Oak Knoll

Translated to "The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians". ESTC S108071, variant 2, without the disjunct privilege leaf found in some copies; Madan I, p.166. Vellum lightly rubbed, Dampstaining to the pastedown of the front cover, else a near fine copy. Printed red and black in two columns: Greek then Latin.

The editor Scottish Patrick Young (1584-1652) is "best known for his role in the reorganization of the Royal Library, indeed he has been credited with its virtual refoundation, and, in so doing, creating the preconditions for the eventual foundation of the British Museum " (ODNB). The text is taken from leaves found at the end of the Codex Alexandrinus (then in the possession of Charles I), and red printing is used to indicate those words in the Greek text which have been supplied by Young.

Printed in Sir Henry Saville's exquisite "Silver" Greek types. Savile, a Provost of Eton, was unable to procure a font of Estienne's Grecs du Roi for the Eton Chrysostom. So "he purchased abroad a special Greek font for the work, the preparation of which cost him the enormous sum (for those days) of £8000...This 'Silver Letter' was subsequently bequeather by SAvile to the University of Oxford, then loaned to the University of Cambridge, and has since been lost." (Updike, Printing Types II, 95) It is thought they were called "Silver Types" for their great beauty. Proctor gives a fascinating account of their origin in Transactions of the Bibliographical Society, Vol. VII.