RITES OF DURHAM, A DESCRIPTION OR DECLARATION OF ANCIENT MOUMENTS, RITES... 1903

[FOWLER, Joseph Thomas, 1833-1924 (Editor)]. Rites of Durham, Being a Description or Brief Declaration of all the Ancient Monuments, Rites, & Customs Belonging or Being Within the Monastical Church of Durham Before the Suppression. Durham [England]: Pub. for the Society by Andrews & Co., 1903.

The Publications of the Surtees Society, vol. CVII [107] - a reprint of the original edition from 1593. Leather-bound. Hardcover. Octavo (220 x 140 x 25 mm). Pp. xxi, 303, (1). Handsome contemporary binding of half leather, five raised spine bands, spine and boards with gilt ruling and tooling, red dyed page edges, patterned endpapers, half-title, extensive foot- and shoulder-notes. Printed by Thomas Caldcleugh, of Durham. Contents include: Preface -- text of rites of Durham -- description of windows -- pilgrimage and letter of Henry VI -- inscriptions under various figures -- libertura specialis -- indulgences -- notes on prebendal houses -- Mickleton's additions to Davies, 1691 -- notes in a copy of Hunter's edition of 1733 -- inventory of altar of St. John the Baptist and St. Margaret -- extracts from a Durham missal written in the fourteenth century -- list of works quoted in the notes -- notes on the text -- notes on the appendix -- note on the Sunday procession / by W.H. St. John Hope -- list of books mentioned in the text. Condition: FAIR to GOOD. Binding tight and secure, the covers wel-preserved. Contents largely fresh and clean with a hint of foxing to prelims. Bound without the rear index and glossary, also lacking the three plans and notes thereon. Extremely scarce.

Notes: A book originally written in the late sixteenth century giving a detailed account of Durham Cathedral as a Catholic institution, before the Reformation and its conversion to an Anglican cathedral. Authorship is unknown, but Thomas Baker, in a manuscript note in ms. Harl. 7047, one of the sources of this text, writes that "it is not improbable that George Bates, the last register of the house, was the author, of which there are some intimations in the collection itself." The work is a collation of texts, followed by various notes and extracts: description of windows, pilgrimage and letter of Henry VI, inscriptions under figures of monks, kings and bishops, Liberatura Specialis, indulgences, notes on prebendal houses, Mickleton's additions to Davies, notes in a copy of Hunter's edition of 1733, inventory of altar of St John the Baptist and St Margaret, extracts from a Durham Missal. The present edition is edited by J.T. Fowler. Unfortunately this copy lacks the two floor plans of the church and the plan of the location. Regardless, this is a very rare work.