Valentine
:
Why
how
do
you
know
that
I
am
in
love
?
Speed
:
Marry
,
by
these
special
marks
:
—
you
have
learned
...
to
sign
like
a
school-boy
that
had
lost
his
A
B
C.
UNIQUE
XVITH
CENTURY
ENGLISH
CHILD'S
BOOK
A.
B.
C.
WITH
THE
PATER
NOSTER
,
AVE
,
CREDE
AND
X
COMAUNDEMENTES
.
Folio
,
single
sheet
;
folded
to
make
a
booklet
of
4
leaves
,
12mo
.
3⅞
by
2¾
inches
.
Preserved
in
full
morocco
box
.
Printed
at
London
in
the
Old
bayly
by
Richard
Lant
.
No
date
,
but
about
1536.
A
unique
childs
book
which
had
disappeared
from
sight
for
over
a
century
.
Variously
considered
by
authorities
as
having
been
intended
as
a
Horn
Book
or
as
an
education
book
for
the
very
young
scholar
.
Last
seen
by
bibliographers
at
the
beginning
of
the
Nineteenth
Century
,
the
volume
is
described
as
follows
by
Ames-Herbert-Dibden's
Typographical
Antiquities
,
1816
,
Vol.
III
,
page
581
,
item
1779
:
—
"
The
ABC
&c.
Without
date
.
Octavo
.
It
begins
with
five
different
Alphabets
,
and
Gloria
Patri
▪
then
the
Pater-noster
,
&c.
,
grace
before
meat
,
and
after
.
Printed
only
on
one
side
,
to
be
folded
as
blank
pages
to
be
pasted
together
,
and
make
one
leaf
of
two
;
or
four
small
leaves
of
the
whole
sheet
.
Licensed
by
the
Company
.
"
From
1816
on
,
the
volume
seems
to
have
disappeared
.
Pollard
,
apparently
from
the
above
entry
,
records
the
fact
that
the
work
was
printed
by
Lant
(
Handlist
of
Books
Printed
by
English
Printers
Bibliographical
Society
)
but
indicates
no
copy
known
.
Duff
,
Century
of
the
English
Book
Trade
also
had
not
seen
a
copy
.
He
records
that
the
Old
Bailey
address
was
the
first
of
several
addresses
at
which
Lant
printed
,
—
hence
books
without
date
printed
at
that
address
must
of
necessity
ante-date
those
of
established
dates
printed
at
other
location
.
Though
Pollard
,
in
a
haphazard
fashion
,
gives
Lant's
dates
as
1542-1563
(
op.
Cit.
)
,
Duff
records
that
"
Richard
Lant
,
Printer
,
in
London
,
was
made
a
freeman
of
the
Stationers
on
the
6th
September
,
1537
,
and
paid
44
shillings
for
the
privilege
....
When
he
started
printing
,
he
was
living
in
the
Old
Bailey
.
"
Thus
proving
Pollard
in
error
,
and
establishing
the
fact
that
in
1537
,
Lant
was
already
a
recognized
printer
of
sufficient
standing
to
be
admitted
to
the
Stationers
Company
.
The
volume
under
consideration
bears
a
manuscript
date
of
1536
,
written
in
an
old
hand
.
While
this
is
not
conclusive
evidence
of
its
actual
date
,
the
writer
may
have
had
access
to
evidence
now
no
longer
available
.
Certainly
the
sheet
was
printed
before
1542
when
Lant
was
sent
to
the
Fleet
prison
for
printing
Tolwyn's
The
Manne
of
Synne
(
of
which
no
copy
now
survives
.
)
The
date
of
1536
,
if
it
is
the
correct
date
,
would
establish
this
as
the
earliest
known
English
A.
B.
C.
,
the
earliest
known
English
Horn
Book
(
for
it
can
be
considered
as
such
)
and
the
earliest
known
book
printed
in
England
strictly
for
children
!
Lant
,
moreover
,
is
the
rarest
of
all
English
printers
;
far
more
rare
,
for
instance
,
than
is
Caxton
.
Of
the
many
books
that
he
printed
from
1536
or
1537
until
1563
,
most
have
disappeared
entirely
.
Only
two
of
his
works
are
recorded
in
the
British
Museum
for
instance
,
and
there
are
none
at
Cambridge
.
Of
English
A.
B.
C.
s
,
the
following
are
now
known
.
-
1.
The
present
example
,
printed
by
Richard
Lant
.
Unique
.
Not
in
the
Short
Title
Catalogue
.
-
2.
A.B.C.
for
children
.
J.
King
.
No
date
.
Entered
at
the
Stationers
1561/2.
S.T.C.
No.
18.
Unique
copy
at
Queen's
College
,
Oxford
.
-
3.
The
B.
A.
C.
(
sic
)
booke
in
Latyn
and
in
Englysshe
.
T.
Petyt
.
No
date
but
said
to
be
15●8
.
S.T.C.
No.
19.
Unique
copy
at
Emmanuel
College
,
Cambridge
.
-
4.
The
A.
B.
C.
set
forth
by
the
Kynges
Majestie
.
W.
Powell
.
No
date
,
but
said
to
be
1545.
S.T.C.
No.
20.
Unique
copy
in
the
British
Museum
.
-
5.
The
A.
B.
C.
;
with
the
catechisme
.
for
the
Company
of
Stationers
,
1633.
S.T.C.
No.
21.
Unique
copy
was
in
the
Guild
Hall
Library
,
London
.
The
rarity
of
these
little
books
requires
no
summing
up
after
the
above
evidence
.