaired without loss. Provenance: 17th-century ownership inscriptions of “Mary Chiuer” to front free endpaper and lower margin of final text leaf. Two inscriptions to title page: “Mary” and “Robert Chiuer”. A pencil-note to the paste-down claims, without any justification, that this is the author’s own copy. In Dodona’s Grove, an allegorical poem by the 17th-century Anglo-Welsh historian and political writer James Howell, prominent figures and groups are represented by trees and other plants in order to comment on events in Europe, particularly England, between 1603 and 1640. The political criticisms in Howell’s work may have been a causal factor in his incarceration in Fleet Prison from 1643 to 1651 (although financial insolvency was the given reason). This copy of the first edition of Dodona’s Grove has annotations and manuscript notes, by one or both of the book’s early owners, “Mary Chiuer”, and “Robert Ciuer” who unpick Howell’s allegory, demonstrating in the process a high degree of erudition. The annotations to the front free endpaper make free use of phrases from the Book of Psalms and Genesis, and combine them with personal reflections: Leading a Life without all strife in quiet rest and peace, from envy and from malice both or hearts and tongues to cease which if wee do then sch all we shew, Feare not mary for thou hast found fāuar with god Well may it bee saide Mary bee not a fraide And all his sonnes and all his daughters Rose up to comforte him : but hee refused to be comeforted; and hee saide I will goe doune to the graue. Mary Chiuer is my name the lord be me with me. Immediately after this, two leaves of manuscript notes have been bound in. This paper is watermarked: Crozier (Haewood 1219, which he dates 1634/5) and the hand is commensurate with the time of publication – ie, the 1640s. The notes, written in a clear, confident hand, decode Howell’s allegory: A Parley held by Trees in the Vocall Forest. The reall Subject. Under the shaddowe of Trees s couchd a mixt Methodologicall Discoure {Theologicall Partly {Politicall {Historicall Reflecting upon the greatest Actions of Christendome, since the yeare sixteene hundred and three (viz: from the beginning of his later maties raigne in England to the very Epoche, sixteene hundred, and fortie. The manuscript notes that follow give the actual names of the persons and places in the text: “The Oke reprsents—the K. of England”; “the Mulbery—Naples & Italy”; “the Elder Tree—the D. of Bauaria”; “Homelia—Bohemia—Anagr.”; “Tutelia—(Anagr of Lutetia) Paris”; “Mordogan a Giant spoken of in the Spanish Romances Anagr. of Gondomar” (Gondomar was a Spanish ambassador to England who was involved in negotiations over the failed ‘Spanish match’) … and so on. Marginal annotations, made to 22 pages of the main text, continue the work of interpretation. The hand is very similar to that of Mary’s on the front endpaper, although it lacks the distinctive flourish she adds to the tops of the ascenders in the letter M in two of three inscriptions of her name; such a flourish could simply be a conceit she employs in rendering her own name, and is not found in her cry “Mary bee not a fraide” but it adds a touch of ambiguity as to the identity of the marginal exegete. The scattered marginalia are usually only a single word (“infamie”; “Henrie. 4.”) or a few words. For example, the word AMPELONA is underlined on p.7 and annotated in the righthand margin “France”, with the Ancient Greek transliterated as “the Vine”. Similarly, ELAIANA is underlined on p.13, annotated with a transliteration into Ancient Greek and rendered as “olive” for “Spain”. Further brief remarks on this same point include “like ye Welsh” and against the printed text “as much as a cloud would line a Monmoth Cappe” they write “a welch Expression”, – raising the possibility that Mary Chivers, like James Howell, may be of Welsh origin. A later, probably 18th-century hand has continued the task of interpreting Howell’s allegory, adding names in pencil to about 20 pages but choosing to make no further comment. The last word, however, goes to Mary, who signs off the volume on the final text page: “Mary Chiuer / The lord be with her” (the second line has been slightly trimmed at the lower margin, presumably by the 18th-century binder, but is perfectly legible). Taken as a whole, this annotated copy provides fascinating evidence of how a highly educated early modern reader interacted with a contemporary text, and is a wonderful example of a well-read annotator getting to grips with the allusiveness and layered meanings of Howell’s remarkable arboreal allegory." Ordered from Dean Cooke Rare Books ltd. D9622, 2023-03-24, from Catalogue no. four, item #17, Ref. 8117

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