17 century drinking toast to Sir Lancelot du Lake... "Kiss the Cup's Ars".- Wing (John) Olympia d?mata [graece]; or, an Almanack For the Year... 1689, 2 parts in 1, title in red and black and within a woodcut typographical border, calendar in red and black, woodcut illustration, 42pp. only of 48pp., lacks 6pp. at end (appears complete as last f. has Finis at end), partially interleaved, ink ownership signatures of John Brooke, numerous ink notes on blank ff., 1 blank f. loose, browned, edges chipped, loose in contemporary calf, worn and rubbed, edges chipped with loss, [Wing A2780], 8vo, Cambridge, Printed by John Hayes, Printer to the University, 1689.
⁂ With an unusual manuscript toast invoking Sir Lancelot du Lake, "A good health to Sr Lancelot du Lake, Ile Drink it all off & Kiss the Cup's Ars for his sake Ile make a pearle of my Naile without breaking & deliver my Cup without speaking all this Ile do: or els drink two."
The Brooke family, from the notes, seem to have originated in West Yorkshire. Many of the notes are concerned with money lent or borrowed, many of them by Brooke's relatives, and purchasing food, wheat suggesting a farming background.
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