Bacon's DictionaryAppendices

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The exhibits and miniatures of which are found in this section, are designed to assist the serious student and reader in following the path of the Authorship Controvesy that has been so laboriously persued by many authors and researchers during its commence.

These exhibits have been placed here as not to interrupt the flow of reading in the Baconian Dictionary sections, being a finding list of Bacon’s works, his history, his thoughts and his aims, which are a subject of study and discussion.

Bacon’s Head-piece

Mrs. Constance Mary Fearon Pott 1 began tracing the origins and their similarities of emblems and in particular to the emblem of the double AA [above image] on title pages in Bacon’s time, at various libraries. In the dictum of the Freemason Cyclopaedia it says “A very minute difference may make the emblem or symbol differs widely in its meaning,” and of Bacon’s similar hint as to the necessity for noting small distinctions in order to comprehend great things: “Everything is subtle till it be conceived.” 2 It is reasonable to attempt this explanation of the “little variations” that the symbol, whatever it may be a bull’s head, unicorn, fleur-de-lis, vine, or what not illustrates some single, fundamental doctrine or idea. But the “little variations” may, as Mr. Sotheby had once agreed, afford pretty accurate information as to the country where, and the period when, the book was written or produced. They may even indicate the papermaker or the printer, or that the persons connected with the writing of the book were members of a certain Secret Society. If the paper used for printing books was usually made in the country where the books were printed (and this seems to be the most natural and reasonable arrangement), then we must inquire at what English mill was the paper manufactured which was to be the means of transmitting to a world then plunged in darkness and ignorance the myriad-minded and many-sided literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. With reference to any particular time or place at which this inestimable invention was first adopted in England, all researches into existing records contribute little.

The first paper-mill erected in England is commonly attributed to Sir John Spielman, a German, who established one in 1588, at Dartford, for which the honour of Knighthood was afterwards conferred upon him by Queen Elizabeth, who was also pleased to grant him a license for the sole gathering, for ten years, of all rags, etc., necessary for the making of such paper. It is, however, quite certain that paper mills were in existence in England long before Spielman’s time. [Also see Part III: Paper Making of the Age.] Shakespeare, in 2 Henry VI., (the plot of which is laid at least a century previously), refers to a paper-mill. In fact, he introduces it as an additional weight to the charge which Jack Cade brings against Lord Saye. An earlier trace of the manufacture in England occurs in a book printed in 1493. 3 And then by Caxton, about the year 1490, in which it is said of John Tate: “Which late hath in England do make thy paper thine. That now in our English this book is printed in.” His mill was situate at or near Stevenage, in Hertfordshire; and that it was considered worthy of notice is evident from an entry made in Henry VII’s Household Book, on May 25, 1498: “For a reward given at the paper mill, 16s. 3d.” And again in 1499: “Given in reward to Tate of the mill, 6s. 3d.” The water-mark used by Tate was an eight-pointed star within a double circle. A print of it is given in Herbert’s Typis Antiquit. 4 Tate died in 1514. Still, it appears far less probable that Shakespeare alluded to Tate’s mill (although established at a period corresponding in many respects with that of occurrences referred to in connection) than to that of Sir John Spielman.

The following is a list of the watermarks which Mrs. Pott’s research brought forth, found in books previous to the Baconian period, or in MSS., or other documents. The paper seems to be all foreign, from mills chiefly in Holland or Germany. Some of these figures were retained in the end of the sixteenth century and developed into other forms. Each figure seems to have been varied almost indefinitely. In her limited research she had seldom found two precisely alike, and there seem to be about sixty figures, not reckoning “nondescripts” and doubtful forms or variations: [Also see Author’s Web site on the subject {www.lordverulam.org}:]

• ANIMALS. Quadrupeds Ape or Monkey, Bull, Cat (or Panther?), Dog (Hound or Talbot), Goat, Horse, Lamb (sorue-times with flag), Lion (rampant or passant), Panther, Pig, Hog, Swine, Stag (head or passant), Wolf. Birds. Cock, Duck (or Goose?), Eagle (sometimes spread, or with two heads or four legs), Goose, Pelican, Swan. Fish. Carp, Dolphin, Tortoise or Dolphin. Reptiles. Lizard, Newt, Serpent. Mythical. Dragon or Griffin, Mermaid, Phoenix, Unicorn.
• FLOWERS. Bell-flower, Fleur-de-lis or Trefoil, Lily, Rose (five-petaled, or nondescript, four-petaled). Fruits. Cherries, Fig, Grapes, Pear, Pomegranate.
• MISCELLANEOUS. Anchor (sometimes in a circle), Angel or Acolyte, Anvil, Ark, Bars with names, letters, etc., Battle-axe, Bell, Bow and Arrows, Cross Bow, Bugle or Trumpet or Horn, Cap (see Fool’s Cap), Cardinal’s Hat, Cask or Water-butt, Castle or Tower, Chalice, Circle (sometimes with cabalistic figures), Compasses, Cords or Knot, Cornucopia (or Horns), Crescent, Cross (Greek or Maltese), Crown, Fool’s Cap, Globe, Golden Fleece, Hambuer, Hand, Heart, Horn, Bugle, Trumpet, Cornucopia, Key, Crossed Keys, etc., Ladder, Lamp, Lance or Spear, Letters (chiefly when alone, P and Y), Lotus (?), Mitre, Moon, Moose’s Head, Mounts (three or seven), Orb, Pope Seated, Reliquary (for Pot?), Scales on Balance, Shears or Scissors, Shell (or Fan?), Shield, Ship, Spear, Spiral line or Mercury’s Rod, Star, Sun or flaming disk, Sword, Triangle with cross, etc., Trumpet (see Horn), Vine (see Grapes), Water-butt (see Cask), Waves or Water, Wheel (sometimes toothed).

There are three paper-marks which seem to especially associate with Francis Bacon and his brother Anthony. They are to be seen throughout the printed books, which are ascribed to Francis, and one in particular is in the paper in which he and Anthony, and their most confidential friends, corresponded, whether in England or abroad. These marks are:

• The bunch of grapes: The grapes and the pots appear, in somewhat rude forms, as early as the fourteenth century. Sotheby had noted that grapes occur in books printed at Mentz, Strasburg, Nuremberg, Basle, and Cologne, and those were produced by Caxton, but are not in any book printed in the Netherlands. The bunch of grapes, alone, or in combination with other figures, is the second great mark in Bacon’s books.
• The pot, or jug: The pitcher or pot is impressed not only on the private letters of Francis and Anthony Bacon or perhaps it is safer to say, of the Bacon family and their confidential correspondents, but on the pages of nearly every English edition of works acknowledged as “Bacon’s” published before the eighteenth century. There are certain accessories to the Baconian pitchers, one at least being always present. Sometimes there are two handles distinctly formed, as SS; often on the body of the pot are letters they maybe initials, as A B, and F B, often found in the correspondence of the brothers; or S S, Sanctum Sanctorum, etc.; R C, Rosy Cross; F or F F, Frater or Fratres; G G, Grand Geometrician God, according to Freemason books in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries paper marks were used throughout the works which were the products of the Renaissance.
• The double candlesticks: The candlesticks seem in their earlier stages to have been towers or pillars. As candlesticks, even single, was failed to be found one earlier than 1580, and then in a MS., document. The candlesticks were the latest and least frequent of the three, being used in the double form only in editions of Bacon’s works published after his death. Even this example is rather suggestive of a castle than of a candlestick, and as castles and towers of unmistakable forms (and sometimes showing an affinity to the mounts) appear in books published in Italy as early as the fourteenth century, it is possible that here we have some of the many scattered links in the chain of continuity in designs as well as ideas. A watch-candle is the emblem of “care and observation.” In a letter to King James I., on May 31, 1612 Bacon says: “My good old mistress [Queen Elizabeth] was pleased to call me her watch-candle, because it pleased her to say I did continually burn (and yet she suffered me to waste almost to nothing).”

In combination with the candlesticks are fleur-de-lis, trefoil, pearls, and other symbols of the Holy Spirit; sometimes an E C or C R; almost invariably grapes piled in a pyramid or diamond.

• A rising sun, formed by the cover or round top of the pot
• Five rays
• Pearls
• Fleur-de-lis
• A four-petaled flower, or a Maltese cross
• A moon or crescent
• The bull’s horns in a crown
• Grapes
• A diamond, triangle, ellipse, or heart

These paper-marks are not mere manufacturers’ signs; but that they have a mutual relation and connection, and that they were and are means of conveying secret information to the members of some widely-spread society. The society was not a mere trade-guild, but that it was moved by motives of religion, and, in its highest branches at least, was a Christian philosophical society, or a society for promoting Christian knowledge.

The subject matter of the books does not necessarily affect the paper-marks. The three marks: the double candlesticks, the grapes, and the pitcher or pot, are notably Baconian, the pot especially being found in all Bacon’s acknowledged works, and throughout the correspondence of Anthony and Francis, especially when their correspondent was of the Reformed Church.

Where any one pattern is varied many times in the same book, there is usually no other mark except in the fly leaves. The extraordinary but not unaccountable habit of tearing out the fly-leaves at the beginning and end of valuable books of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries often makes it impossible to declare that the book in hand possessed no other mark besides those which we see. Pott states, “the fly-leaves were wont, in many of our Baconian books, to be very numerous: five or eight are common numbers for the sheets. They were probably intended for the making of notes, a practice which Bacon enjoins and so highly commends.” In old untouched libraries there are usually some books where the fly-leaves have been thus utilised. Perhaps, when filled with notes, they were to be taken out, and forwarded to some central point of study, either to an individual or to a committee, who should by their means add to the value of any subsequent edition or collection, which might be published. It is certain that fly-leaves have been stolen for the sake of the old paper, for etching or for forged reprints; but this does not account for the fact that certain books, when sent, without any special orders, to be repaired by a Freemason binder, have returned with this large number of fly-leaves restored; in many of our public libraries such extra leaves in books rebound have paper-marks.

In Bacon’s acknowledged works the changes are rung upon the three paper-marks, the pot, the grapes, and the candlesticks, the latter being apparently the rarest of the three. Usually one or two of these patterns are combined with one extra mark. With time enough and help to examine every edition of every book concerned in this inquiry, it is hardly to be doubted that a real scheme could be drawn up to demonstrate the precise method of the use of paper-marks. The pots seem to be in one edition at least of every work produced by Francis or Anthony Bacon, or published under their auspices. Two handles to the pot seem to mean that two persons helped in the construction of the book. Next, in republications, compilations, or collections of any kind, grapes prevail, and that the candlesticks only appear when the volume which includes them is to be considered complete. The Baconian pots have been found first in a book 1579–80, and not later than 1680 a period of one hundred years. They, like the rest of the marks, increase in size from about one inch to seven inches. The use of the Baconian grapes seems to have begun about 1600, and to have continued only in France after 1680. The double candlesticks appeared later still, after the death of Francis Bacon, and remained in use for about fifty years. The three marks all disappeared in England about 1680. Not only is the nature of the paper-mark thus varied in each book, but the forms of each figure are varied to a surprising extent. No two volumes, often no two parts of the same volume, treatise, poem, or play, contain marks, which are identical. For instance, in Ben Jonson (1616) there are at least fifteen different forms of the pot, two of which are sometimes in one play. In Selderi’s History of Tithes (1618) the variations are as frequent. In Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) there are at least thirty half-pitchers, no two of which seem to be alike. “Again”, continues Potts, “we have not succeeded in finding any form of mark precisely repeated in books of different titles, editions, or dates.”

In the writing-paper of the Bacon family and their friends, there is almost as striking a variety in the representation of the same figure or pattern. It is certain that these marks were not of the same kind as the ornaments, etc., on letter-paper of the present day, in which crests, monograms, etc., are adopted by certain individuals and retained by them for some time at least. In letters in Baconian correspondence, written in rapid succession by the same person, the marks are found different, and on the other hand, different persons writing, the one from England and the other from abroad, occasionally used paper with precisely similar marks. It would seem that, in such cases, paper had been furnished to these correspondents from some private mill. There are, in combination with some designs, or apart from them, bars on which appear some times of paper-makers, as “Ricard,” “Rapin,” “Conard,” “Nicolas,” etc. These seem to be chiefly in the foreign paper. But often these bars are as cabalistic as the rest of the designs, or they seem to contain the initials of the producer of the book, not, of its true author. The pots have no bars in connection with them; perhaps the letters upon them render further additions unnecessary. Pott’s conclusion was further inquiry should be made on the following:

• Which were the very earliest paper-mills in England?
• To whom did they belong?
• What were the watermarks on the paper produced there?
• Which was the first printed book for which the paper was made in England?
• From what foreign mills did our English printers import paper?
• At what date did the papers with the hand and the pot receive the distinctive additions which, for want of a better name, was termed Baconian?
• In what books may we see the very latest examples of the candlesticks, the grapes, and the pot in the paper?
• When and why was the use of paper-marks in printed books discontinued?
• Was the discontinuance simultaneous and universal? Was there truly a discontinuance of the system of secret marks, or, rather, did a change or modification take place, in order to adapt these secret marks to the exigencies of modern requirements in printing and book-making?
• When Sir Nicholas Bacon, in his youth, resided for three or four years in Holland, did he visit and study the manufactories of paper? Does any record show him mixed up in any business relations with paper manufacturers?
• What part did the old printers and publishers play in the secret society? For instance, John Norton (Lady Anne Bacon’s cousin) and the Spottisworths (both families in which these trades have in an eminent degree flourished ever since).
• Did the Baconian watermarks remain in use until circa 1680, in fact, for just one hundred years from the time when the first document of the Rosicrucian society was published?
• Was it intended that, by the end of the period of one hundred years, all the posthumous works of Francis Bacon, “My cabinet and presses full of papers,” should have been published by his followers, and did the system of watermarks in printed books cease at that period?
• Are printers and paper-makers, as a rule, Freemasons and do they mutually co-operate and understand each other’s marks?
• If not, what reasons do they adduce for the mystery which is still cast over simple matters connected with their useful and beneficent crafts, and for the unusual difficulties which are met with in obtaining any good books or any trustworthy information upon the subjects which we have been considering?
• Is there any period at which modern Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism propose to clear up and reveal these apparently useless and obstructive secrets?
• Or, what is supposed to be the advantage, either to the public or to individuals, in keeping up these or other mystifications, historical or mechanical?

Of another source, Harold Bayley in his A New Light on Renaissance is of interest: “The history of early papermaking is believed to have been introduced into Europe either from the East by returning Crusaders, or from the Moors, perhaps through Spain or Sicily, who were strongholds of the heretical sects known as the Albigenses. The word “Albigenses” is a term applied loosely to the various pre-Reformation reformers whose strongholds stretched from Northern Spain across the southern provinces of France to Lombardy and Tuscany. In Spain and France they were known as Albigenses from Albi the name of one of their prominent towns. In the Alpine provinces they were called Waldenses, from Peter Waldo, one of their most conspicuous members.” Bayley then briefly explains the production of a watermark: “A watermark is a device produced by fastening the desired design in strong wire on to the bottom of the mould. The pulp takes the impress of this projecting wire and the result remains visible in the finished sheet.” “One of the most important and interesting phases in connection with printers’ marks,” says Mr. W. Roberts, the most recent writer on this subject, “is undoubtedly the motif of the pictorial embellishments. Both the precise origin and the object of many marks are now lost to us.” He also adds, “We do not propose offering any kind of explanation for these singular marks.” [Also see Part III: Paper Making of the Age]. Not only do we find printers using a variety of designs in the same books, but identical emblems were used by different printers. [Also see Part III: Bacon’s Emblems]. A trademark is the immediate jewel of a craftsman’s soul, and it is difficult to reconcile the employment in common of certain marks with the theory that they were “nothing more or less” than trade devices. Arrangements seem to have been made for systematic circuits. “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased,” said Francis Bacon, and this was a popular motto frequently employed by other authors of the day.

To conclude this subject, the ornamental headings are mostly variations of the double AA ornament found in certain Shakespeare Quarto Plays, and in various other books published c.1590–1650. A few references will be found below:

Shakespeare’s Works, 1623.

North’s Lives, 1595.

Spenser’s Faerie Queene, 1609, 1611.

Works of King James, 1616.

Purchas’ Pilgrimages, 1617.

Macon’s Novum Organum, 1620.

Seneca’s Works, 1620.

Speed’s Great Britaine, 1623.

Bacon’s Operum Moralium, 1638.

Contention of Yorke and Lancaster, Part I., 1594.

Romeo and Juliet, 1599.

Henry V., 1598, 1600.

Sir John Falstaffe, 1602.

Richard III., 1602.

Regimen Sanitatis Salerni, 1597.

Hardy’s Le Theatre, Vol. IV., 1626.

Barclay’s Argenis, Vols. I., II., 1625–26.

Aleman’s Le Gueux, 1632.

Mayer’s Praxis Theologica, 1629.

Ben Jonson’s Works, Vol II., 1640.

The Shepheard’s Calendar, 1617.

The Rogue, 1622.

Barclay’s Argenis, 1636.

Bacon’s Remaines, 1648.

The Mirrour of State, 1656.

Preston’s Breast-plate of Faith, 1630.

Venus and Adonis, 1593.

Unnatural Conspiracy of Scottish Papists, 1593.

Nosce te ipsium, 1602.

The ornament reversed is found in:

Spenser’s Faerie Queene, 1596.

Historie of Tamerlane, 1597.

Barckley’s Felicitie of Man, 1598.

James I., Essayes of a Prentise in the Art of Poesie, 1584, 1585.

De Loque’s Single Combat, 1591.

Taming of a Shrew, 1594.

Hartwell’s Warres, 1595.

Heywood’s Works, 1598.

Hayward’s Of the Union, 1604.

Cervantes’ Don Quixote, 1612.

Peacham’s Compleat Gentleman, 1622.

Richard II., 1597.

Richard III., 1597.

Henry IV., 1600.

Hamlet, 1603.

Shakespeare’s Sonnets, 1609.

Matheieu’s Henry IV., [of France] 1612.

Hardy’s Le Theatre, 1624.

Boys’ Exposition of the last Psalme, 1615.

Bacon’s Henry VII., 1629.

Bacon’s New Atlantis, 1631.

Printed upside down:

Camden’s Remains, 1616.

Preston’s Life Eternall, 1634.

Barclay’s Argenis, 1636.

Martyn’s Lives of the Kings, 1615.

Seneca’s Works, 1620.

Slatyer’s Great Britaine, 1621.

Bacon’s Resuscitatio, 1671.

Gustavi Seleni Cryptomenytices, 1624.

King John, 1591.

Florio’s Second Flutes, 1591.

De Loqué’s Single Combat, 1591.

Montaigne’s Essais, 1602.

Cervantes’ Don Quixote translated by Shelton, 1612–20.

Tail piece from Spenser’s Faerie Queene, 1617.