Country House Mystery Of The Book Lost for 400 Years

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 10-15-2003 | Nick Britten

[blam]

Country house mystery of the book lost for 400 years

(Filed: 15/10/2003)

A 1583 catechism found at Hardwick Hall raises intriguing questions over its origin and who hid it. Nick Britten reports

An unrecorded Elizabethan book detailing the basics of the Christian faith has been found discarded behind oak panelling at a country estate, where it is likely to have lain undiscovered for 400 years.

L'ABC des Chrestiens was found by a joiner during restoration work at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire. The book was published in 1583 by a French protestant but no record of it has been found and mystery surrounds how it came to be behind the panelling.

The French-language catechism is believed to be a children's textbook and was probably shoved behind the 7ft-high panelling by a youngster eager to lose it. The National Trust, which owns Hardwick Hall, said the find was remarkable.

Nigel Wright, the collections manager, said: "It's exciting, both on the academic and human interest level. It is a really important book because it is unknown to scholarship. It contains passages that children were likely to have had to learn off by heart, such as, 'I will renounce the devil'.

"Of course the really interesting thing is how it came to be behind the panelling, where it has stayed for hundreds of years."

The four and a half inch book is leather bound with green silk ties. On the front are the gold-tooled initials IC, which probably stand for Iesu Christ.

It contains passages detailing basic Christian teaching such as, "He who wishes to profit from school, Must seek God, fear and revere Him, And to do this must learn from His word".

The book was produced in Blackfriars, London, by Thomas Vautrollier, a prominent publisher who was forced to flee France by the Wars of Religion.

Because it was printed in London, it should be recorded in Pollard and Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue of Books 1475-1640, which is a comprehensive record of early English printing.

Vautrollier is known to have published 16 other books in 1583 so why L'ABC was not accounted for remains a mystery.

The book predates Hardwick Hall, which was built near Chesterfield by Bess Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury, between 1590 and 1597, and which is renowned for its tapestries.

Mr Wright said: "It may have belonged to Bess Hardwick's grandchildren, who included Arabella Stuart, who was niece to Mary, Queen of Scots and who laid claim to the English throne as a successor to Elizabeth I.

"You can imagine a child running around here and, when no one was looking, standing on a chair and shoving the book behind the panels. I don't suppose we will ever know the history of the book, which is why the whole thing is so intriguing."

The book, which will go on display from today at the hall, was found in January by Ray Stevens, a National Trust conservation joiner, during work to repair the windows and stone walls in the vast dining room.

It was immediately photographed and removed to be verified and studied by the trust's experts.

Mr Stevens said: "I removed the wood panelling in front of a window and there it was, sitting in the corner on a stone sill.

"I've been here seven years and I've never found anything as interesting. You come across darning needles, playing cards, skeletons of small animals, that type of thing, but this is something else.

"As soon as I saw it I knew it was important. You don't tend to find books down the back of panelling.

"The question is whether it fell down or was put there deliberately."

[blam]

Non GGG ping.

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[GeronL]

fascinating

[NewRomeTacitus]

Just you wait; we'll find Cotton Mather's personal copy of the Nemonomicron yet. Who am I kidding? We can't nail the Clintons down on Whitewater or Vince Foster. But just you wait...

[msdrby]

protestant ping

[NewRomeTacitus]

Necronomicon.

Seriously, antiques are degrading fast due to harsher environment and lack of care by succeeding generations. If you have something neat that's getting old please preserve it or let someone else do it.

[pabianice]

Necronomicon, indeed.

[farmfriend]

ping

[Xenalyte]

Much as I adore the guy, I somehow doubt Bruce Campbell was ever that ripped.

[NewRomeTacitus]

"Gimme some sugar, baby!"
"Shop smart. Shop S-Mart."
"Klaatu, Veradis, Nisomething or othermmm..."

And I tried to catch all the Xena/Hurcules episodes that listed Bruce Campbell as The Prince of Thieves. Because he's just too funny.
He even made Brisco County, Jr. watchable (loved the devoted horse gag).

[Coleus]

`

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Spirited]

Thank you and bump for the post. Glad to have caught it, Blam. As usual the most interesting stuff.

[blam]

"Thank you and bump for the post. "

You're welcome and a morning bump.