Familiarium Epistolarum libri tres [...] Quibus adjunctus est commendatitiarum, petitoriarum, & aliarum huius generis similium Epistolarum, aliorum nomine, ad alios Principes & Magnates ab eodem R. Aschamo conscriptarum, liber unus. Accesserunt hac postrema editione Ioannis Sturmii, Hieronymi Ossorij, aliorúmque Epistolae, ad. Rog. Aschamum aliósque Nobiles Anglos missæ. Addita sunt pauca quaedam Rogeri Aschami poemata. Omnia in studiosorum gratiam collecta operâ & studio E[dward]. G[rant]. Adjecta est in fine eiusdem E.G. oratio, de Vita et Obitu Rogeri Aschami, & eius dictionis elegantiâ

8vo. (8) leaves, 540 pp., (2) leaves (with errors in the pagination). A-Z, Aa-Mm8. Two titles within an ornamental border. Contemporary dark calf, panels ruled in blind with oval centerpieces, spine with four raised bands flanked by gilt rules, later orange morocco label, with the bookplate of John Evelyn. The book was lot no. 57 in the Evelyn sale on June 22, 1977.
BMSTC, p. 829; Index Aurelienis, 109.251; C.E. Sayle, Early English Printed Books in the University Library, Cambridge 1475 to 1640, (Cambridge, 2010), 2063.
 
FOURTH ENLARGED EDITION in which was printed for the first time a fifth book (with a separate title-page, pp. 415-481) of letters, none of which, ironically, was written by Ascham himself. The bulk of these letters were written to Ascham: by Johannes Sturm in particular, but also by some others (Ramus, Nannius, Osorius, etc.). Even included are a few letters written neither to or by Ascham:, e.g. Sturm to Queen Elizabeth and to Sir Anthony Cooke.
In the history of the collection and publication of Ascham's correspondence, the central figure is Edward Grant (1540?-1602), Master of Westminster school, and teacher of Ascham's eldest son, Giles. As Grant explains in the preface to the reader (here extant in a new version), the project began when Giles proffered copies of letters that his deceased father had written. No doubt some of Grant's interest arose from the fact that he began his university education in Ascham's own St. John's College in Cambridge. Grant initially published the letters in three books in 1576 (this edition was reprinted in the same year). Two years later Grant issued a second, enlarged edition, adding a fourth book of ‘commendatory and petitionary letters, and some other similar in kind, written on behalf of someone to someone else', and also added a half a dozen letters to the first three books. The 1578 edition was reissued in 1581 (cf. A. Vos, Introduction, in: “Letters of Roger Ascham”, New York, 1989, pp. 18-19).
Ascham's letters are unrivalled as a record of midcentury Tudor humanism. They are not the dispatches of a secretary or administrator with political power and influence, but the rich chronicle of an educator shuttling between otium and negotium, forced by the realities of the patronage system to play the role as a courtier as well (cf. G. Schneider, The Culture of Epistolarity. Vernacular Letters and Letter Writing in Early Modern England, 1500-1700, Newark, DE, 2005, pp. 229-230).
 
Grant, Edward to Queen Elizabeth. Westminster, February 7, 1578 (l. A2r)
 
(Liber primus:)
Sturm, Johannes. [December, 1568] (p. 1)
id. Cambridge, April 4, 1550 (p. 19)
id. December 14, 1550 (p. 47)
id. Augsburg, January 24, 1551 (p. 53)
id. June 18, 1551 (p. 56)
id. Augsburg, August 21, 1551 (p. 59)
id. Augsburg, August 27, 1551 (p. 61)
id. Hall (Tyrol), January 29, 1552 (p. 64)
id. Speyer, October 20, 1552 (p. 69)
id. Greenwich, September 14, 1555 (p. 73)
id. London, April 11, 1562 (p. 79)
id. London, October 20, 1562 (p. 87)
 
(Liber secundus:)
Lee, Edward. [Cambridge, 1541] (p. 90)
Holgate, Robert. [1541] (p. 92)
Lee, Edward. [1543] (p. 95)
Seton, John. January 1, 1542 (p. 97)
Lee, Edward. [Cambridge, 1542] (p. 100)
id. [early in 1544] (p. 101)
Holgate, Robert. [1543] (p. 103)
Cuidam amico. [1543] (p. 104)
Brandisby, [Richard]. [Cambridge, 1542/1543] (p. 105)
Cuidam cognato. Cambridge, April 25, [1543] (p. 108)
Cuidam amico. [Cambridge, 1538] (p. 109)
T[ailer, Dr., Master of St. John's]. St. Johns, March 9, 1539 (p. 110)
Cordingley. [St. John's, March,] 1539 (p. 113)
Cumberford, Henry. [St. John's, March, 1539] (p. 114)
Cheke, John. [September 13?, 1544] (p. 120)
[Stokesley, John], Bishop of London. [February, 1539] (p. 125)
Cuidam amico Eboracensi. [November, 1544] (p. 127)
Seton, John. [November 1544] (p. 129)
Grindal, William. (p. 131)
id. February 13, [1545] (p. 132)
[Princess] Elizabeth. [between 1545 and 1547] (p. 134)
Paget, William. [1544] (p. 136)
[Parr, William, Earl of] Essex. [154