Titled in caps on fol. i, ‘The Westmoreland Swan-roll’
On fol. ii, five pasted-in cuttings from seller’s catalogue, Francis Edwards Ltd, Booksellers, 83 Marylebone High Street, London W1, catalogue 667, 1943, English Books from Caxton to the end of the 18th Century and a few Manuscripts
Cat no. 825, Swan’s Marks of the Nobility and various Ecclesiastical Bodies, neatly drawn on 5 strips of vellum, with owner’s names and addresses beneath, early XVII. century, £3
Ticehurst describes on fol ii v - fol iii,
An unfinished vellum swan-roll drafted for approx. 850 marks, only 99 of which are filled in. From the library of the Earls of Westmoreland, where it was in 1856. Offered for sale by Francis Edwards in April 1943, purchased by N.F. Ticehurst who believes it is likely to have been the work of Sir Francis Fane, afterwards first Earl of Westmoreland, copied in 1620 from an earlier MS. Ticehurst explains his reasoning for the date.
The vellum pages (5 strips pf vellum, folded) measure approximately 21.9 x 14.8 cm, with variations.
The vellum MS, fol 1, inscribed in ink, ‘Swan’s Marks of the nobility/ and various Ecclesiastical Bodies’; and on an affixed paper label, ‘The Earl of Westmoreland / 1856’; various shelf marks, ‘Room: I / Section: B/ Cabinet: B’, and on a circular affixed paper label, ‘2D’
Fol 1 verso, three rows of twelve swan marks, in pen and ink (no colour), within neatly drawn standardised bill shapes and ruled borders, the first mark ‘E: Worcester’, the last ‘Lo: Hastings’
Fol 2, three rows of twelve scratchy, roughly drawn marks without beak outlines or borders. The method follows up to and including fol 5; ie the recto is roughly drawn without outlines, the versos have pre-drawn outlines and borders
Fols 6-10, blank outlines or blank sheets
The roughly-drawn swan marks without outlines and borders use as guidelines the inked outlines on the versos, the transparency of the vellum allowing these to show through from behind.
The Westmoreland roll or register is described and/or illustrated in TIC/002, TIC/011 and TIC/014
[Francis Edwards booksellers, established 1855, is now (2023) at Hay Cinema Bookshop, Hay-on-Wye]