Leviathan (1651) with manuscript endleaves containing accounts of renovations at Hampton Court Palace signed by Christopher Wren

Item Details

London, 1651

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651)

Format: Folio. First edition. 292 x 191 mm. Provenance: Christopher Wren. References: ESTC R13936; Wing H2247; Pforzheimer 492.

A later issue of the first edition of Leviathan: [vi] 394 pages, with engraved titlepage and folding letterpress plate inserted. Three manuscript leaves, originally endleaves, now removed and loose. Text on leaves written in black ink in a secretarial hand is an account of renovations at Hampton Court Palace. Two of the three leaves have five signatures, including Christopher Wren (“Cr. Wren”), Hugh May (Comptroller of the King’s Works), Richard Rider (Master Carpenter for the Crown), Thomas Wise (Master Mason for the Crown), and Thomas Rotherham (clerk of works). All three leaves are trimmed with significant loss to text, with some remnant of the titlepage of Leviathan still present on one leaf, just under signatures. Leaves toned, worn at edges, and somewhat soiled. Signatures are generally fine.

Bound in contemporary calf, boards paneled in blind. Rebacked, preserving original calf, boards restored and repaired, new endleaves. Binding worn, extensive damage to the first three quires and last several leaves (with substantial loss at bottom), lower edge of text dampstained throughout, page 385 with a long tear, both engraved and printed titlepages are mounted (both with significant loss at bottom), letterpress folding plate damaged at bottom with loss.

Housed in a custom-made clamshell case by Book Arts of Washington DC, with mocha full vegetable tanned kid goat, hand tooled in 22 karat gold and blind tool, "Cambridge" inspired double borders with decorative spine in 22 karat gold, title on leather label – mounted on spine of clamshell – stamped in 22 karat gold. Chemise in acid free natural Asahi cloth lined with archival soft white superfine stock. Walls of clamshell in marble, suggesting stone pattern reminiscent of 17th-century marbling. It features in the Book Arts online Gallery

This intriguing item contains as many questions as answers. Here are a few:

Did Wren write on the endleaves of this bound copy of Leviathan, or were Wren’s accounts recycled as endleaves when the book was bound? And, following that question, when was the book bound, and by whom?

To whom did this book belong? Was it held at Hampton Court, which is referenced in the accounts? Did Wren own it? Given the complicated rivalries and interpersonal dynamics between Hobbes and Wren’s intellectual circle, the nascent Royal Society, this is a fascinating possibility. Wren lived with and assisted Charles Scarborough, an admirer of Hobbes, c. 1646-50; when Leviathan was published, however, Wren had just arrived at Wadham College, Oxford, where he became increasingly involved in the group surrounding John Wilkins, who, with Seth Ward, wrote a rebuttal, published in 1654, to Hobbes’ criticism of Oxbridge teaching. The catalogue for the 1748 sale of Wren’s library does not list a copy of Leviathan. Could the owner have been someone else entirely?

Can the projects referenced in the papers be identified and dated with more specificity? The signatures provide a reasonable terminus ad quem, as Richard Rider died c. 1683, and May and Wise died in the two following years. The contracts/receipts seem to reference work done at Hampton Court Palace, including bringing stone ("out of his Majsty stores at Scotlandyard"), updates to bedrooms ("the Lady Marys Bedchambr"), and general tidying ("wheeleing out the rubbish and makeing cleane"). Wren was involved in minor works at Hampton Court in the 1670s, and various contextual clues have led to our current approximate date range 1676-1683. Who would have retained these types of accounts and signed documents? How does that relate to the identity of the book’s owner?

The manuscript leaves feature two watermarks of the period: the main mark of a fleur de lys on a shield with a crown above and "4HC" or "HG" below (on leaves 2 and 3), and the countermark IHS with cross above (on leaf 1). Either "HC" or "HG" appears on these sheets of paper used as a contract/receipt for construction being done at the Hampton Court Palace. A similar shielded fleur de lys (a Strasbourg lily) watermark with the same HC/G initials also appears on some MS pages, ca. late 1670’s, of the composer Purcell who also worked at Hampton Court. Wren also used paper with the same watermark for other plans related to Hampton Court. Since the initials listed on the main mark can refer to the factor for whom the paper was made, an educated guess would say that, if the factor’s initials read "HC," they could refer to royal paper made specifically for Hampton Court. Can the paper be definitively connected to Hampton Court?

Setting aside the mystery surrounding its provenance, this collection of items binds together two titans of seventeenth-century British thought, creating an utterly unique juxtaposition of practical craftsmanship and political philosophy.

Catalogued by Dr. Molly G. Yarn

Transcription by Karen Norwood

[page 1 of 3] (right side of lines incomplete due to page trimming)

1.                                 A Carpentr  Imployed in planie-  |

2.                                 dealbourds and in mending a gutter over the Du- |

3.                     ijs iiijd  John Barbour __ ij dayes _____ (check) |

4.                                                                     0   ‘     4    ‘     s

5.                                 Labourers imployed in helping the Carpenter to m- |

6.                                 wheeleing out the rubbish and makeing cleane the- |

7.                                 doeing all other needfull things aboute the Court &- |

8.                     /

9.                     xviijd   Richard Goodwine _xxxi dayes ______(check) |

10.                   &         Richard Greene ______ xx dayes __________(check) |

11.                               Hollingshead Day ____ xxi dayes _________(check) |

12.                                                                   5          8          0 (check) |

13.                               To James Merriott keeper of the Privit Lodgs __|

14.                               To Tobias Rustat Underhousekeep _____________|

15.                                                                   0    ‘      2   ‘       6  -  0   5 -|

16.                                       A  Clarke  of  the  workes |

17.                   ijs  iijd  Henry Cooper  xxxi dayes (check) iijli ixs ixd ffor |

18.                               Boathire (check) xxs _________________ |

19.                               To Arthur Haughton ffor ij m of bu-|

20.                                              [I65 ao]                                      (check)

21.                               £ at Hamptoncourt                  xvijs vid & m – xxxvs -|

22.                               Totall of this Boo-|

 

 

[page 2 of 3] (left side of lines incomplete due to page trimming)

1.   –iiij s Repaired 17 s fo[t] at 1 : 0 li p[er] fot xxijs iijd Quarries

2.   6 g as 1d p[er] quarrie xxxs ixd In the Lady Anns bed =               {margin: iiijli ijs id}

3.   chamber of normandy squares 8 and 6 in scantling at 12d

4.   p[er] sqr vis ~ In the Lady Marys Bedchambr  10 lgns [lengths] sqr [?]

5.   7 and 5 at vd p[er] sqr iiijs ijd In the Lady Isabellas for

6.   nursery iij lngs 9 and 7 at vijd per sqr xxid ~ In Mr ~

7.   B/Russes Lodgs 5 lngs 7 and v at iiijd per sqr xxd

8.  

9.  

10.  Spent out of his Majsty stores at Scotlandyard on

11.  the aforemention’d Workes Viz’ one [ld (load?)] of house [tiles?]{margin: xxx? S vid}

12.  valued xxs/ at [scribbled out: viij S] one [ld (load?)] of bricks valued at vijs vid               

13.  one load of mortar valued at viijs

14.                                                       (check)

15.  Tot: of this Booke stores deducted ~ xij i vs iijd  [out?]

16.                      [signatures] Chr. Wren

17.                                          Hugh May

18.                                           Thomas Wise

19.                                           Richard Rider

20.                                           Tho. Rotherham

[page 3 of 3] (left side of lines incomplete due to page trimming)

 [top line cut off]

1. p[er]                                    [check]

2. 7 and 5 inches scantling at vs p[er] sqr vijs  vid

3.  

4. Spent out of his Majsty Stores at Scotland yard

5. on these works as followeth Viz’ 2 [ld (loads?)] of mortar at       {margin: [check]}

6. viijs  p[er] [?] xvid                                                                                                                     {              xvjs      }

7.  

8.  

9. Tot: of this Booke is Stores deducted ~ xxiij i vis o- |

10.                     [signatures]   Chr. Wren

11.                                           Hugh May

12.                                           Thomas Wise

13.                                           Richard Rider

14.                                           Tho. Rotherham