Kentish Book Culture: Writers, Archives, Libraries and Sociability c. 1400-1660

Cover 1 Contents 9 List of Illustrations 11 Acknowledgements 13 Abbreviations 15 Introduction: Kentish Book Culture (Claire Bartram) 17 Part I Textual Production, Archives and Libraries 39 1 Reading, Writing and the Culture of Books at Canterbury Cathedral Priory in the Fifteenth Century (Meriel Connor) 41 2 Writing the Town in Mid-Fifteenth-Century Sandwich: The Contribution of John Serle, Common Clerk (Sheila Sweetinburgh) 65 3 Chronicling Dover: Authorship, Archives and Audiences, c. 1580–1604 (Claire Bartram) 89 4 The Sinful Life and Woeful Death of William Rogers: Textual Legacies and Puritan Culture in 1630s West Kent (Lorraine Flisher) 111 5 ‘Quaere who hath Coriats Travels?’ Henry Oxinden’s Book Loans, 1647–1658 (Sheila Hingley) 133 Part II Literate Identities, Networks and Sociability 171 6 Book Printing and Protestant Reform in Reformation Canterbury, 1532–1556 (Stuart Palmer) 173 7 ‘Wrytynge out of the playe booke’: Literacy and Identity in the Cinque Ports and Ancient Towns in the Sixteenth Century (Gillian Draper) 201 8 Literacy and Cultural Identity in the Dutch Immigrant Community of Sandwich, 1561–1650 (Jane Andrewes) 227 9 William Somner and his Books: Provenance Evidence for the Networks of a Seventeenth-Century Canterbury Antiquarian (Sarah Griffin / David Shaw) 249 Notes on Contributors 299 Index 303

This volume explores the writing practices and book collections of a range of individuals in early modern Kent including monks, a mariner and an apothecary as well as members of the gentry and clergy and urban administrators. In a county with ready access to metropolitan, courtly and continental influences, a vibrant provincial book culture flourished, in which literacy was prized and book ownership widespread. Reinforcing the important social role played by the literate and revealing something of their creative potential, the essays gathered here also uncover an appetite for debate, reflected in the books owned, lent, written and published by the Kentish in the period covered. Underpinning all of this is an enduring culture of sociability, centred around the book as an object to be shared.

Interdisciplinary in approach, this collection brings together specialists in the history of the book, literary scholars, social historians and librarians to explore the nature of authorship and the dynamics of the market for print and manuscript books outside London. It demonstrates the rich potential of regional archival study to extend our understanding of medieval and early modern literature.

Introduction: Kentish Book Culture. Claire BartramPart I Textual Production, Archives and Libraries1 Reading, Writing and the Culture of Books at Canterbury Cathedral Priory in the Fifteenth Century. Meriel Connor2 Writing the Town in Mid-Fifteenth-Century Sandwich: The Contribution of John Serle, Common Clerk. Sheila Sweetinburgh3 Chronicling Dover: Authorship, Archives and Audiences, c. 1580-1604. Claire Bartram4 The Sinful Life and Woeful Death of William Rogers: Textual Legacies and Puritan Culture in 1630s West Kent. Lorraine Flisher5 'Quaere who hath Coriats Travels?' Henry Oxinden's Book Loans, 1647-1658. Sheila HingleyPart II Literate Identities, Networks and Sociability6 Book Printing and Protestant Reform in Reformation Canterbury, 1532-1556. Stuart Palmer7 'Wrytynge out of the playe booke': Literacy and Identity in the Cinque Ports and Ancient Towns in the Sixteenth Century. Gillian Draper8 Literacy and Cultural Identity in the Dutch Immigrant Community of Sandwich, 1561-1650. Jane Andrewes9 William Somner and his Books: Provenance Evidence for the Networks of a Seventeenth-Century Canterbury Antiquarian. Sarah Griffin and David Shaw This volume explores the writing practices and book collections of a range of individuals in early modern Kent, including the gentry and clergy and urban administrators. It brings together specialists in book history, literary scholars and social historians to explore the nature of authorship and the dynamics of the book market in the provinces