Thomas Heywood's The Hierarchy Of The Blessed Angels

During the special collections trip to the library, Thomas Heywood’s The Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels caught my attention. In truth, it was not only the content but also the full page artwork that drew me in. I visited the special collections library multiple times, and then also consulted the internet. I utilized the website Internet Archive to view a digital facsimile of the book as well as the Early English Books Text Creation Partnership I to view the text alone. It presented the text in three different ways, a physical version of the book, an online version of the book, and an online version of just the text.

On the outside, it appears nothing more than an aged hardback, leather-bound book. There is a scar running down the back cover,

The only quirk is the “5” from the date is turned on its side otherwise it doesn't look like it would fit there. Below that in extremely small letters is “T.Cecill Sculp”. T. Cecill Sculp, according to the library catalogue, is the person who did the engraving for the title page. On the left-hand side of this page is the “Electi” or the chosen angels. There is a ladder, “Jacob's Ladder”, up to heaven with four angels climbing it, and a man with a shepherd's pole, resting. Then on the other side, the one labeled “Reiecti, or the fallen, it depicts wingless men, about four of them, some with horns, falling from the clouds into the mouth of a beast/hell. The Reiecti is shaded much darker than the then Electi side. At the top of the page and above all else are large clouds that cover the top of the archway, and is were the Electi are climbing to, and the Reiecti are falling from. In these clouds are little cherubs surrounding a circle that encloses the trinity and little bubbles that state the different types of angels as well as some Latin words. Another interesting place that deals with differing font sizes, is the dedication page. The dedication page also uses three styles of font and about five different sizes. The more important the word such as “The most excellent and incomparable lady” “Henretta Maria” “Queen”

Like the actual book, it is still divided up into sections, but the side notes are gone along with any art or stamps. However, they did keep some strange typeset errors which in my opinion added something to the online text. However, if I wouldn’t have seen the physical copy I might have assumed that it was a peculiar typo created during the transfer of text from book to database, rather than a typeset error from the book itself. Reading the book in its original presentation gives it a completely different feel, especially compared to the EEBO TCPI . When reading it from the original book, I can develop a feel for what sort of person owned the book, which then gives me an idea of the intended audience. I am able to see the artwork, study the finer details, and tell if it is a more serious piece, or if it is satirical. When reading The Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels from a physical copy, it’s easy to see the religious, scholastic vibe of the book. One of the most important issues is that it’s easy to see how the book is broken up, whereas online it all runs together. Thus detracting from the importance of how the book is broken into the 9