The Bacon-Shakespeare Gorhambury Quarto Editions.

[A Phoenix]

THE EIGHT BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUARTOS DISCOVERED AT GORHAMBURY.

Could you just imagine the headlines around the world if eight Shakespeare quartos were discovered in the house of Shakspere of Stratford or one of his relatives or descendants!  

       SEE:

       Jean Overton Fuller, Francis Bacon A Biography (London and The Hague: East-West

        Publications, 1981), p. 362. Lawrence Gerald, ‘The Discovery of Eight Shakespeare

        Quartos in Bacon’s Library’, available at www.sirbacon.org from which I indebted for

        the reproduction of the title pages of the eight Gorhambury quartos since transferred to

        the Bodleian Library, Oxford where they are still presently housed.

[Light-of-Truth]

Quote

Could you just imagine the headlines around the world if eight Shakespeare quartos were discovered in the house of Shakspere of Stratford or one of his relatives or descendants!  

I am tempted to ask for more. In fact, sounds like familiar territory around here. 😉

 

[Eric Roberts]

I was just looking for Lawrence Gerald's article about his train trip to St Albans 25 years ago with Francis Carr and their discovery, during a guided tour of Gorhambury House,  of facsimiles of the eight Shakespeare quartos. What a moment that must have been. https://sirbacon.org/links/gorhambury.html I myself had made the same trip 10 years earlier, only to stumble upon the Venus and Adonis mural in the White Hart Inn which had just been uncovered. One of the main reasons why this research we are all engaged in is so compelling is that in the process of looking for something, like mudlarks or beachcombers, one discovery leads to the next, and the next, ad infinitum. So it was just now, when I came upon this edition of Baconiana from 1958, No. 159: https://sirbacon.org/archives/baconiana/1958_Baconiana_No 159.pdf . On page 4 is a grainy reproduction of one of the stained glass windows at Gorhambury House. I asked Peter Dawkins about them some time ago and he kindly replied with the following interesting information:

 

So I’ve seen the painted-glass windows from the Long Gallery of Old Gorhambury and had a chance to examine them thoroughly, and to photograph them. For some time now I have intended to post the photos plus a report on them on the FBRT website, but so far I have been too occupied with other more urgent matters, so this has slipped my mind. You have given me a good reminder. I will try to do so soon, and then you’ll be able to see them. It’s too much for me to do right now.

 The windows were almost certainly commissioned by Francis Bacon, as they show details of animals, fish, birds, flowers and foliage from many countries, including especially North America, plus depictions of indigenous North Americans as well as mythological personages and themes. When I was first there in the 1970’s, the Verulams were not sure whether it was Sir Nicholas or Sir Francis who had had them made, and asked my opinion. Sir Nicholas (NB) never showed a particular interest in nature as such, whereas FB certainly did, and by FB’s time pictures of the North Americans had arrived back in England via the Virginia colonists, with whom FB was inextricably linked.

 There are two windows, each different in terms of the painted-glass, except for the same heraldic coat of arms shown in each window. And this does present a question, which I haven’t yet been able to answer, as it is not FB’s coat of arms (or any of the Bacon family, as far as I know), and the shield has two crests (helmets, etc.), each different, plus the motto “Grata Dei Grata”. ("Grateful to God")

 

Let's hope it's not too long before he has enough time to publish his findings. In the meantime, all I have to go on are the degraded image below and a few brief notes from the 1958 Baconiana issue, which informs us that the stained glass windows which have survived date from the year before Francis's birth. If so, they must have been commissioned by Sir Nicholas Bacon. You will notice that in the lower right corner there is an unmistakable representation of a hoopoe. Attar's famous "Conference (or Parliament) of the Birds" immediately springs to mind, which begins with the lines: 

 

Dear hoopoe, welcome! You will be our guide;
It was on you King Solomon relied
To carry secret messages between
His court and distant Sheba’s lovely queen.
He knew your language and you knew his heart –                                                                                                                                                                                                               As his close confidant you learnt the art                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Of holding demons captive underground,
And for these valiant exploits you were crowned.

https://sufipathoflove.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/the-conference-of-the-birds.pdf

 

Is it too much to imagine that the young Francis was conversant with Attar's great parable of the hoopoe leading all the other birds out of ignorance towards enlightenment?

[Eric Roberts]

Addendum:

On reflection, the claim that the stained glass windows at Gorhambury House date from 1560 is somewhat dubious as, according to English Heritage construction of Old Gorhambury House did not commence until 1563 and wasn't completed until 1568. So perhaps Peter Dawkins is right. Perhaps they were designed by Francis after he inherited the property? There is a similar problem with the three polychrome terracotta portraits at Gorhambury - no date or name of the artist. Spedding assumes the sculptor was an Italian, but who? I've just written to David Bridgewater who is an expert on the subject to ask if he can shed any light on the matter. 

 https://english18thcenturyportraitsculpture.blogspot.com/2017/09/hendrick-de-keyser-and-his.html?lr=1

 

 

 

[Eric Roberts]

10 hours ago, Eric Roberts said:

I was just looking for Lawrence Gerald's article about his train trip to St Albans 25 years ago with Francis Carr and their discovery, during a guided tour of Gorhambury House,  of facsimiles of the eight Shakespeare quartos. What a moment that must have been. https://sirbacon.org/links/gorhambury.html I myself had made the same trip 10 years earlier, only to stumble upon the Venus and Adonis mural in the White Hart Inn which had just been uncovered. One of the main reasons why this research we are all engaged in is so compelling is that in the process of looking for something, like mudlarks or beachcombers, one discovery leads to the next, and the next, ad infinitum. So it was just now, when I came upon this edition of Baconiana from 1958, No. 159: https://sirbacon.org/archives/baconiana/1958_Baconiana_No 159.pdf . On page 4 is a grainy reproduction of one of the stained glass windows at Gorhambury House. I asked Peter Dawkins about them some time ago and he kindly replied with the following interesting information:

 

So I’ve seen the painted-glass windows from the Long Gallery of Old Gorhambury and had a chance to examine them thoroughly, and to photograph them. For some time now I have intended to post the photos plus a report on them on the FBRT website, but so far I have been too occupied with other more urgent matters, so this has slipped my mind. You have given me a good reminder. I will try to do so soon, and then you’ll be able to see them. It’s too much for me to do right now.

 The windows were almost certainly commissioned by Francis Bacon, as they show details of animals, fish, birds, flowers and foliage from many countries, including especially North America, plus depictions of indigenous North Americans as well as mythological personages and themes. When I was first there in the 1970’s, the Verulams were not sure whether it was Sir Nicholas or Sir Francis who had had them made, and asked my opinion. Sir Nicholas (NB) never showed a particular interest in nature as such, whereas FB certainly did, and by FB’s time pictures of the North Americans had arrived back in England via the Virginia colonists, with whom FB was inextricably linked.

 There are two windows, each different in terms of the painted-glass, except for the same heraldic coat of arms shown in each window. And this does present a question, which I haven’t yet been able to answer, as it is not FB’s coat of arms (or any of the Bacon family, as far as I know), and the shield has two crests (helmets, etc.), each different, plus the motto “Grata Dei Grata”. ("Grateful to God")

 

Let's hope it's not too long before he has enough time to publish his findings. In the meantime, all I have to go on are the degraded image below and a few brief notes from the 1958 Baconiana issue, which informs us that the stained glass windows which have survived date from the year before Francis's birth. If so, they must have been commissioned by Sir Nicholas Bacon. You will notice that in the lower right corner there is an unmistakable representation of a hoopoe. Attar's famous "Conference (or Parliament) of the Birds" immediately springs to mind, which begins with the lines: 

 

Dear hoopoe, welcome! You will be our guide;
It was on you King Solomon relied
To carry secret messages between
His court and distant Sheba’s lovely queen.
He knew your language and you knew his heart –                                                                                                                                                                                                               As his close confidant you learnt the art                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Of holding demons captive underground,
And for these valiant exploits you were crowned.

https://sufipathoflove.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/the-conference-of-the-birds.pdf

 

Is it too much to imagine that the young Francis was conversant with Attar's great parable of the hoopoe leading all the other birds out of ignorance towards enlightenment?

I forgot to add this image.

 

[Eric Roberts]

23 hours ago, Eric Roberts said:

I was just looking for Lawrence Gerald's article about his train trip to St Albans 25 years ago with Francis Carr and their discovery, during a guided tour of Gorhambury House,  of facsimiles of the eight Shakespeare quartos. What a moment that must have been. https://sirbacon.org/links/gorhambury.html I myself had made the same trip 10 years earlier, only to stumble upon the Venus and Adonis mural in the White Hart Inn which had just been uncovered. One of the main reasons why this research we are all engaged in is so compelling is that in the process of looking for something, like mudlarks or beachcombers, one discovery leads to the next, and the next, ad infinitum. So it was just now, when I came upon this edition of Baconiana from 1958, No. 159: https://sirbacon.org/archives/baconiana/1958_Baconiana_No 159.pdf . On page 4 is a grainy reproduction of one of the stained glass windows at Gorhambury House. I asked Peter Dawkins about them some time ago and he kindly replied with the following interesting information:

 

So I’ve seen the painted-glass windows from the Long Gallery of Old Gorhambury and had a chance to examine them thoroughly, and to photograph them. For some time now I have intended to post the photos plus a report on them on the FBRT website, but so far I have been too occupied with other more urgent matters, so this has slipped my mind. You have given me a good reminder. I will try to do so soon, and then you’ll be able to see them. It’s too much for me to do right now.

 The windows were almost certainly commissioned by Francis Bacon, as they show details of animals, fish, birds, flowers and foliage from many countries, including especially North America, plus depictions of indigenous North Americans as well as mythological personages and themes. When I was first there in the 1970’s, the Verulams were not sure whether it was Sir Nicholas or Sir Francis who had had them made, and asked my opinion. Sir Nicholas (NB) never showed a particular interest in nature as such, whereas FB certainly did, and by FB’s time pictures of the North Americans had arrived back in England via the Virginia colonists, with whom FB was inextricably linked.

 There are two windows, each different in terms of the painted-glass, except for the same heraldic coat of arms shown in each window. And this does present a question, which I haven’t yet been able to answer, as it is not FB’s coat of arms (or any of the Bacon family, as far as I know), and the shield has two crests (helmets, etc.), each different, plus the motto “Grata Dei Grata”. ("Grateful to God")

 

Let's hope it's not too long before he has enough time to publish his findings. In the meantime, all I have to go on are the degraded image below and a few brief notes from the 1958 Baconiana issue, which informs us that the stained glass windows which have survived date from the year before Francis's birth. If so, they must have been commissioned by Sir Nicholas Bacon. You will notice that in the lower right corner there is an unmistakable representation of a hoopoe. Attar's famous "Conference (or Parliament) of the Birds" immediately springs to mind, which begins with the lines: 

 

Dear hoopoe, welcome! You will be our guide;
It was on you King Solomon relied
To carry secret messages between
His court and distant Sheba’s lovely queen.
He knew your language and you knew his heart –                                                                                                                                                                                                               As his close confidant you learnt the art                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Of holding demons captive underground,
And for these valiant exploits you were crowned.

https://sufipathoflove.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/the-conference-of-the-birds.pdf

 

Is it too much to imagine that the young Francis was conversant with Attar's great parable of the hoopoe leading all the other birds out of ignorance towards enlightenment?

Correction

Francis Bacon could not have read The Conference of the Birds by the 12th Century Persian Sufi poet, Farid al-Din Attar, unless he was fluent in Arabic, as it was only in the 19th Century that Attar's poetry began to be translated and read in Europe. It was not until the mid-20th Century that the full text of The Conference of the Birds, originally written in 1177, was finally available to Western readers. Still the question remains, why is there a depiction of a hoopoe in the stained glass windows that originally adorned the Long Gallery of Old Gorhambury House? While we can never know exactly what the significance of the hoopoe had for him, it is possible to assemble a number of references to this mystical bird from antiquity which he could have been familiar with. These include the Old Testament and the Koran, Classical Greek plays by Sophocles and Aristophanes, Aristotle and Ovid's Metamorphoses. In addition, the hoopoe is symbolically associated with the Sun and represents kingship, virtue and wisdom.

 

 

Edited October 19, 2022 by Eric Roberts

[Light-of-Truth]

4 hours ago, Eric Roberts said:

Francis Bacon could not have read The Conference of the Birds by the 12th Century Persian Sufi poet, Farid al-Din Attar, unless he was fluent in Arabic, as it was only in the 19th Century that Attar's poetry began to be translated and read in Europe.

Bacon wasn't able to read it? I imagine Dee possibly came back with it from his journeys. Seems like if anyone could learn to read it, Bacon would be the guy. Granted Dee already knew what it contained even if he couldn't read it.

 

[Eric Roberts]

4 hours ago, Light-of-Truth said:

Bacon wasn't able to read it? I imagine Dee possibly came back with it from his journeys. Seems like if anyone could learn to read it, Bacon would be the guy. Granted Dee already knew what it contained even if he couldn't read it.

 

I'm just beginning to learn that even before Francis Bacon's lifetime Islamic culture was being introduced to England. Here are just a few glimpses into this VAST subject. Cardinal Wolsey is said to have had a collection of 400 "Turkish" carpets, which then came into the possession of Henry VIII. By the reign of Charles I, Arabic culture was beginning to be studied at Oxford and Cambridge. Portraits of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Bacon, etc. also reflected fashionable tastes for all things Islamic.

There was a great respect for Arabic learning at Oxford and Cambridge, which both established chairs of Arabic Studies in the 1630s, and “Arabic became an adjunct to a complete university education and, as P. M. Holt has stated, the hallmark of the enlightened Englishman—particularly the man of science” (87). The Arabic influence is seen most clearly in scientific fields that would rapidly become intellectually disreputable, alchemy and astronomy, but other Arabic texts in translation were also widely read and referred to, including the twelfth-century Sufi work by Ibn Turayl, Hayy ibn Yaqzan, and the Qur’an, which first appeared in English in Alexander Ross’s 1649 translation.  Jim Ellis