William Bill was a contemporary of Roger Ascham at St John’s College Cambridge, gaining his BD in 1544, and his DD in 1547. He was elected Vice-Chancellor of the University in 1548, and in 1551 Master of Trinity College Cambridge. Bill retired from public life during the reign of Queen Mary (July 1553-November 1558), however when Elizabeth ascended the throne, he was favoured with a quick succession of appointments, including Lord High Almoner (1558), Provost of Eton (1559), and Dean of Westminster (1560). He died 15 July 1561 and was buried in St Benedict’s chapel in Westminster Abbey.

Ten volumes from William Bill’s library are known, five of them (nos. 1, 3, 4, 6, 9 in the List below) were made by the King Edward VI and Queen Mary Binder, a London atelier active from about 1545 until at least 1558, producing armorial bindings for Henry VIII and Edward VI (as Prince of Wales, and as King) and for Queen Mary, and for non-royal patrons. Altogether, some 100 bindings can be assigned to this shop.¹ The bindings commissioned by Bill from the King Edward and Queen Mary Binder are in a matching style, decorated with a black border, with his initials centred on both covers. Three volumes Bill acquired either ready-bound or second-hand have his initials WB stamped in blind in the side margins of both covers: one is a Cambridge binding by Nicolaus Spierinck (no. 5), another a Cambridge binding by Garret Godfrey (no. 7), and the third a roll-tooled binding (no. 8). Bill’s ownership of two volumes (nos. 2, 10) is attested by ownership inscriptions.

books belonging to william bill

(1) Luigi Alamanni, La coltiuatione di Luigi Alamanni al christianissimo re Francesco primo (Florence: Bernardo I Giunta, 1549)
Bound in the King Edward and Queen Mary shop (Foot)

provenance
● William Bill (ca 1505-1561), supralibros, initials “W.B.” on covers
● Margery Perient (or Pirry?) (d. ca 1583) [wife of Cesare Adelmare of Treviso (d. 1569), physician to Queen Mary and Elizabeth, and mother of the following:]
● Sir Julius Caesar (1558-1636), ownership inscription on upper pastedown indicating the book was a gift from his mother: (“Liber Julij Caesaris ex dono matris”) followed by a line in Greek, “To be borne and hoped for” (not listed in “Sir Julius Caesar’s calendar of his [42] Italian books”: London, British Library, Ms Lansdowne, 161/21, fol. 47-48 verso)
● Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland (1675-1722)
● Puttick & Simpson, Bibliotheca Sunderlandiana: Sale catalogue of the truly important and very extensive library of printed books known as the Sunderland or Blenheim library … The first portion, London, 1-12 December 1881, lot 143 (“calf … A very clean copy, and a good specimen of early Venetian binding with the initials ‘W.B.’ in a centre ornament”) [link]
● James Rimell & Son, London - bought in sale (£2 10s) [link]
● Henry Benjamin Wheatley (1838-1917), exlibris
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the magnificent library formed by the late H.B. Wheatley, Esq. F.S.A., London, 8-12 April 1918, lot 133 (“Polished purple calf, cinqfoils on back, blind and gilt frame sides, with fleurons in borders and corners with elegant gilt line scroll centre ornaments, enclosing the initials W.B. g.e. in fine state. (Probably bound by Thos. Berthelet, in similar style to those he bound for Queen Mary I.)”) [link]
● James Tregaskis, London - bought in sale (£54); their The 804th Caxton Head catalogue (London 1918), item 1 & Pl. (£95); The 827th Caxton Head catalogue (London 1920), item 2 (£95); Caxton Head Catalogue No. 885 (London 1924), item 6 (£95) [link]; The Nine Hundredth Caxton Head catalogue (London 1925), item 5 & Pl. (£80) [link]; The 909th Caxton Head catalogue (London 1925), item 370 [link]; The 930th Caxton Head catalogue: Old books (London 1926), item 32 & Pl.; The 998th Caxton Head catalogue: Books on farming and country life (London 1931), item 2 (£65)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of valuable printed books, illuminated manuscripts, autograph letters & historical documents, London, 28 November-1 December 1938, lot 187 (“contemporary brown calf, blind and gold tooling on sides, enclosing the initials of William Bill, Dean of Westminster and Provost of Eton College, by Thomas Berthelet … Inscription in Latin inside cover in the hand of Sir Julius Caesar ‘Julius Caesar : given me by my mother’. From the Wheatley Collection, enclosed in a crushed brown morocco case by Rivière”) [lots 187-231 offered as “The Property of a Collector”]
● Maggs Bros, London - bought in sale (£16)
● John Roland Abbey (1894-1969), exlibris (on slipcase)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of valuable printed books and fine bindings from the celebrated collection; the property of Major J.R. Abbey, London, 21-23 June 1965, lot 8 (illustrated)
● Martin Breslauer, London bought in sale (£270); his Catalogue 100: Books, manuscripts, autograph letters, bindings from the ninth to the present century (London 1965), item 40 (illustrated on front cover)
● Stéphane Clavreuil Rare Books, London
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 2018) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana ID #2443]
● Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library: Magnificent Books and Bindings, New York, 11 October 2023, lot 1
● unidentified owner - bought in sale ($38,100)

literature
Catalogue of the books in the library at Blenheim Palace, collected by Charles, third Earl of Sunderland (London 1872), p.8
Cyril Davenport, Cantor lectures on decorative bookbinding … With appendix containing catalogue of exhibition of foreign and English bindings [at the Society of Arts, 24 January-7 February 1898] (London 1898), p.32 no. 120 (“probably bound by Thomas Berthelet”) [link]
Geoffrey Hobson, Bindings in Cambridge Libraries (Cambridge 1929), p.76 (no. XI in a list of “King Edward’s Binder”)
Geoffrey Hobson, English bindings in the library of J.R. Abbey (London 1940), no. 12


(2) Biblia Latina planeque nova Sebast. Munsteri tralatione, post omneis omnium hactenus ubiuis gentium aeditiones euulgata, & quoad fieri potuit, Hebraicae veritati conformata (Basel: Basel, Johann Bebe, Michael Isengrin & Heinrich Petri, 1534)

provenance
● William Bill (ca 1505-1561), inscription
● London, Westminster Abbey, A.6. 8 1/2

literature
Mirjam Foot, “Two bindings by the King Edward and Queen Mary Binders, one for William Bill and one for Queen Mary” in The Henry Davis Gift: A Collection of bookbindings, Volume 1: Studies in the history of bookbinding (London 1978), pp.17-26 (p.26)
David Goldstein, “Hebrew printed books in the library of Westminster Abbey” in Transactions, Jewish Historical Society of England 27 (1978-1980), pp.151-154 (p.151 no. 3: “On the title page of vol. 2 the signature of ‘Gulielmus Billus’”)


(3) Vittoria Colonna, Le rime spirituali (Venice: Vincenzo Valgrisi, 1548), bound with Bernardo Tasso, Libro primo de gli amori di Bernardo Tasso (Venice: Giovanni Antonio Nicolini da Sabbio & fratelli, 1531), bound with Ortensio Lando, Della vera tranquillità dell’animo (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio, July 1544)
Bound in the King Edward and Queen Mary shop (Foot)

provenance
● William Bill (ca 1505-1561), supralibros, initials “W.B.” on covers, inscription
● Della Scala, exlibris (Sotheby’s 1927; Foot)
● John Ker, Duke of Roxburghe (1740-1804)
● W.H. Evans, The library of the late John, Duke of Roxburghe, London, 18 May-14 July 1812, lot 3017 (“Le Rime Spirituale della Colonna, 4to.Vineg. 1548”, without mention of Tasso or Lando) [link]
● Richard Heber (1773-1833)
● possibly R.H. Evans, Bibliotheca Heberiana. Catalogue of the library of the late Richard Heber, Esq. Part the seventh, London, 25 May-17 June 1835, lot 1547 (“Colonna (Vittoria) Le rime spirituali Vineg. 1548”, without mention of Tasso or Lando)
● George John Warren, 5th Baron Vernon (1803-1866) [link]
● Sir George Lindsay Holford (1860-1926)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of extremely choice & valuable books principally from continental presses, and in superb morocco bindings, forming part of the collections removed from Dorchester House, Park Lane, the property of Lt.-Col. Sir George Holford, London, 5-9 December 1927, lot 218 (illustrated; “a contemporary English binding in the style attributed to Berthelet … with the initials W.B. (William Bill … from the Scala-Roxburghe-Heber-Vernon collections … Shown at the Exhibition of Bookbindings held by the First Edition Club in 1926”)
● Arthur - bought in sale (£50)
● unidentified owner (lots 491-513 consigned “The Property of a Gentleman - Books in fine bindings”)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of valuable printed books, London, 1-3 July 1935, lot 504 (“contemporary English calf panel tooled in blind and gold with central ornament on both covers containing the initials W.B. for William Bill, Dean of Westminster, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Fellow and Provost of Eton College, died 1561 … The Scala-Roxburghe-Heber-Vernon-Holford copy”) [RBH 01Jul1935-504]
● Broadbent - bought in sale (£19)
● G. Michelmore & Co., London; their Catalogue 37/II: Important and rare books, manuscripts, autographs, drawings, and fine old bindings (London [1949?]), item 166
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of the valuable stock of printed books, autograph letters and manuscripts of Messrs. G. Michelmore and Co., 5 Royal Opera Arcade (sold owing to the closing of business), London, 13-14 June 1955, lot 152 (illustrated)
● Bernard Quaritch, London - bought in sale (£110)
● Henry Davis (1897-1977)
● British Library, Henry Davis Gift 58 [image, link]

literature
Geoffrey Hobson, Bindings in Cambridge Libraries (Cambridge 1929), p.76 (no. X in a list of “King Edward’s Binder”)
Geoffrey Hobson, English bindings in the library of J.R. Abbey (London 1940), p.14 (cited)
Foot, “Two bindings”, op. cit., pp.17-26
Mirjam Foot, The Henry Davis Gift: A collection of bookbindings, Volume 2: A catalogue of North-European bindings (London 1983), no. 36


(4) Gasparo Contarini, La republica e i magistrati di Vinegia (Venice: Baldo Sabini, 1551)
Bound in the King Edward and Queen Mary shop, bearing the initials W.B. (Foot)

provenance
● William Bill (ca 1505-1561), supralibros, initials “W.B.” on covers
● Francis Harewell (1570-1629), “inscription in ink at top of title-page: ‘Donum Francisci Harewell armig[eri] ad Bibliothecam Oxon[iensem]’”
● Oxford, Bodleian Library, Weston Library, 8° C.98 Art (opac, link: “English(?) 16th c. binding with ‘WB’ on shield in centre”)

literature
Geoffrey Hobson, English bindings in the library of J.R. Abbey (London 1940), p.14 (cited, among “unpublished examples of the same type”)
Foot, “Two bindings”, op. cit., pp.22, 25 no. 28


(5) Diogenes Laertius, De vita, & moribus philosophorum libri decem (Basel: Valentin Curio, 1524), bound with Lucianus Samosatensis, De veris narrationibus (Basel: Valentin Curio, 1524)
Cambridge blind-stamped binding by Nicolaus Spierinck (Foot, op. cit., I, p.22, speculating that Bill bought the volume ready-bound and had his initials added)

provenance
● William Bill (ca 1505-1561), supralibros, initials “W.B.” on covers, inscription “W. Bill” (Goldschmidt)
● Sir Robert Naunton (1563-1635), inscription “Robertus Naunton 1585” on title-page (Goldschmidt)
● E.P. Goldschmidt, London; their Catalogue 41: Books and manuscripts, ancient and mediaeval literature (London 1936), item 125 (£8 8s; “together in contemp. stamped calf binding, made at Cambridge by Nicolas Spierinck, decorated with a roll containing his initials; the original owner’s initials, ‘W.B.’ (= William Bill) in centre of each cover, rebacked”); Catalogue 47: Philosophy, manuscripts and printed books (London 1938), item 207 (£8 8s); Catalogue 49: The Revival of learning: European scholarship in the XVth and the XVIth centuries (London 1938), item 74 (£8 8s); Catalogue 58: Printed books of the XVth to the XVIIIth century (London 1940), item 58 ($30) [RBH 58-120, also RBH 49-74, 47-207, 41-125]

literature
E.P. Goldschmidt, Gothic & Renaissance bookbindings exemplified and illustrated from the author’s collection (London 1928), no. 125
Geoffrey Hobson, English bindings 1490-1940 in the library of J.R. Abbey (London 1940), p.14 (cited)


(6) Costanzo Felice, The conspiracie of Catiline: with the historye of Jugurth ([London, John Walley, 1557])

provenance
● supralibros W.B., presumed to be William Bill (ca 1505-1561)
● Thomas Belasyse, 1st earl Fauconberg (1627-1700), inscription on title-page, “Lord ffauconberg his Booke 1677” (Sotheby’s)
● Robert W. Dundas
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of the very extensive and valuable library, the property of the late Robert W. Dundas, Esq. of 2, Rothsay Terrace, Edinburgh, London, 2-6 December 1929, lot 309 (“in a contemporary English binding in the style attributed to Berthelet, brown calf, line panelled tooling in blind and gold on sides with floreate ornaments in gold at corners, centre ornament flanked by the initials W. B. (William Bill, d. 1561, Dean of Westminster, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and. fellow and Provost of Eton College)”) [RBH Dec021929-309]
● Maggs Bros, London - bought in sale (£13); their Catalogue 692 (London 1940), item 587 (“A clean and tall copy in original calf (rebacked) … Lord Fauconberg’s copy, inscribed on the title: “Lord Fauconberg his Booke, 1677.”) [RBH 692-587]; Catalogue 800 (London 1951), item 2548 [RBH 800-2548]; Catalogue 858 (London 1958) item 3069 [RBH 858-3069]

literature
Geoffrey Hobson, English bindings in the library of J.R. Abbey (London 1940), p.14 (cited, from Sotheby’s sale)
Foot, “Two bindings”, op. cit., p.22 (“I have not been able to trace it”)


(7) Sebastian Münster, Institutiones grammaticae in Hebraeam linguam (Basel: Johann Froben, 1524), bound with Proverbia Salomonis ([Basel: Johann Froben, 1524])
Cambridge blind-stamped binding by Garet Godfrey (Foot, op. cit., I, p.22, speculating that Bill bought the volume ready-bound, and had his initials added)

provenance
● inscription on title-page, “R. Burgoyne” (Goldschmidt, as “earlier than W. Bill, I should say”)
● William Bill (ca 1505-1561), inscription
● Hailstone, exlibris (Miner; perhaps Edward Hailstone (1818-1890), but not entered in sales of his Walton Hall Library, 4-13 February 1891 and 23-30 April 1891)
● Edward Gordon Duff, exlibris (Miner)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of the library of the late Edward Gordon Duff, London, 16 March 1925, lot 20 [link]
● E.P. Goldschmidt, London - bought in sale (Grolier Club, E.P. Goldschmidt stockbook, entry #7448, with cost £17 10s); E.P. Goldschmidt, exlibris; transferred into stock: their Catalogue 72: A choice of various books (London 1944), item 133 (“On both covers the stamped initials W. B., being the mark of William Bill, Fellow and Master of St John’s College, 1535-1550, Provost of Eton 1559, died 1561”) [RBH 73-133]; Grolier Club, E.P. Goldschmidt Customer Accounts, as sold 11 January 1944 to the Walters Art Gallery)
● Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery

literature
E.P. Goldschmidt, Gothic & Renaissance bookbindings exemplified and illustrated from the author’s collection (London 1928), no. 123 (“on both covers are stamped the initials W.B. with exactly the same dies as used on the Spierinck binding, No. 125”)
“Accessions: January 1, 1944 to December 31, 1944” in The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 7-8 (1944-1945), p.133 (“bound in stamped calf by Garrett Godfrey for William Bill”)
Dorothy Miner, The History of bookbinding 525-1950 AD (Baltimore 1957), no. 191


(8) Sebastian Münster, Dictionarium Hebraicum (Basel: [Hieronymus Froben & Nikolaus Episcopius], 1535)

provenance
● William Bill (ca 1505-1561), “Gulielmus Billus” written on the half-title, initials W.B. in blind on covers (Foot)
● London, Westminster Abbey, Gal. C. 4.33

literature
Foot, “Two bindings”, op. cit., p.26

(9) Polyaenus, Gli Stratagemi di Polieno (Venice: Gabriele Giolito de Ferrari & fratelli, 1552)
Bound in the King Edward and Queen Mary shop (Foot)

provenance
● William Bill (ca 1505-1561), supralibros, initials “W.B.” on covers
● Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Newb. 981 (opac “In a binding stamped with the initials W. B.”)

literature
Foot, “Two bindings”, op. cit., pp.22, 25 no. 33


(10) Suidas, [Lexicon] To men paron biblion, Souida : Oi de syntaxa menoi touto, andres sophoi. (Milan: Johannes Bissolus and Benedictus Mangius, for Demetrius Chalcondylas, 1499)

provenance
● William Bill (ca 1505-1561), inscription “1553 Ex dono doctoris Bill quondam Mag[istri] huius Collegij s[anc]ti Ioan[nis] Evangelistae A° d[omi]ni. 1553” [Bill was Master of St John’s from 1546 until appointed Master of Trinity in 1551]
● Cambridge, St. John’s College, Ii.2.9 (opac, without description of binding: College inventory, 23 Sept. 1544, no. 67 & 91, added in 1553; College bookplate, 1700)

literature
David McKittrick, “Two sixteenth-century catalogues of St John’s College Library” in Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society 7 (1978), pp.135-155 (p.151, no. 67 and p.153 no. 92)

possible additions to list

(11) Bible - Le nouveau testament (Antwerp: Merten de Keyser, 1535 [colophon 1525])

provenance
● supralibros W.B., perhaps William Bill (ca 1505-1561)
● Bernard Quaritch, London; their General Catalogue (London 1888), item 36300 (“morocco, with the stamped sides of the original binding let in, bearing the initials W.B.”) [link]


(12) Desiderius Erasmus, Epistolae D. Erasmi Roterodami familiares, in tres centurias diuisae, ob singularem elegantiam adolescentum studijs & captui accommodatae (Basel: [Bartholomaeus Westheimer], [1546])

provenance
● supralibros W.B., perhaps William Bill (ca 1505-1561)
● Durham University, Ushaw College, XVIII.A.8.1 (“Binding: blind tooled panelled calf using Oldham EBSB roll HM.h(3). Initials W.B. on front and back covers. Oxford binding 16th century”)