St John's College W.19
Thomas Hearding, A Defence of the marriages of priests. Latin, 1631
Thomas Hearding, or Harding, of St John's College (d. 1648): 'Matrimonii sacerdotalis defensio ad nobilissimum Romano-Catholicum ... cui attexitur historica maritorum sacerdotum narratio ab incunabulis ecclesiae Apostolicae ad nostra usque tempora deducta'. Dedicated to Richard [Neile], Archbishop of York: the dedication has been cut away and replaced, Neile was translated to York in 1632. The author quotes Chaucer in English at pp. 370 and 452. A passage at p. 365 is pasted over with an undated 15th century deed. At the end of the MS is a paragraph approving the work for the press signed S[amuel] Collins of King's College, Regius Professor of Divinity, dated 27 July 1631.
240x180 mm. 660 pp. Formerly numbered D.3.27. Semi-erased bookplate inside front cover displays the arms of Smith of Leicester, Essex, Lincoln, Cheshire and Northampton, impaled with those of Bacon of Norfolk. Inscribed 'Donum E. Smith Ar''. Bookplate of William Busby inside back cover. Purchased by Mr Phillips in 1802, at which time a description of the MS was composed, now tipped in at front. Purchased at Sotheby's Clumber Library sale, 15 Feb. 1938. College bookplate (1937) inside front cover.
Perhaps autograph, a clean copy. Paper, some foxing. Original brown calf binding with one surviving clasp (of two).