The National Trust has acquired the sole surviving copy of a book – the Sarum Missal - published by William Caxton in 1487.
The Missal, a liturgical book for the performance of the Mass, was printed in Paris for Caxton in 1487. It is the only copy of the earliest known edition of the Missal according to the Use of Sarum - the most popular version of the Mass in use in pre-Reformation England.
The first book printed in Paris using two colours, and the first to bear Caxton’s famous printer’s device, it has been in the north-west of England since at least 1508 and was at Lyme Park, in Cheshire, until 1946 in the ownership of the Legh family.
The National Trust has been able to complete the purchase of the Missal from the Legh family for a net cost of £465,000 with funding support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Art Fund, and the remaining amount from The Foyle Foundation, The Pilgrim Trust, The Friends of the National Libraries, The Robert Gavron Charitable Trust, The Royal Oak Foundation, The Peak District National Trust Association and private individuals.
© National Trust
Mark Purcell, the National Trust’s Libraries Curator said:
'The acquisition of the Sarum Missal is hugely exciting and presents us with a wonderful opportunity to share this intriguing and historic book. It is one of only two Caxtons in the world which has remained in the ownership of a single family for 500 years'.
The Missal will be placed on display in the historic Library at Lyme Park from spring 2009 and will be joined by a digital facsimile using the British Library’s award-winning ‘Turning the Pages’ technology.
David Morgan, Property Manager at Lyme Park added:
'We shall be working with outside experts to learn more about this unique survival, and to understand how it fits into Lyme’s long history. The Caxton Missal will form a new and key element in the future interpretation and presentation of Lyme to visitors'.
Though its woodcuts are brilliantly coloured by hand, this was a working service book used to celebrate Mass. It carries obvious signs of wear and tear, and is covered in markings and alterations. These range from an English marriage service added in by hand against the printed Latin text, through to censoring the book at the time of the Reformation by crossing out of the name of St Thomas Becket and prayers for the Pope.
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