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

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