Part 2: Henry Neville, Shakespeare, and Book Annotations at Audley End

In Part 1 we looked at one annotation in one book: the 1546 edition of Dionysius of Halicarnassus' Roman Antiquities. That book was on the 1780 Billingbear Book List and is currently at Audley End. I showed strong evidence that the annotation was made by Henry Neville.

John Casson found many more annotations in a 1548 edition of the same book, and the 1551 edition of Appian's Roman History, also at Audley End.  These books are also listed on the Billingbear Book List, so we know for a fact that in 1780 it was in the ancestral home of Henry Neville. There is very good reason to think, therefore, that he may have owned the book:

Variation in Handwriting

As we move forward in comparisons, it is important to remember that an individual's handwriting can vary even with the same document. Here are comparisons of things Henry Neville wrote in formal letters from 1599-1600. You can see the variation and the similarities:

Note how the lower-case "r" is different in "Chambery" and "Chambers". Neville is making a more formal version in "Chambery" quite deliberately. Note also the lower case and capital R in "Richardot" and "Richard" and the capital B in "Bulloigne". Neville varied his italic handwriting a great deal depending on circumstance and whim. Look how dramatically the "e" at the end of "Boulloigne" differs.

On the back of a single document, Henry Neville scribbled some words and varied hit italic capital R radically. He was someone extremely interested in handwriting and letter forms:

In contrast, this example address on a letter to Robert Cecil is one of the finest examples of his italic handwriting:

Comparing the Theatrum Annotations

First, I would like to look at two examples from the book, from page 68 and 157:

The two notations are on similar themes and they seem like they were probably written in the same hand:

Even here, though, there is variation. The "T" in "Theatrum" is not the same, neither is the "h" and the page 68 example has an abbreviation mark instead of the "m" at the end of the word.

Fortunately, we have an example of Henry Neville writing "Th" in italic from this letter to Thomas Windebank in 1599.

Comparing this with the annotations they seem to be very close matches, despite minor variations:

For the capital P in "pompey" there is a great deal of variation in how Henry Neville wrote a capital P, but these seem consistent:

Compare here just the "P":

This example from a 1601 letter to Ralph Winwood is probably even a better match for the "P":

Comparing the "om" from Pompei with these examples from Henry Neville's letters seems like a close match:

Neville demonstrates a good deal of variability in his lower-case p, especially with the tail:

But the shape of the body of the p and the tick on top seem quite consistent with the inscription:

Like everything else, Neville showed a great deal of variability in how he wrote capital "M"; I have underlined the one that seems like the closest match for "Marcelli":

Compare this which really seems like a remarkably close match, look especially at the "celli" above and the "cille" below:

The Julius Caesar Annotations

We have two annotations with the name Julius Caesar written in Latin and one with Caesar:

Here are just the the names separated out:

In England, Julius Caesar (1557-1636) was  Chancellor and Under Treasurer of the Exchequer from 1606 to 1614, and we have several letters extant between him and Henry Neville. 

Here is the full context for Henry Neville's handwriting. This is very instructive for people in understanding how one person's handwriting can vary, and these three examples are from a similar period of time. The book annotation was likely made more than 10 years prior.

This is from a letter from 1608 at the Berkshire Record Office:

This is from a letter to Julius Caesar from 1612 at the British Library, here is the catalog entry: