A New Book from the Rose Garland Press of Robert Copland

On the basis of typographical and decorative evidence, the author attributes a newly discovered book in the Staffordshire Record Office to the London printer Robert Copland: Rentale totius redditus omnium terrarum et Tenementorum in burgo de Burton, et Burton extra (1543–44). He argues that the volume was intended as a prospectus for a selection of Burton College’s rents in Burton-upon-Trent and Burton Extra that were specifically chosen for public sale. This sale was most likely a response to the third commission to sell Crown lands (6 May 1543), part of an ongoing effort to raise money for Henry VIII’s war expenses. The book illustrates the kind of ephemeral printing that Copland must have undertaken routinely following the death of his former master, Wynkyn de Worde, late in 1534 or early in 1535.