F. J. Norton – författare

Originally published in this volume in 1966, Mr Norton's Sandars lectures comprise a concise history of all the presses known to have been working in Spain in the period 1501-1520, with details of the careers of the printers, of aspects of Spanish book production, and of the typographical material available. For biographical detail Mr Norton drew on a wide range of printed documents; but the rest is based on his study of the surviving books. As a result of his researches into types and ornaments, he was able to ascribe many anonymously printed books to their printers. In particular, he was able to bring order into the hitherto muddled chronology of the early editions of the Celestina, the most important Spanish literary work of the time. Mr Norton's researches also threw light on the Spanish book-trade - its subjection to royal influences, the scope and variety of its production, its sponsors and supporters, its limitations in the face of well-organised foreign competition.

A facsimile edition of two probably unique, and undescribed before this books publication in 1969, early sixteenth-century Spanish verse chap-books, printed at Burgos and Salamanca between 1510 and 1520. Mr Norton and Professor Wilson provide a substantial introduction on their literary or bibliographical importance, and a supplementary checklist of Spanish chap-books before 1521. The first of the chap-books has four leaves, and gives important early printed forms of six ballad texts. The second has six leaves and is a nonsense poem. The first is interesting to students of folk-literature; both illustrate the survival of medieval topics and writing styles, and the mingling of oral and printed traditions in early sixteenth-century Spain.