Loneliness
‘Would God I were in Dungiven with al my books & cloase’ is the handwritten note penned by a homesick Bernardus Cahan while studying in Madrid, which appears on the only known copy of this 10th edition. We can posit that it is the same Bernardo Cahan who is referenced in a court case around this time, and his tribulations may underpin this longing to be elsewhere, and perhaps his choice of reading material.
Lost
The route to the 21st century has not been easy for the Bolton Library, and there have been casualties along the way: lost bindings and title pages, plates, waste fragments, quires and colophons. Whether due to deterioration or something more deliberate, we are still able detect what was once present through transfer and ghosts, and by other more obvious means. Here in Bolton Library M.3.21, we find a clear instruction at the rear: “To binder, Do not throw away old lining of spine – possibly interesting fragment of tailor’s account book.” The fragment is not present.
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