Folger Shakespeare Library
CELM

Thomas Fuller

1608–1661

Introduction

Despite the enormous productivity of Thomas Fuller, who has been described as one of the busiest and most eagerly inquiring of seventeenth-century authors, not a single example of his literary or antiquarian manuscripts is known to have survived. His hand is recorded in only a relatively few documents, ranging from his early university subscriptions in the 1620s (*FuT 10-12) to a clerical document signed by him not long before his death (*FuT 15).

Fuller is perhaps most widely represented in manuscripts by extracts from his printed works in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century miscellanies, commonplace books and antiquarian compilations, which bear witness to how widely his works were read. A number of examples of these are given entries in CELM.

Printed Works Annotated by Early Readers

By the same account, exempla of Fuller's published works are often found to contain manuscript annotations by early readers, some of them supplying a considerable amount of information to, for instance, Fuller's biographical accounts. Some examples may be listed briefly here:

  • The Church History of Britain (London, 1655): Exemplum once owned by Judge Samuel Sewell (1652-1730), a member of the Commission at the Salem witch trial in 1692, and with notes by John Hull (1624-83), Treasurer of Harvard College. Now in Boston Public Library, H. 10. 5. Described in Bailey, p. 733.
  • The Church History of Britain (London, 1655): Exemplum with notes by the antiquary Sir Daniel Fleming (1633-1701). Quaritch's catalogue English Books before 1701 (October 1983), item 185.
  • The Church History of Britain (London, 1655): Further exempla owned by Increase Mather and others, recorded in Bailey, p. 734.
  • The History of the Worthies of England (London, 1662): Exemplum with notes by Ralph Thoresby (1658-1725), Yorkshire antiquary and topographer c.1812 (Bodleian, MS Top. Gen. e. 33).
  • The History of the Worthies of England (London, 1662): Exemplum with notes by Edmond Malone (1741-1812), literary scholar, biographer and book collector, formerly owned by George Steevens (1736-1800), literary editor and scholar, and with a transcript of notes by Ralph Thoresby and by William Oldys (1696-1761), Norroy King of Arms and antiquary. Bodleian, Malone 3. Recorded in Bailey, p. 742.
  • The History of the Worthies of England (London, 1662): Exemplum owned by Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), Oxford antiquary, and formerly by John Baron (d.1721/2), Master of Balliol College, with notes perhaps by John Arnold (c.1635-1702), politician. Bodleian, MS Rawl. Q. c. 3.
  • The History of the Worthies of England (London, 1662): Exemplum with notes by Thomas Leigh [? the supplier of one of the maps in Fuller's A Pisgah-sight of Palestine (London, 1650), pp. 154-5]. Sotheby's, 8 November 1983, lot 336, to Blackwell.

The Canon

Fuller's prose works were published under his own name, otherwise there is no collected edition of his voluminous works. Two works, or manuscripts, may be tentatively added to the canon under the category of Works of Uncertain or Doubtful Authorship (FuT 7-8).

Otherwise Fuller's only literary works significantly represented in manuscript are his verse epigrams. An extensive series of these first came to light in the 1860s with the discovery of an annotated exemplum, partly made up of page proofs, of Crashaw's Steps to the Temple, a volume associated with Dudley Posthumus Lovelace and containing copies of 59 epigrams by Mr Thomas Fuller (FuT 1). A further copy, containing 65 epigrams, came to light in 1901 with the discovery of a miscellany which is now in the Folger (FuT 2).

Fuller's Books and Papers

Fuller's personal library, as well as a number of his papers, suffered to some extent at the hands of Parliamentary sequestrators during the Civil War, although, according to the dedication of A Pisgah-sight of Palestine (1650), the greatest part was saved through the intervention of Frances Devereux (1599-1674), Marchioness of Hertford (see Bailey, pp. 298-303), and he later benefited from a gift of the remains of the numerous and choice library of Lionel Cranfield (1575-1645), first Earl of Middlesex, at Copt Hall, Essex (Bailey, pp. 445-6). Fuller remained acutely sensible of what the loss of a library (especially of Manuscripts) is to a Minister. Precious few, however, of those books which he did manage to retain can be identified today.

One book apparently presented to William Howell by Fuller while he was rector of Cranford (after 1658) is an exemplum of John Viccars, Decapla in Psalmos (London, 1639), inscribed on a flyleaf Liber Guil Howell Cranfordensis Ex dono Cla[ri] viri Thomæ Fuller T: B: et: ibid: Pastoris reverendi. This volume is now in the library of Robert S Pirie, New York.

One other book possibly associated with Fuller is an exemplum of Sebastian Münster's Hebrew and Latin Bible (Basle, [1534?]), which was owned in 1874 by the Rev. H. Moule, Vicar of Fordington, Dorset. It bears the signature Thomas Fuller DD, which is reproduced in facsimile in Bailey, p. 108. If genuinely by Fuller the author it must date from the last year of his life, after September 1660 when he received his doctorate. It bears, however, no resemblance to Fuller's other known signatures, even granted their variation of style over the years. Its identity therefore remains uncertain.

Miscellaneous

Numerous other documents of biographical relevance to Fuller, including a series of letters by his uncle John Davenant (1576-1641), Bishop of Salisbury (in the Tanner Manuscripts in the Bodleian), have been cited by his biographers, notably Bailey. They include (Bailey, pp. 582-3) an anecdote of a conversation which took place between Fuller and Izaak Walton which is reported by William Oldys in Biographia Britannica, 7 vols (London, 1747-66), III (1750), 2061. Oldys gives his source as a Medley of diverting Sayings, Stories, Characters, &c. in Verse and Prose, written in Quarto, about the Year 1686, (as it is attested in another hand) by Charles Cotton, Esq; some time in the Library of the Earl of Hallifax. For some account of Cotton's manuscripts and of the library of the Earl (afterwards Marquess) of Halifax, see the CELM Introductions to those authors. However, that particular manuscript is not known today.

Another manuscript, a quarto of 100 pages written partly by John Nichols c.1812, now in the Bodleian (MS Top. gen. e. 33), is described as Notes in a copy of Fullers Worthies in the handwriting of Mr. Ralph Thoresby [(1658-1725), Yorkshire antiquary and topographer] … copied from the original MS. in the margins of his copy of Fuller now in the possession of Craven Ord, Esq. [(1755-1832), antiquary].

Bailey is also the indispensable guide for distinguishing what relates to the church historian from references to various other Thomas Fullers (such as Dr Thomas Fuller (d.1701), of Christ's College, Cambridge, whose Prevaricator speech is found in several manuscript copies (see Bailey, pp. 465-8)). Bailey's own interleaved and annotated exemplum of his Life of Fuller is preserved, with many of his other books relating to Fuller, in Manchester Central Library (828.41 B15, B23 and B24), as are his working papers for the book (in six boxes in the Archives Department there, MS f 828.41 B26).

A few other biographical notes on Fuller, by White Kennett (1660-1728), Bishop of Peterborough, are to be found in the British Library (Lansdowne MS 985, f. 270).

Abbreviations

  • Bailey — John Eglington Bailey, The Life of Thomas Fuller, D.D., with notices of his Books, his Kinsmen, and his Friends, (London, 1874).
  • Gibson — Strickland Gibson, A Bibliography of The Works of Thomas Fuller, D.D. (with an introduction by Geoffrey Keynes), Proceedings & Papers of the Oxford Bibliographical Society, 4 (1936 [for 1934-5]), 63-161, and NS 1 (1947), 44.
  • Grosart — The Poems and Translations in Verse (including fifty-nine hitherto unpublished epigrams) of Thomas Fuller D.D., ed. the Rev. Alexander B. Grosart (Liverpool, 1868).

Verse

Epigrams

Fifty-nine epigrams first published in Grosart (1868), pp. 217-35. A further six epigrams published in Bertram Dobell, Some Unpublished Epigrams by Thomas Fuller, The Athenaeum, No. 3835 (27 April 1901), p. 532.

FuT 1

Copy of 59 epigrams by Mr Thomas Fuller, written on blank leaves between pp. 78 and 84.

Edited from this MS in Grosart. Discussed in W. Carew Hazlitt, Thomas Fuller's Unpublished Epigrams, N&Q, 3rd ser. 7 (6 May 1865), 352-3, and in Bailey, pp. 132-3.

A printed exemplum of Crashaw's Steps to the Temple, 2nd edition (London, 1648), incorporating a section of printer's proof-sheets, pp. 75-96 of Part I being printed on one side of the paper only, the blank versos filled with contemporary MS copies of other poems and extracts and with MS. Poems mostly in the same hand written on several other l[eaves], including (according to Grosart) on the blanks from p. 75 to p. 77…18 numbered Epigrams which would seem to belong to Crashaw, though not assigned to him, also (on blanks of pp. 78-84) a series of epigrams by Thomas Fuller, with other epigrams (according to Hazlitt) in a different hand and including several of an amatory cast; the volume signed and possibly compiled by Dudley Posthumus Lovelace, brother of the poet Richard Lovelace.

Mid-17th century?

Owned c.1862-5 by William Carew Hazlitt (1834-1913), bibliographer and writer, and from c.1868 by Henry Hucks Gibbs (1819-1907), first Lord Aldenham. Sotheby's, 3 May 1937 (Aldenham sale), lot 553, to Dobell.

Recorded in IELM as CrR Δ 8. Discussed in Lucasta. The Poems of Richard Lovelace, Esq., ed. W. Carew Hazlitt (London, 1864), p. 42; in W. Carew Hazlitt, Thomas Fuller's Unpublished Epigrams, N & Q, 3rd Ser. 7 (6 May 1865), 352-3; in The Poems and Translations in Verse…of Thomas Fuller D.D., ed. Alexander B. Grosart (privately printed, 1868), pp. 8, 219-20; and in John Eglinton Bailey, The Life of Thomas Fuller, D.D. (London, 1874), pp. 132-3. Hazlitt notes: At the close of the volume occurs, with considerable appearance of having been written by the same person, who has composed or transcribed other pieces, the autograph of Dudley Lovelace, who has written his name a second time with an eye to a little jeu de mots, thus: Dudley Lovelasse, and this gentleman has apparently…copied out portions of his brother's Lucasta upon some of the spare leaves…On the recto of p. 96 there are four verses from Lucasta with the signature of Richarde Lovelace. Grosart adds a few details of the extracts from Lucasta which occur on the verso of the title-page and two following pages, noting that This portion is partly in short-hand characters, and differs, I think, from the Epigram hand-writing, also mentioning that the predominant handwriting is somewhat intricate and difficult. Bailey notes: The handwriting is much abbreviated, but bears a certain similarity to Fuller's in his later years. Grosart made no reference to this volume in his later edition of Crashaw (1872-88). The presence of the epigrams by Fuller, as also perhaps the use of shorthand, suggests a possible connection with the Hailstone MS (Folger, MS V.a.148).

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Lovelace/Crashaw volume] pp. 78-84)
FuT 2

Copy of 65 Epigrams By Mr Tho Fuller.

Six epigrams edited from this MS in Dobell, loc. cit. Variants in this MS, and also corrections of Dobell's transcripts, recorded by G. Thorn-Drury (1860-1931) in his exemplum of Grosart in University of Leeds Library (Stack English H-36).

In: A verse miscellany, much of it in shorthand, almost entirely closely written in a small cursive mixed hand, written from both ends, in contemporary calf with initials E H in gilt.

16°, 87 leaves (plus two paste-downs); miscellany, including portions of some 42 identifiable English poems by Crashaw, many of the lines here re-arranged in a garbled fashion; compiled by a Cambridge man, possibly a member of Christ's College; probably in a single hand throughout, with variations of style, written from both ends, about thirty pages in shorthand.

c.1650s

Later owned by Edward Hailstone (1818-90) of Walton Hall, near Wakefield, botanist and book collector. Sotheby's 23 April 1891 (Hailstone sale), probably lot 439, to Dobell). Bertram Dobell's sale catalogue No. 103 (June 1902), item 373. Formerly Folger MS 267.1.

Cited in IELM, I.ii, as the Hailstone MS: CrR Δ 6. Crashaw's work selectively collated (cited as Dobell) in Martin and discussed p. lxxxi. Facsimile of f. 22 in Dobell catalogue. The MS discussed by Dobell, in other connections, in Some Unpublished Epigrams by Thomas Fuller, The Athenaeum (27 April 1901), p. 532, and in An Early Variant of a Shakespeare Sonnet, The Athenaeum (2 August 1913), p. 112. Compare CrR Δ 8.

FuT 2.5
Variants in FuT 2, and corrections of Dobell's transcript of six epigrams, recorded by George Thorn-Drury, KC (1860-1931), literary scholar and editor, in his annotated exemplum of Grosart's edition of The Poems and Translations in Verse...of Thomas Fuller (Liverpool, 1868).
c.1900s
An Eccho ('Imbre lachrymarum largo genas spargo, quavis au-rorâ')

First published in Henry Lawes, Ayres and Dialogues (London, 1653). Grosart, p. 112.

FuT 3

Copy, in Lawes's musical setting (1596-1662).

In: A large folio volume of autograph vocal music by Henry Lawes (1596-1662), ix + 184 leaves, in modern black morocco gilt.

Comprising over 300 songs and musical dialogues by Lawes, probably written over an extended period (c.1626-62) in preparation for his eventual publications, including settings of 38 poems by Carew, fourteen poems by or attributed to Herrick, and fifteen by Waller.

Mid-17th century

Bookplates of William Gostling (1696-1777), antiquary and topographer; of Robert Smith, of 3 St Paul's Churchyard; and of Stephen Groombridge, FRS (1755-1832), astronomer. Later owned, until 1966, by Miss Naomi D. Church, of Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. Formerly British Library Loan MS 35.

Recorded in IELM, II.i-ii (1987-93), as the Henry Lawes MS: CwT Δ 16; HeR Δ 3; WaE Δ 11. Discussed, with facsimile examples, in Pamela J. Willetts, The Henry Lawes Manuscript (London, 1969). Facsimiles of ff. 42r, 78r, 80r, 84r, 111r and 169r in The Poems and Masques of Aurelian Townshend, ed. Cedric C. Brown (Reading, 1983), pp. 59, 60, 62, 64, 66 and 117. Also discussed in Willa McClung Evans, Henry Lawes: Musician and Friend of Poets (New York and London, 1941), and elsewhere. A complete facsimile of the volume in English Song 1600-1675, ed. Elise Bickford Jorgens, Vol. 3 (New York & London, 1986).

On my Worthy Friend Dr Sparke, His Learned Book ('A Brood of legendary saints of old')

First published in Edward Sparke, Scintillula Altaris (London, 1652). Grosart, pp. 108-10.

FuT 4

Copy, headed Mr ffuller on Dr Sparkes Booke, preceding a copy of Sparke's Learned and pious poems vpon the Holy ffeasts & ffasts off the Church.

In: A quarto miscellany of principally religious verse, in several hands, 213 pages (plus blanks), in contemporary calf.
Late 17th century

Inscribed (f. i) Anthony Search his most excellent booke Janry 6th Anno Dom: 1695.

Prose

Abel Redivivus

First published in London, 1651.

FuT 4.1

Extract from the printed edition, pp. 509-10, comprising a list of works by John Bale.

In: A quarto commonplace book, in several hands, one predominating, 147 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco gilt.

Compiled by John Bagford (1650/51-1716), bookseller and antiquary.

c.1700
The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 885 ff. 68r-9r)
Andronicus, or the Unfortunate Politician

First published in London, 1646.

FuT 4.3

Extrtacts, headed ffullers Andonic, dated 1645.

In: An octavo notebook of extracts, in a single small mixed hand, written from both ends, 165 leaves, in contemporary calf.

Compiled by one William Bright, entitled ffragmenta hic omnigena è varijs excerpta authoribus ad priuatum existunt vsum WB ex anno 1644.

c.1644-76

Inscribed also inside the lower cover Will: Bright Novemb 12th pretiu 8d 1645.

The Church History of Britain

First published in London, 1655.

FuT 4.8

Extracts.

In: A folio composite volume of tracts and miscellaneous papers, in several hands, 160 leaves (including numerous blanks), in 19th-century half-calf.

Compiled in large part by William Jackson, one of the Custome Masters of Great Yarmouth.

Ephemeris Parliamentaria

First published as Ephemeris Parliamentaria (London, 1654). Republished in 1657 and 1660 as The Sovereigns Prerogative.

See FuT 9.

Good Thoughts in Bad times

First published in Exeter, 1645, and in London, 1645.

FuT 5

Copy of the complete work, probably transcribed from a printed edition, on 77 octavo pages, the title-page dated London. 1659.

A flyleaf inscribed, apparently by the transcriber For Mrs Sut[?] Lloyd. May. 5. 1701 from your.... This MS possibly that sold by John Wilcox, London, in the Peter Le Neve sale on 19 March 1730/1, lot 60.

University of Cincinnati (PR 3461. F8A65. 1659a) | Catalogue
The History of the Holy War

First published in Cambridge, 1639.

FuT 5.21

Extracts.

In: A quarto miscellany of extracts from plays and historical works, with comments on them, entitled Excerpta quædam per A. W. Adolescentem, in a single cursive predominantly italic hand, 119 leaves, in modern quarter-morocco.

Entirely in the hand of the Rev. Abraham Wright (1611-90), of St John's College, Oxford, author.

c.1640

Inscribed (f. 1r) Ja: Wright (Abraham's son) and later of Taylor, Brighton. Bookplate of William Bromley, of Baginton, Warwickshire, 1703. Later owned by the Rev. Philip Bliss (1787-1857), antiquary and book collector. Sotheby's, 21 August 1858 (Bliss sale), lot 220.

For facsimile examples, see ShW 71 and ShW 44.

FuT 5.225

Substantial extracts from Books 1 to 5, headed Extracts out of the Hist. of the Holy Warr.

Recorded in Bailey, p. 181.

In: A folio commonplace book of extracts, in a single cursive hand, written with the volume in oblong format, inscribed in another hand (f. 1r) Historical Collections by the Earl of Derby.
c.1646

Inscribed (f. 6v) i645: n.$. ne turba Opera meas L Derby and (f. 114v) Finis Ja: i3: i645: at Castle Rushen in ye Ile of Man. L Derby: i.e. compiled by James Stanley (1607-51), seventh Earl of Derby, royalist army officer.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 874 ff. 89r-114v)
FuT 5.23

Extracts.

In: A quarto notebook and miscellany, largely in two hands, one of them that of Charles Deynes (1681-1756), of Roydon, near Diss, Norfolk, c.250 pages, in contemporary vellum (rebacked).
Late 17th-early-18th century

Later owned by the Rev. Guy Bryon, of Malden, Essex, and by Alex Robertson, of Inverscargill, New Zealand, who acquired it in 1924 from Dobell. Roy Davids's sale catalogue No.VI (1999), item 32.

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Deynes MS] [unspecified page numbers]) | Catalogue
FuT 5.23

Extracts.

In: A quarto commonplace book, written from both ends, unnumbered pages, in contemporary vellum rebound in modern vellum.

Compiled by members of the Deynes family and others.

Mid-late 17th century

Inscribed names of Charles Deynes, Grey Bryan (in pencil), and (in pencil) Alex Robertson, Invercargill, New Zealand. Purchased from P.J. and A.E. Dobell 30 November 1924.

Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection (MS Lt 114 [unspecified page numbers]) | Catalogue
FuT 5.231

Extracts.

In: An octavo notebook of extracts, in a single small mixed hand, written from both ends, 165 leaves, in contemporary calf.

Compiled by one William Bright, entitled ffragmenta hic omnigena è varijs excerpta authoribus ad priuatum existunt vsum WB ex anno 1644.

c.1644-76

Inscribed also inside the lower cover Will: Bright Novemb 12th pretiu 8d 1645.

FuT 5.232

Extracts, headed ffullers holy War. 1647.

In: An octavo notebook of extracts, in a single small mixed hand, written from both ends, 165 leaves, in contemporary calf.

Compiled by one William Bright, entitled ffragmenta hic omnigena è varijs excerpta authoribus ad priuatum existunt vsum WB ex anno 1644.

c.1644-76

Inscribed also inside the lower cover Will: Bright Novemb 12th pretiu 8d 1645.

FuT 5.233

Extracts.

In: A duodecimo commonplace book of extracts from philosophical works, under headings, in a single minute hand, xx + 327 pages (including a number of blanks), with an index, in modern calf gilt.
1687-8

Formerly owned by Sir Geoffrey Keynes, Bibliotheca Bibliographici (London, 1964), No. 19.

Cambridge University Library, Additional MSS 7000 through end (MS Add. 8451 [unspecified page numbers])
FuT 5.237

Extracts, headed ffullers Holy War.

In: An octavo commonplace book of tracts and extracts, in a single cursive hand, written from both ends, 186 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary limp vellum.

Compiled entirely by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

c.1640s

Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.

Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the Bacon-Tottel Commonplace Books, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).

University College London (MS Ogden 7/45 ff. 172v-166v rev.) | Catalogue
FuT 5.238

Extracts, headed Observations out of Dr: Fullers holy warre.

In: A quarto commonplace book and miscellany of verse and prose, in various hands, with additions up to 1751, ii + 662 pages (some erratically numbered), in contemporary calf.
c.1672-1715 [plus later additions]

Ownership inscriptions (pp. [i] and [662]), dated 1672, by John Digby, of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Other inscribed names including (p. 662) Thomas Digby, Edward Digby, Robert Debnam, and (p. [640]) Josh: Churchill 1694.

Harvard, other MSS (MS Eng 586 pp. [543-71]) | Catalogue
FuT 5.245

Extracts.

In: An octavo miscellany of verse and prose, in English and Latin, in several hands suggesting communal use, paginated 5-309, in mottled calf.
c.1697-1702
Yale, Osborn MS b 50 through Osborn MS b 99 (Osborn MS b 63 p. 248 et seq.rev.)
FuT 5.25

Extracts.

In: An octavo miscellany of verse and prose, in English and Latin, probably associated with Cambridge, densely written from both ends in a minute hand, paginated 11-264 (plus blanks), in contemporary calf.
Mid-17th century

Sotheby's, 15 February 1928, lot 500. Maggs's sale catalogue No. 550 (1931), item 310.

Yale, Osborn MS b 50 through Osborn MS b 99 (Osborn MS b 65 pp. 248-4 rev.)
The History of the Worthies of England

First published in London, 1662.

FuT 5.26

Extracts.

In: A quarto volume of antiquarian and miscellaneous extracts, compiled by John Stansby, written from both ends, 34 leaves, in half-calf.
Late 17th century
Bodleian Library, Ashmole Collection (MS Ashmole 816 ff. 38r-42v, 44r, 56v-52v rev.) | Catalogue
FuT 5.264
An exemplum of the printed edition of 1662, with annotations (? by George Steevens (1736-1800), literary editor and scholar), including transcripts of notes made in their own exempla by Ralph Thoresby (1658-1725), Yorkshire antiquary and topographer, and by William Oldys (1696-1761), herald and antiquary.
Late 18th century

See John Eglington Bailey, The Life of Thomas Fuller, D.D., with notices of his Books, his Kinsmen, and his Friends, (London, 1874), p. 742.

FuT 5.265
A folio volume, comprising A Collection of Lives out of Fuller's Worthies, other authors, &c., to be inserted in the second vol. of my Athenæ Cantabrigienses M D M, compiled by Morris Drake Morris (1695-c.1733), biographer, 133 leaves, including numerous blanks, plus an index.
c.1720s
Bodleian Library, other MSS (MS Gough Cambridge 36) | Catalogue
FuT 5.266

Extracts, headed Out of Mr ffullers history of the Worthies of England.

In: A folio commonplace book of miscellaneous extracts, in English and French, chiefly in a single cursive hand, with some pages in the hand of an amanuensis, written from both ends, i + 134 leaves, originally in contemporary calf (now detached), in modern half red morocco.

Compiled by Sir Samuel Tuke, first Baronet (c.1615-74), royalist army officer and playwright, cousin and friend of John Evelyn. Inscribed by him (f. 134r rev.) I began these Collections the 9th of July, 1662 / By Sr Samuel Tuke: Bart:.

c.1662-5

Volume CCLVII of the Evelyn Papers, of John Evelyn (1620-1706), diarist and writer, of Wootton House, Surrey, and his family, also incorporating papers of his father-in-law, Sir Richard Browne, Bt (1605-83), diplomat, and his family. Formerly Christ Church, Oxford, Evelyn MS 164.

FuT 5.267

Extracts, headed Colleccons out of ye history of the Worthies of England Endeavoured by Th. ffuller.

In: A folio composite volume of miscellaneous, genealogical and antiquarian papers, in two or more hands, 108 leaves, in 19th-century half-calf gilt.

Inscribed (f. 2r) Liber Ricardi Stgeorge Norroy 1607: i.e. Sir Richard St George (1554/5-1635), Norroy King of Arms, and Sum EUmfreville, i.e. Edward Unfreville (1702?-96), collector of legal manuscripts.

The British Library: Lansdowne MSS (Lansdowne MS 259 ff. 102r-4v) | Catalogue
FuT 5.268
A duodecimo volume, comprising a brief description of England and account of its worthies extracted entirely from Fuller's work.

Owned, and possibly written, by one Abraham Bassano.

1657
FuT 5.27

Extracts.

In: A duodecimo commonplace book of extracts from philosophical works, under headings, in a single minute hand, xx + 327 pages (including a number of blanks), with an index, in modern calf gilt.
1687-8

Formerly owned by Sir Geoffrey Keynes, Bibliotheca Bibliographici (London, 1964), No. 19.

Cambridge University Library, Additional MSS 7000 through end (MS Add. 8451 [Unspecified page numbers])
FuT 5.271

Extracts.

In: An octavo verse miscellany, including fourteen poems by Donne, almost entirely in a single hand, 33 leaves (plus six blanks), in contemporary vellum.
c.1630

Possibly associated with the Inns of Court. Later used, and annotated in the margin, by William Fulman (1632-88), Oxford antiquary.

Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) as the Fulman MS: DnJ Δ 36. Formerly Bodleian MS CCC 327.

FuT 5.272

Extracts.

In: A commonplace book, owned or compiled by John Gybbon.
c.1712
Princeton (AM 16022 [unspecified page numbers])
FuT 5.273

Extracts, headed Choicest English Prouerbs collected out of Howell's Tetragl. & Fullers Worthies.

In: A quarto miscellany of verse and prose, in English, French, Latin and Greek, written from both ends in various hands, with a list of contents, 117 leaves, in half-calf.
Late 17th century

Bookplate of Charles W.G. Howard, The Gift of the Rt. Hon. Sir David Dundas Knt. of Ochtertyre 1877. Formerly Chest II, No. 13.

The Holy State

First published in London, 1642. Edited by M.G. Walten, 2 vols (New York, 1938).

FuT 6.2

Extracts, headed His holy state. 1648.

In: An octavo notebook of extracts, in a single small mixed hand, written from both ends, 165 leaves, in contemporary calf.

Compiled by one William Bright, entitled ffragmenta hic omnigena è varijs excerpta authoribus ad priuatum existunt vsum WB ex anno 1644.

c.1644-76

Inscribed also inside the lower cover Will: Bright Novemb 12th pretiu 8d 1645.

FuT 6.212

Notes out of ye Holy State writt: by Tho: Fuller, subscribed at the foot of p. 187 Continued yes Notes also[?] in yt Book where are written notes out of my Ld Bacons Henry ye Seventh.

In: A quarto volume of extracts from works by Thomas Fuller, in a single hand, 187 pages, in contemporary calf (rebacked).
Mid-17th century
FuT 6.3

Extracts.

In: A duodecimo commonplace book of extracts from philosophical works, under headings, in a single minute hand, xx + 327 pages (including a number of blanks), with an index, in modern calf gilt.
1687-8

Formerly owned by Sir Geoffrey Keynes, Bibliotheca Bibliographici (London, 1964), No. 19.

Cambridge University Library, Additional MSS 7000 through end (MS Add. 8451 [Unspecified page numbers])
FuT 6.4

Extracts.

In: A quarto commonplace book and miscellany of verse and prose, in various hands, with additions up to 1751, ii + 662 pages (some erratically numbered), in contemporary calf.
c.1672-1715 [plus later additions]

Ownership inscriptions (pp. [i] and [662]), dated 1672, by John Digby, of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Other inscribed names including (p. 662) Thomas Digby, Edward Digby, Robert Debnam, and (p. [640]) Josh: Churchill 1694.

Harvard, other MSS (MS Eng 586 ff. [572-6]) | Catalogue
FuT 6.5

Series of extracts from The Holy State, interspersed with passages from Bacon (BcF 207.5) and the Bible.

In: A large folio volume containing autograph Observations Out of ye Old & New Testament also out of Lord Bacons Essays & Fuller's Holy State Jan: 16: 1696/7 by Samuel Brydges, afterwards first Duke of Chandos, with some pages relating to naval matters in a scribal hand, 176 pages (plus a few blanks), in contemporary panelled calf.

Among the Stowe Papers of the Brydges and related families, brought together at Stowe House, Buckinghamshire. Bookplate of James Brydges of Wilton Castle, Herefordshire.

The Huntington Library, shelfmarks N through Z (ST 13 pp. 8, 10-14, 16, 33, 35, 37, 39-42, 49, 51-6, 58, 60, 62-3, 65-6, 68-9, 71, 73)
FuT 6.6

Extracts, headed ffullers holy State.

In: An octavo commonplace book of tracts and extracts, in a single cursive hand, written from both ends, 186 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary limp vellum.

Compiled entirely by William Drake, MP (1606-69), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

c.1640s

Later in the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), psychologist, linguist, and book collector.

Drake's commonplace books discussed in Stuart Clark, Wisdom Literature of the Seventeenth Century: A Guide to the Contents of the Bacon-Tottel Commonplace Books, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 6, Part 5 (1976), 291-305; 7, Part 1 (1977), 46-73, and in Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions (New Haven & London, 2000).

University College London (MS Ogden 7/45 f. 166v-r rev.) | Catalogue
FuT 6.7

Extracts, headed Notations out of D. Ful: Ho: St:.

In: A quarto miscellany of religious and political prose and verse, in English and Latin, in several secretary, italic and mixed hands, 318 leaves (including blanks, foliated on versos), in contemporary vellum boards.

Compiled over a period (entries dated between 1621 and 1667) by members of the family of Sir Marmaduke Rawdon (1583-1646), merchant, shipowner and royalist soldier.

Mid-17th century

Inscribed (f. 278r) Mary Elliston october the 27 1763 and Mary Elliston Collchester. Later owned by Edward Hailstone (1818-90), of Walton Hall, Wakefield, botanist and book collector.

York Minster (MS Add. 122 ff. 169v-74v, 249r-59r)
FuT 6.8
Copy in two hands, untitled, on 108 quarto pages (less excised leaves), in 19th-century brown calf gilt.

In two hands, partly in double columns, probably transcribed from the first edition (with some differences of arrangement) but conceivably a copy of an earlier MS version.

[After 1676]

Owned (before 1891) by Frederick Buckle, with his interleaved notes and cuttings throughout.

This MS recorded in Bailey, pp. 229-30 (however, it does not date from c.1642-8 or derive from the Little Gidding community, as Bailey implies). This MS probably that referred to (mistakenly) as a MS of Fuller's Worthies in a note by F.B. in Long Ago: A Monthly Journal of Popular Antiquities, No. 1 (January 1873), p. 19.

FuT 6.9

Extracts, relating to William Perkin, heading Holly State.

In: A quarto commonplace book of extracts from theological and historical works, largely in a single minute hand, 116 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt.
c.1673

Inscribed (f. 10v) Gaue these Book to Mr Norman to Couer.

Works of Uncertain or Doubtful Authorship

Observations of the Shires

First published in John Gutch, Collectanea Curiosa (Oxford, 1781), I, 222-6.

FuT 7 Mid-17th century

Copy in the hand of William Sancroft, headed Mr Fullers observations of the shires.

Edited from this MS in Gutch. Recorded in Gibson, XXXIV (p. 144), and in Bailey, pp. 139, 744-5. Mid-17th century.

In: A folio composite volume of miscellaneous papers, in various hands, 254 leaves, in contemporary calf.

Compiled in part by William Sancroft (1617-93), Archbishop of Canterbury.

Historical and Chronological Account of the University of Cambridge and its Colleges

First published, edited by the Rev. Marmaduke Prickett and Thomas Wright (Cambridge, 1840).

FuT 8

Copy of a draft chronological account in Latin of the University of Cambridge, in Thomas Baker's hand, the notes ascribed by him to Fuller (Auctor hujus MSti: est Tho: Fuller, ut perhibent, et uti patet ex Fol: 276: 275 ubi Robertus Tounson Auunculus, et Johannes Davenant Auunculus et Dominus Auctoris designatur), though he adds that many additions appear in another hand (Plurima tamen adduntur aliâ manu). Baker testifies that the original manuscript which he was transcribing (albeit while making editorial alterations) was at Jesus College, Cambridge (Transcripta ex Codice MS: Coll: Jesu Cant:/Cl: F: E: 15:/ordine mutato [o]missisq. nonnullis, quae vel impressa sunt, vel alibi certius et melius habentur).

Bailey, discussing these notes (pp. 503-4, 752), observes that A comparison of some of the pages with Fuller's History [of the Worthies of England] serves to show that they were undoubtedly the rough notes that he had before him when writing it, but that Fuller's original manuscript is no longer to be traced at Jesus College.

In: A folio volume of historical and academic papers, entirely in the hand of Thomas Baker (1656-1750), Cambridge antiquary.
c.1707

Documents

Document(s)
*FuT 10 1625
Autograph

Fuller's subscription, with signature only, to the Thirty-Nine Articles, upon his graduation at Queens' College, at the end of the Lent Term in 1624/5.

The signature is reproduced in facsimile in Bailey, p. 88.

In: The University Subscriptions Book, 1613-38.
Cambridge University Archives (Subscriptiones I p. 198)
*FuT 11 1628
Autograph

Fuller's subscription, with signature only, upon graduating as Master of Arts.

The signature is reproduced in Bailey, p. 98.

In: The University Subscriptions Book, 1613-38.
Cambridge University Archives (Subscriptiones I p. 271)
*FuT 12 1635
Autograph

Fuller's two-line autograph subscription in English, signed by him, upon graduating as Bachelor of Divinity.

Facsimile of the full subscription in IELM, II.i (1987), Facsimile XIXa, after p. xxiv. The signature alone reproduced in Bailey, p. 161.

In: The University Subscriptions Book, 1613-38.
Cambridge University Archives (Subscriptiones I p. 472)
*FuT 13
Autograph
The Bishop's Transcripts, signed (Thomas Fuller Minister) as rector of St Bene't's, in 1630, 1631, and 1632.
1630-2
Cambridge University Archives (Ely Diocesan Records, H3, Cambridge St Bene't) | Catalogue
*FuT 14
Autograph
Autograph petition signed by Fuller, to the Committee for Compositions at Goldsmith Hall, 1 June 1636, among the Royalist Compositions.
1646

Facsimiles in Bailey, after p. 376, and in IELM, II.i (1987), Facsimile XIXb, after p. xxiv.

National Archives, Kew (SP 23/G85/1022)
*FuT 15
Autograph
A certificate signed by Fuller, allowing John Pinney to remain curate at Broadwindsor in Dorset, 18 October 1660.
1660

Formerly in the possession of Major General Sir Reginald John Pinney (1863-1943) of Racedown, Dorset.

This MS edited in Bergen Evans, Thomas Fuller at Broadwindsor, RES, 7 (1931), 452-3.

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Fuller document])

Miscellaneous Extracts from Fuller's Works

Extracts
FuT 16
In: A volume of genealogical material relating to Northern families.
Late 17th century

Recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, p. 294.

Bradford Archives (32D86/11 [unspecified page numbers])
FuT 17
In: A large untitled folio anthology of quotations chiefly from Elizabethan and Stuart plays, alphabetically arranged under subject headings, in a single mixed hand, in double columns, 900 pages (lacking pp. 1-4, 379-80, 667-8, 715-20 and 785-8), including (pp. 893-7) an alphabetical index of some 351 titles of plays, in modern boards.

This is the longest known extant version of the unpublished anthology Hesperides or The Muses Garden, by John Evans, entered in the Stationers' Register on 16 August 1655 and subsequently advertised c.1660, among works he purposed to print, by Humphrey Moseley. Another version of this work, in the same hand, dissected by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-89), is now distributed between Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Halliwell-Phillipps, Notes upon the Works of Shakespeare, Folger, MS V.a.75, Folger, MS V.a.79, and Folger, MS V.a.80.

c.1656-66

Formerly MS 469.2.

This MS identified in IELM, II.i (1980), p. 450. Discussed, as the master draft, with a facsimile of p. 7 on p. 381, in Hao Tianhu, Hesperides, or the Muses' Garden and its Manuscript History, The Library, 7th Ser. 10/4 (December 2009), 372-404 (the full index printed as Catalogue A on pp. 385-94).

Contents