View source for Boke of St Albans

This [[English]] text was printed in the town of St Albans in 1486. According to [[Wynkyn de Worde]], it was printed by "one sometyme Scholemaster of St. Albans" [1] but nothing further is definite. However, it is claimed that this book is the earliest example of colour [[printing]] in [[Britain]].

It is divided into three sections
* [[Hunting]]
* [[Falconry|Hawking]]
* [[Heraldry]]
The hunting section ends "explcit dame Julyans Barnes in her boke of huntyng" [1]. This reference to the Lady Prioresse of Sopwell, a nearby [[nun]]nery, is the only clear indication of the one or more authors.

The book also included a number of previously unrecorded [[English]] collective nouns for [[animal]]s and [[people]] [2],
:e.g. ''a superfluity of nuns, a malapertness (impertinence in modern English) of pedlars, a drunkship of cobblers, a business of ferrets, and an unkindness of ravens''

===Quoted texts===
(1) "The Mysteries of the Book of St. Albans" by Lord Liam O'Shea. http://www.farreaches.org/fishing/mystery.html

(2) "Flocks, Flights, Companies, and Coveys" by Susan Elkin in The Vocabula Review, January 2001, Vol. 3, No. 1.  http://www.vocabula.com/VRJAN01Elkin.asp

[[category:books]]