Thomas Wotton (1521-1587) was the first son of Sir Edward Wotton (1489-1551), a privy councillor to Edward VI of England and Treasurer of Calais, and Dorothy (d. 1529), fourth daughter of Sir Robert Rede. Nothing is known of his education, except that he spent time at Lincoln’s Inn (admitted 7 February 1541, but is not known to have been called or to have practised). He was returned to Parliament in 1547 for a newly enfranchised Cornish town (West Looe) through the intercession of his father. He missed some of the first session conveying treasure to his father in Calais. Wotton apparently continued his journey (commenced December 1547) to Paris, where he commissioned bindings for a large group of books, mostly Latin texts in recent editions, perhaps as many as thirty volumes.¹

The order included Sebastien Gryphe’s 1542 edition of Livy’s history of ancient Rome,² uniformly bound in four volumes, brown calf, tooled in gold to a geometrical design, with Wotton’s name and the “et amicorum” formula centred on each cover. The set descended within his family, then collaterally, until 1919, when it was consigned for sale to Sotheby’s by the Earl of Carnarvon, and dispersed in separate lots (two were bought by Quaritch, and two by Maggs). One volume has since entered the Houghton Library, Harvard University; another until recently was in the Bibliotheca Brookeriana. Two volumes have not been seen since the 1960s.

The binding atelier visited by Wotton was then busy with commissions received from François I, Jean Grolier, Charles de Lorraine, and Cardinal Granvelle, among other noted bibliophiles. Here Wotton presumably was introduced to the tooled Grolieresque “et amicorum” ownership inscription and to Grolier’s preferences for plain gilt edges and no ties. The shop, designated by bookbinding historians “Wotton’s Binder A” or the “Pecking Crow Binder”, closed about 1550, and on his subsequent visits to Paris, ca 1549, 1551, and ca 1552, Wotton visited other binders. “Wotton’s Binder B” executed mostly bindings adorned by armorial stamps (three sizes are known); “Wotton’s Binder C” produced more armorial bindings, with the date 1552 on the covers, and some plain bindings. In 1553 Wotton went to prison for his participation in Wyatt’s Rebellion.

Wotton’s taste for elaborate gold-tooled bindings and his adoption of the “et amicorum” formula have earned him the posthumous sobriquet “the English Grolier”. About 140 volumes from Wotton’s library are known. The main group passed by inheritance to the library at Bretby, which was sold by the 5th Earl of Carnarvon in April 1919 to fund Howard Carter's archaeology expeditions in Egypt. A second group descended through a different branch of the Stanhope family, to James Richard Stanhope, 7th Earl Stanhope, on whose death in 1967 the earldom became extinct, and the family seat (Chevening House) bequeathed to the nation. Valuable books were deposited by the Trustees of the Chevening Estate at the British Library, and in 1995 five Wotton bindings were sold privately to Sir Paul Getty. A few books appear to have followed another line of Wotton’s descendants and to have separately come to the market.

wotton’s set of livy

(1) T. Livii Patavini Latinae historiae principis decas prima (Lyon, apud Sébastien Gryphe, 1542) [FB 77966; USTC 122670]

provenance
● Thomas Wotton (1521-1586), supralibros, “Thomae Wottoni et amicorum” in gilt on both covers; by descent to his son Edward Wotton, 1st Baron Wotton (1548-1628); thence to his grandson Thomas Wotton, 2nd Baron Wotton (1587–1630); thence to his great-granddaughter, Katherine (1609-1667), who married Henry Stanhope, the son and heir of Philip Stanhope, first Earl of Chesterfield, and in 1660 was created Countess of Chesterfield; by descent to Lady Evelyn Stanhope (1834-1875), sister of the 7th Earl of Chesterfield; thence to her son, George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon (1866-1923), family library at Bretby Hall, Derbyshire
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of valuable printed books, illuminated manuscripts and autograph letters, London, 8-11 April 1919, lot 20 & Colour plate (lots 1-395 were the Earl’s property; “red ruled, contemporary English binding of brown calf, tooled and gilt to a Lyonese pattern, with small tools of fleurs-de-lys and grotesque birds introduced, the latter appearing in panels on the back, strap borders and interlaced fillets enamelled in black, FROM THOMAS WOTTON’S LIBRARY, with the inscription Thomae Wottoni et Amicorum stamped in gold in the centre of each cover, g. e. upper joint cracked, otherwise in fair condition … Resembles very closely the Wotton binding on Cicero, Questiones Tusculana, in the British Museum (see Fletcher’s English Bookbindings, pl. XXVIII), but the two stamps of the bird and the fleur-de-lys do not figure on any other Wotton binding known to us.” [link]
● Bernard Quaritch, London - bought in sale (£125); their A Catalogue of English and foreign bookbindings (London 1921), item 11 & Pl. 5 (£160 [link]); Catalogue 386: A catalogue of books printed in Europe during the fifteenth & sixteenth centuries. Part II. Books printed in the sixteenth century (London 1929), item 833 (£160)
● Jean Fürstenberg (1890-1982)
● untraced

literature
William E. Moss, The English Grolier: A catalogue of books in gold-tooled bindings from the library of Thomas Wotton (Worth 1941-1942), no. 21 (“Hans Furstenberg, Berlin”)
Exposition de reliures de la Renaissance: collection Jean Furstenberg: 30 September 1961 (Paris 1961), no. 108


(2) T. Livii Patavini Latinae historiae decas tertia (Lyon, apud Sébastien Gryphe, 1542) [FB 77968; USTC 156883]

provenance
● Thomas Wotton (1521-1586), supralibros, “Thomae Wottoni et amicorum” in gilt on both covers; by descent to George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon (1866-1923), family library at Bretby Hall, Derbyshire
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of valuable printed books, illuminated manuscripts and autograph letters, London, 8-11 April 1919, lot 21 (“red ruled, contemporary English brown calf gilt, uniform with the previous item, and with the same inscription on covers” [link])
● Bernard Quaritch, London - bought in sale (£108); their A Catalogue of English and foreign bookbindings (London 1921), item 12 (£160 [link])
● Templeton Crocker (1884-1948)
● Warren Howell, San Francisco; their Catalogue 11: Rare Books and manuscripts: English literature : voyages, travels & early chronicles : Californiana & Western Americana : history of science (San Francisco 1961), item 10 (“From the libraries of Thomas Wotton and Templeton Crocker”) [RBH 33-010]; Catalogue 11: English Literature (San Francisco 1963), item 57 ($1250) [RBH 34-057]
● untraced

literature
Moss, op. cit., no. 22 (“Templeton Crocker, San Francisco”)


(3) Titi Livii Patavini Latinae historiae principis decas quarta (Lyon, apud Sébastien Gryphe, 1542) [FB 77967; USTC 156884]

provenance
● Thomas Wotton (1521-1586), supralibros, “Thomae Wottoni et amicorum” in gilt on both covers; by descent to George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon (1866-1923), family library at Bretby Hall, Derbyshire
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of valuable printed books, illuminated manuscripts and autograph letters, London, 8-11 April 1919, lot 22 (“contemporary English brown calf gilt, tooled to a Lyonese pattern with interlaced black enamelled fillets, some spaces filled with gold dots, g. e. skilfully repaired, back slightly damaged” [link])
● Maggs Bros, London - bought in sale (£41)
● William King Richardson (1874-1951), his bequest 1951
● Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, Houghton Library, shelfmark WKR 18.2.13 (opac “full 16th-century calf (rehinged), with arabesque design on covers and the legend “Thomae Wottoni et amicorvm” stamped in gilt; probably bound for Wotton in Paris; with the armorial bookplate of Philip Stanhope, earl of Chesterfield” [link])

literature
Moss, op. cit., no. 23 (location unknown)
Mirjam Foot, The Henry Davis Gift: A Collection of bookbindings, Volume 1: Studies in the history of bookbinding (London 1978), p.137 note 50


(4) Titi Livii Patavini Latinae historiae principis decadis quintae libri V (Lyon, apud Sébastien Gryphe, 1542) [FB 77964/77969; USTC 199587/156885], bound with Titi Livii Patavini decadum XIIII epitome (Lyon, Sébastien Gryphe, 1542) [FB 77965; USTC 122674], bound with Henricus Glareanus and Lorenzo Valla, Titi In Titum Livium annotationes, cum chronologia (Lyon, apud Sébastien Gryphe, 1542) [FB 72217; USTC 151836; FB 56558; USTC 140466]

provenance
● Thomas Wotton (1521-1586), supralibros, “Thomae Wottoni et amicorum” in gilt on both covers; by descent to George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon (1866-1923), family library at Bretby Hall, Derbyshire
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of valuable printed books, illuminated manuscripts and autograph letters, London, 8-11 April 1919, lot 57 (“contemporary English brown calf gilt, with a geometrical design of interlaced black enamelled fillets, intervening spaces filled with gold dots, inscription in centre of each cover: THOMAE WOTTONI ET AMICORUM, g. e.” [link])
● James Tregaskis, London - bought in sale (£42); their The 815th Caxton Head catalogue (London 1919), item 226 & Pl. (£115); The 902nd Caxton Head catalogue containing early books of classical scholarship (London 1925), item 428 (“in Titum Livium annotationes cum Chronologia eiusdem. 8vo (6 1/2 by 4 in.), contemporary English brown calf, gold-tooled, with a geometrical design of interlaced black enamelled fillets, intervening spaces filled with gold dots, from Thomas Wotton’s library, ‘the English Grolier,’ with inscription in centre of each cover ‘Thomae Wottoni et amicorum,’ g.e., splendid example. £115 00”)
● Sotheby & Co., London, Catalogue of very fine illuminated manuscripts … Valuable printed books, London, 12-15 December 1927, lot 501 (illustrated; offered among “Other properties”; “This edition was bound for Wotton in four vol., the first two uniform, the others in the same style but with different designs. The other three volumes were sold in these rooms on Apr. 8, 1919 (lots 20-22)”)
● Maggs Bros, London - bought in sale (£70)
● John Henry Montagu Manners, 9th Duke of Rutland (1886-1940), two circular ink stamps of Belvoir Castle Library, another “John H.M.M. Duke of Rutland 1926” (amended by pen 1927), and inscription “Bought December 14th 1927 at Sotheby Lot 501 for £70. Rutland”
● Marlborough Rare Books, London; their Catalogue 146: Fine bindings and distinguished provenances (London [1992]), item 7 (£12,500; illustrated)
● Bernard Quaritch, London
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 2003) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana ID #2128]
● Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, Magnificent Books and Bindings, New York, 11 October 2023, lot 42
● unidentified owner - bought in sale ($20,320)

literature
Moss, op. cit., no. 24 (“Owner unknown”)