Esther Inglis (1569?– 1624)

Esther Inglis is an important, indeed possibly unique, "early modern British female book artist." Born around 1569 in Dieppe to French Huguenot parents fleeing religious persecution, she was raised in Edinburgh where she learned the art of calligraphy from her mother, Marie Presot. Her father, Nicholas Langlois, was Master of the French School in Edinburgh, under the patronage of James VI. Inglis married Scottish clergyman Bernard Kello around 1596 and used her calligraphic skills to make copies for him in his position as Clerk of Passports and other foreign correspondence. Some of her small, jewel-like calligraphic volumes appear to have supported Kello's involvement with the secret negotiations for the succession of James VI to the English throne. The volumes also figured in the patronage system, where Inglis and her husband hoped for remuneration for her work. Many of her little books are dedicated to members of the Protestant circles in England and Europe, including Elizabeth I; James VI and I; Prince Henry; Prince Charles; Lucy Harington, Countess of Bedford; Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury; Sir Anthony Bacon; Prince Maurice of Nassau; Catherine de Parthenay, Duchess of Rohan; and Catherine de Bourbon, sister of Henri IV.

She was not only an adept calligrapher, using over forty styles of handwriting, but she also illuminated her manuscripts with self-portraits, flowers and birds, or exquisite black-and-white title pages, historiated initials, and printer's devices copied from printed books. Many of her volumes are bound in velvet or silk which she likely embroidered herself, as her skill with needle as well as pen was remarked upon by a contemporary. One of her last works was a sumptuous copy of Emblemes Chrestiens by Georgette de Montenay, made for Prince Charles in 1624, the year of her death.

Inglis's sources

Inglis mostly copied out Biblical texts in English, French or Latin from Ecclesiastes, Genesis, Psalms, Proverbs, and the Book of Solomon. She also made copies of French religious poems:

• Quatrains by Guy du Faur, Sieur de Pybrac (1529-1584)
• Octonaires . . . sur la Vanité et Inconstance du Monde, by Antoine de la Roche Chandieu (1534-1591)

For a full discussion of her textual and design sources, see the Scott-Elliot and Yeo Catalogue.

Selected further reading

Folger Shakespeare Library, The Collation

• Princely New Year's Gift?, Folger MS V.a.665
• Spotlight on a Calligrapher

Barker, Nicolas. Introduction to Esther Inglis's Les Proverbes de Salomon: a Facsimile. Arundel, England: Roxburghe Club, 2012.

Bracher, Tricia. "Esther Inglis and the English Succession Crisis of 1599." Women and Politics in Early Modern England, 1450-1700. Ed. James Daybell. Aldershot, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004. 132-146.

Frye, Susan. Chapter 2 in Pens and Needles: Women's Textualities in Early Modern England. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010.

Ross, Sarah Gwyneth. "Esther Inglis: Linguist, Calligrapher, Miniaturist, and Christian Humanist." Early Modern Women and Transnational Communities of Letters. Ed. Julie D. Campbell and Anne R. Larsen. Farnham, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2009. 159-181.

Tjan-Bakker, Anneke. "Dame Flora's Blossoms: Esther Inglis's Flower-Illustrated Manuscripts." English Manuscript Studies 1100-1700. Vol. 9, ed. Peter Beal and Margaret J.M. Ezell. London: The British Library, 2000. 49-72.

[Tjan]-Bakker, Anneke. "Esther Inglis & Maurice of Nassau." Quaerendo 48:1 (2018) 39-76. On Folger MS V.a.93. Ziegler, Georgianna. "'More than Feminine Boldness': The Gift Books of Esther Inglis." Women, Writing, and the Reproduction of Culture in Tudor and Stuart Britain. Ed. Mary E. Burke et al. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2000. 19-37.

Ziegler, Georgianna. "Hand-Ma[i]de Books: The Manuscripts of Esther Inglis, Early-Modern Precursors of the Artists' Book." English Manuscript Studies 1100-1700. Vol. 9, ed. Peter Beal and Margaret J.M. Ezell. London: The British Library, 2000. 73-87.

Manuscripts chart

The chart lists 64 known manuscripts by Esther Inglis, four of which are untraced, and two of which have recently been identified and are in neither of the standard bibliographies listed below. The Folger Shakespeare Library and the Houghton Library at Harvard each own five of her manuscripts, the largest collections in the US. (I do not count Folger X.d.533 as a separate manuscript as it was part of V.a.93 and not counted separately in Scott-Elliot and Yeo.)

The chart is organized by:

• Location
• Shelf-mark
• E-Y No., referring to the Catalogue prepared by A.H. Scott-Elliot and Elspeth Yeo, Publications of the Bibliographical Society of America 84:1 (March 1990), 10-86.
• CELM No.: Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts 1450-1700
• Title: see note on Sources above
• Date
• Dedication
• Self-Portrait: Scott-Elliot and Yeo identified 4 basic types, which are identified if possible
• Digital or other images available: Perdita refers to the subscription database of manuscripts by early English women writers; unfortunately, many of the images, made from microfilm, are grainy and difficult to see
• Binding: unusually, most of the manuscripts are in their original bindings
• Catalog Record
• Notes: "Barker" refers to the substantial Introduction by Nicolas Barker to his facsimile edition of Esther Inglis's Les proverbes de Salomon (Roxburghe Club, 2012)

Esther Inglis Manuscripts—A Census

Location US	Shelfmark	E-Y No.	CELM No.	Title	Date	Dedication?	Self-portrait?	Digitized? Images?	Binding	Catalog record	Notes
Folger	V.a.91	12	*InE 15	Octonaries	1600/01	No	Type 4	V.a.91; Perdita b&w	Leather, gold-tooled	Hamnet record
Folger	V.a.92	33	*InE 20	Octonaries	1607	William Jeffrey (active 1607)	No	V.a.92; Perdita b&w	Leather, gold-tooled	Hamnet record
Folger	V.a.93	8	*InE 31	Les CL Psames de David	1599	Prince Maurice of Nassau (1567-1625)	Type 1 [X.d.533]	V.a.93 (selections)	Brown velvet, embroidered	Hamnet record
Folger	V.a.94	36	*InE 36	Argumenta Psalmorum Davidis	1608	Prince Henry (1594-1612)	No	V.a.94 (selections); Perdita b&w	Red velvet, embroidered, pearls	Hamnet record
Folger	V.a.665	0	0	Psalms of David	1612	Prince Henry (1594-1612)	Type 3		Pink or yellow velvet, embroidered	Hamnet record
Folger	X.d.533		*InE 32	Self portrait from V.a.93			Type 1 [V.a.93]	X.d.533		Hamnet record
Harry Ransom Center (University of Texas-Austin)	Pforz MS 0126	21	*InE 27	A New Yeers Guift. [Book of Proverbs]	1606	Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester (1563-1626); no written ded.	No	Perdita color	Leather, gold-tooled	NA
Houghton (Harvard)	MS Typ 428.1	2	*InE 34	Penmanship specimens [Psalms]	1605	Susan de Vere, Countess of Montgomery (1587-1629)	No		Limp vellum	HOLLIS record
Houghton (Harvard)	MS Typ 212	25	*InE 35	Argumenta Psalmorum	1606	Thomas Egerton, Baron Ellesmere (1540?-1617)	Type 2	MS Typ 212	Leather, gold-tooled	HOLLIS record
Houghton (Harvard)	MS Typ 428	35	*InE 11	Argumentum singlorum capitum Geneseos	1608	Sir Edward Stanhope (1546?-1608)	No		Leather, gold-tooled	HOLLIS record
Houghton (Harvard)	MS Typ 347	44	*InE 50	Les six vingts et six quatrains de Guy de Faur	1615	No	No		Leather, gold-tooled	HOLLIS record
Houghton (Harvard)	MS Typ 49	46	*InE 58	Verbum sempiternum [by John Taylor]	1615	Samuel Kello (d. 1680)	No	MS Typ 49	Green velvet, embroidered	HOLLIS record
Huntington Library	mssHM 26068	3	*InE 2	Discours de la Foy	1591	Queen Elizabeth (1533-1603)	No	Digital Scriptorium, no images	Limp vellum, gold-tooled	Huntington Library record
Huntington Library	283000. Vol.5:III.	52	*InE 7	Emblematical drawing of Mary Queen of Scots	1622	John Erskine, Earl of Mar (c1562-1634)	No			Huntington Library record
The Morgan Library and Museum	MA 2149	28	*InE 6	Argumenta singuloru[m] capitum Eccles	1607	Thomas Puckering (1592-1636)	No		Leather, gold-tooled	Corsair record
The Morgan Library and Museum	B1 350 A MS W.72	47	*InE 19	Octonaires sur la vanite	1615	Andrew Ramsay (1574-1659)	No		Leather, gold-tooled	Corsair record
Newberry Library	Wing MS miniature ZW 645 .K29	23	*InE 29	A New Yeeres guift [Book of Proverbs, select.]	1606	Lady Erskine of Dirleton	No	Perdita - b&w	Leather, gold-tooled	Newberry record
Newberry	Wing MS miniature ZW 645 .K292	31	*InE 47	Les Quatrains du Sr. de Pybrac	1606?	Sir Thomas Hayes?	No	Perdita - b&w	Leather, gold-tooled	Newberry record
New York Public Library	Spencer Coll. French MS. 008	17	*InE 3	Le Livre de l'Ecclesiaste	1601	Catherine de Parthenay-Larcheveque, Vicomtesse de Rohan	Type 1	Spencer Coll. French MS 008 (selections)	Leather, gold-tooled	NYPL record
New York Public Library	Spencer Coll. MS. 14	13	*InE 14	Octonaries upon the Vanitie	1609	John, first Baron Petre	Yes	Spencer Coll. MS 14 (selections)	Leather, gold-tooled	NYPL record
Private Library	Julian I. Edison, St. Louis	11	*InE 43	Quatrains	1599	No	No	Two images b&w - Bibliotheque Raphael Esmerian, vol. 1, lot 9	Leather, gold-tooled	NA
Private Library	Julian I. Edison, St. Louis	43	*InE 21	Octonaires sur la Vanite	1615	Prince Charles (1600-1649)	?	Three images in color - Sotheby's Cat. 5 Dec. 1989, London, Lot 65	Red velvet, embroidered	NA
Private Library	Julian I. Edison, St. Louis	45	*InE 51	Quatrains	1615	Robert Karr, Earl of Somerset (1584/6-1645)	Formerly	Leather, gold-tooled	NA
Private Library	USA	0	*InE 46	Quatrains	1600	Henri, Vicomte de Rohan (1579-1638)	?	One image in Sotheby's Cat. 13 Dec. 1994, London, Lot 21		Leather, gold-tooled	NA