“A Monument of Christian Munificence;” Or, An Account of the Brotherhood of the Holy Cross, and of the Hospital of Christ in Abingdon Edited, with an Introduction and Appendix, for the Governors of the Hospital, from a MS. in their possession, by Claude Delaval Cobham.

Description

Quarter red polished calf, dark green paper to boards. Wear to board edges and some scuffing to boards. Loss to top spine (c. 2 cm). Rear hinge slightly slack. Tiny binder’s label to inside rear board: ‘bound by Burn & Co’, a London bindery founded in 1781. Dramatic calligraphic inscription to front free endpaper: ‘Presented to Sir George Bowyer Bart MP by Alderman Ballard, Abingdon, A Governor of the Hospital of Christ, March 11th 1874’. Sir George Bowyer (1811-1883) was a legal scholar and follower of the Oxford Movement; in 1850 he converted to Catholicism. He immediately became ‘an active spokesman for the Catholic church on legal and constitutional questions’, advising Cardinal Wiseman at a time of heightened tensions in the wake of the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England. For this and other services he was made a chamberlain to Pius IX, among other honours. An active philanthropist, he funded the building of the church of Our Lady and St Edmund in his home town of Abingdon. Christ’s Hospital, Abingdon, founded in its current form in 1553, was originally dedicated to the support of the poor and the maintenance of four local bridges. Its predecessor was the Fraternity of the Holy Cross, first recorded in 1436 and responsible for building the almshouses that remain the centrepiece of the Hospital. The Fraternity in turn was partly derived from a still older charity, the Guild of Our Lady, dating from at least 1247. Francis Little was Master of the Hospital in 1596-97, and his account (the manuscript of which is now lost) remains the most comprehensive record of the early years of this still-functioning charity. This edition includes the first publication of the alliterative poem ‘Forman’s Monument’, written by an Abingdon ironmonger around 1458 and commemorating the building of Culham Bridge. An important record of Abingdon history, with handwritten dedication to one of the town’s most influential 19th-century benefactors. ~Robust packaging. All UK orders with tracking, overseas tracking available on request. Used books are exempt from USA tariffs.