[Westminster]: William Caxton, [between 2 July and 8 October 1482]

The supporting apparatus of a printed book – the title page, indexes and headings which enable us to navigate through the text – took time to develop. In this edition of a popular medieval chronicle the headings are in Latin though the text is in English. Several sixteenth-century owners have added marginal notabilia in the vernacular drawing attention to points of interest. Here two different hands highlight three of the wonders of Britain: the hot springs at Bath, the stones at Salisbury (Stonehenge), and the “grete holownesse under erthe” at “Cherdhoke” (probably Cheddar). Other notes in the volume betray an interest in East Anglia, suggesting it was in this area from an early date.

Inc.2.J.1.1[3504], fol. liiii recto