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Author: Mylius Arnold, 1540 - 1604

Title: Principum et Regum Polonorum Imagines ad Vivum Expressae.

Coloniae Agrippinae [Cologne]: typis Godefridi Kempensis, 1594, mense Martio; 2°. 

Format: Folio. [8], 72, [1] pp. Inscribed in ink by Fairfax on the front flyleaf (now loose): "Fer. fairfax ex dono reverendis: Patr: To: Mather Archepis:p Eborum May 5o. 1608". Given in turn by Fairfax to William Ingilby (c.1603-1652), of Ripley Castle, near Harrogate, Yorkshire who has added beneath Fairfax's inscription in ink: "ex dono ad Gulielmum Ingilby".

Binding: contemporary English limp vellum (a three-inch portion of the spine chewed away near the foot, ties missing).

Elaborate architectural engraved title, engraved portrait of Cardinal Radziwill by Johann Hogenberg, with his engraved coat-of-arms opposite, and 43 engraved portaits of Kings of Poland from Lech I to Stephen I (numbered 1-43, with no portrait of  Zeimotivus as issued).

Provenance: Presented by Toby Mathew or Matthew (1546-1628), Archbishop of York (from 1606) to Sir Ferdinando Fairfax (1584-1648), later 2nd. Baron Fairfax of Cameron. Inscribed in ink by Fairfax on the front flyleaf (now loose): "Fer. fairfax ex dono reverendis: Patr: To: Mather Archepis:p Eborum May 5o. 1608". Given in turn by Fairfax to William Ingilby (c.1603-1652), of Ripley Castle, near Harrogate, Yorkshire who has added beneath Fairfax's inscription in ink: "ex dono ad Gulielmum Ingilby". Both Fairfax and Ingilby were members of Gray's Inn, Fairfax being admitted in 1603 and Ingilby in 1611. Fairfax was knighted at Theobalds on 30 Jan. 1607/8, a few months before the presentation of this book. He was M.P. for Boroughbridge in the Parliaments leading up to the Civil War and M.P. for York in the Long Parliament (1640-48). He was Commander of the Parliamentary forces in the North 1642-45 and Governor of York 1644-48. In 1648 he succeeded his father as 2nd. Baron Fairfax of Cameron. William Ingilby, the grandson and heir of Sir William Ingilby, Kt. (d.1579) was created a baronet in 1642 and fought for the King at Marston Moor in 1644, where Fairfax's army was routed and his younger son Charles killed, and was fined £718 by Parliament for delinquency. Two other front flyleaves have been roughly torn out removing an inscription from one. Ink signature on the front cover "William Ingilbys Book 1689"; by descent to Sir Thomas Ingilby, 6th. Bart., Ripley Castle, sale, Bonham's, 1/3/1995, lot 18. 


Toby Mathew (1546-1628) was one of the "quintessential Anglican churchmen of his time" (Patrick Collinson), whose career illustrates the early modern Church of England at its best and worst. He was a highly ambitious man, whose passage to high office (Bishop of Durham in 1595, Archbishop of York in 1606) was achieved with the help of substantial bribes given to his court patrons, including £100 to Lord Burghley. But he was also a genuinely learned scholar and a conscientious pastor, whose unpublished diary (York Minster Library, Add. MS 18) records nearly two thousand sermons preached over a period of forty years.

Mathew's library illustrates both sides of his character. He owned one of the largest private libraries in England (around 3000 volumes), "strongly rooted in all branches of theology, from biblical texts to contemporary controversy, but also embracing history, classics, law, geography, mathematics, medicine and science" (David Pearson). His library survives today as the foundation collection of York Minster Library, one of only a very few private libraries of this date to remain intact. But Mathew bought books not only to add to his own library but also to give away to friends and patrons whose support might help his career. Portrait-books like this one (the coffee-table books of the Renaissance) were obviously suitable as gifts, and seem to have been particularly favoured by Mathew. A similar portrait-book, Paolo Giovio's Elogia Virorum Uteris Illustrium (Basle, 1577), given by Mathew to his diocesan chancellor Christopher Chaytor as a New Year's gift in 1588, is now in the Dean and Chapter Library at Durham; and a letter survives in which Mathew presents Bishop Matthew Hutton with a "booke of Figures ... fitt for your eies to passe aware the time" as a New Year's gift in 1595.

Reference: Pearson (David), "The Libraries of English Bishops, 1600-40", in The Library, September 1992, pp. 247-48.

Accurately Depicted Images of the Polish Dukes and Kings by German printer and publisher Arnold Mylius (~1540–1604) is a collection of graphic portraits of Polish rulers from 550 to 1586 with short biographies. The book includes the Polish and Lithuanian rulers of the 14th-16th century: Jogaila, Kazimieras Jogailaitis, Alexander, Sigismund the Old, Sigismund Augustus, Henry Valois, and Stephen Bathory. The work is dedicated to Cardinal and Bishop of Krakow Jerzy Radziwiłł (1556–1600).

Reference: "The Collection of Lawyer Jaunius Gumbis: the Past Preserved in Books". Museum and Collector - 7. Vilnius: National Museum of Lithuania, 2018, p. 430.

Published: "The Collection of Lawyer Jaunius Gumbis: the Past Preserved in Books". Museum and Collector - 7. Vilnius: National Museum of Lithuania, 2018, p. 430-435.

Photographs: 

2nd: Portrait and coat of arms of Bishop Jerzy Radziwiłł.

3rd: Grand Duke of Lithuania (1377–1381, 1382–1392) and King of Poland (1386–1434) Jogaila. 

4th: Grand Duke of Lithuania (1440–1492) and King of Poland (1447–1492) Kazimieras Jogailaitis. 

5th: Grand Duke of Lithuania (1492–1506) and King of Poland (1501–1506) Alexander.

6th: King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1506–1548) Sigismund the Old.

7th: Grand Duke of Lithuania (1544–1572) and King of Poland (1548–1572) Sigismund Augustus.

8th: King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1573–1574) Henry Valois.

9th: King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1576–1586) Stephen Bathory.