Principum et Regum Polonorum Imagines ad Vivum Expressae.
MYLIUS, (Arnold).
Quibus adjecte sunt breves singulorum historie et res praeclare gestae, ut lectori et oculos & animum simul his quasi speculo humane vite inspieciendo pascere liceat.
Elaborate architectural engraved title, engraved portrait of Cardinal Radziwill b 1594
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 But he was also a genuinely learned scholar and a conscientious pastor, whose unpublished diary (York Minster Library, Add.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 libaries 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 Literis 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 awaie the time" as a New Year's gift in 1595.
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: Mathei 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.
See: Pearson (David), "The Libraries of English Bishops, 1600-40", in The Library, September 1992, pp.247-48.
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