[EKStationers] Charter - Please Review and Respond

[Heather Gray]

Greetings to the List!

Below please find the charter, which Lyle, Iheronimus and I have been working on.  It's a bit long and wordy as it is based on the text from the London Stationers Company. It essentially says 'hi' to their majesties, says who we all are, who our primary officers are, states our intent to become a chartered group pursuing all the book arts, and our intention to make book art stuff, network with like-minded persons, and teach book art stuff to others.  It does not list the guidelines we've been working on regarding teachers, students, etc. The wardens are not given specific areas to administer to, so we can leave that as changeable according to what the current wardens are willing and able to administer to.  The original charter did not list all the position within the company, and we have left it that way, so it does not list a clerk, for instance, even though they had one.

Captayne Robert Fairfax has offered to calligraph it for us for presentation at Coronation, and will do it using a feather quill and oak gall ink that he has made himself.  He will be travelling in the UK for a week this month however, and would like to have a copy of the charter by this Thursday, if at all possible, so that he can begin the layout of the document.

I'll be posting people who have volunteered for offices in a separate post.  Please review the charter below, and post comments to the list.  If you would like to be included in the charter, please let me (Elwynne) know.  It is our hope that we can present this at Coronation, and have been successfully added to the court docket for Brion and Anna's court -- they are very impressed with the company, and are enthusiastic about the opportunity to recognize the company and make us official!

Thanks,

Elwynne

***

The king and queen to all to whom etc. greeting. Know ye that we, considering and manifestly perceiving that certain books, rhymes and treatises are daily published and printed by divers persons who may or may not have proper knowledge of the proper creating, making and dispensing of same, and wishing to provide a suitable remedy in this behalf, of our special grace and from our certain knowledge and mere motion we will, give and grant for ourselves, the heirs and successors of us the foresaid King and Queen, to our beloved and faithful lieges [NAMES of everyone who wants to be listed in the charter], free men and women of the mistery or art of Stationery of our Kingdom of the East, that they from hence forth may be in fact, deed and name one body of themselves for ever, and one perpetual community incorporated of one Master and five Keepers or Wardens in the community of the same mistery or art of Stationery of the foresaid kingdom, and that they may have perpetual succession.

And further we of our special grace and from our certain knowledge and mere motion, by these presents ordain, create, erect, make and appoint the foresaid [Name of Master] Master of the same Mistery or Art of Stationery of the foresaid kingdom during one year next following, and the foresaid [Names of Wardens] Keepers or Wardens of the same mistery or art of Stationery of the foresaid kingdom for one year next following; and the foresaid free men and women of the company we make, create, and appoint by these presents the community of the same mistery or art of Stationery of the foresaid kingdom.

And further we ordain, create, erect, make, and appoint by these presents the foresaid Master Wardens and community in deed and in name one body by themselves for ever, and one community for ever incorporated of one Master and five Keepers or Wardens and the community of the same mistery or art of Stationery of the foresaid kingdom of the East, and we incorporate the Master, Keepers or Wardens and community, and we will, grant, create, erect, ordain, make, declare and appoint them by these presents to be a corporate body by the name of "the Master and Keepers or Wardens and Community of the mistery or art of Stationery of the Kingdom of the East," for ever to endure really and in full; and that the same Masters, Keepers or Wardens and community may have for the future perpetual succession; and that the Master and keepers or Wardens and community and their successors shall be for ever entitled, named, and called by the name of "The Masters and Keepers or Wardens and Community of the Mistery or Art of Stationery of the Kingdom of the East" and by that name shall have power to plead and be impleaded and answer and be answered in all and several matters, suits, and complaints, actions, demands and causes before any judges and justices, and in any courts and places; and they shall have a common seal to serve and make sure of for their matters and business, and for the sealing of all and several their deeds and writings in any wise touching or concerning their affairs and business; and the Masters and Keepers or Wardens and community and their successors from time to time may make and ordain and establish, for the good and sound rule and government of the free men and women of the art or mistery aforesaid and of the forsaid community, ordinances, provisions and statutes are not in any way repugnant or contrary to the laws or statutes of this our kingdom of the East, or to the prejudice of the common wealth of the same, our kingdom; and that they and their successors for ever shall have power to form lawful and honourable assemblies of themselves for statutes and ordinances of this kind and other things for the good of this mistery or art and of the same community, whenever it shall please them, freely and with impunity, without molestation or disturbance of us or the heirs or successors of us the foresaid King and Queen, or of any other; and that the foresaid Master and Keepers or Wardens and Community of the said mistery or art of Stationery of the foresaid kingdom and their successors or the greater part of them assembled lawfully and in a fitting place yearly for ever, or oftener or more seldom, at such times and places within the foresaid kingdom as they shall please, may elect and make of themselves one Master and five Keepers or Wardens of the same mistery or art of Stationery of the foresaid kingdom to rule, govern, and oversee the mister and community aforesaid and all the men of the same mistery and the business of the same, and to remove and put out of their offices their former Master and their former Keepers or Wardens as it seems best to them; and that if and whenever it shall happen in any election that the Master and Keepers or Wardens and community aforesaid are equal in one vote part against another, in such election that then and so often the Master of the foresaid mistery, if there is any Master at that time, or the elder Keeper or Warden of the mistery if there is no master of that mistery at that time, shall have two votes in such elections; and that the Masters and Keepers or Wardens and the community of the foresaid mistery and their successors for the time being for ever shall be persons, able and capable in law to give, grant, and let their lands and tenements, goods and chattels, and to acquire, possess, take and receive for themselves and their successors lands, tenements, possessions, goods, chattels and hereditaments to have, enjoy, and possess for themselves and their successors for ever, notwithstanding the statute passed concerning lands and tenements not to be put in mortmain, or any statute, act or ordinance made, or to be made to the contrary.

Besides we will, grant, ordain, and appoint for ourselves and the successors of us the foresaid King and Queen that no person within this our realm of the East or the dominions of the same shall practise or exercise by himself or herself or by his or her ministers, his or her servants or by any other person the art or mistery of printing any book or any thing for sale or traffic within this our realm of the East or the dominions of the same, but that they shall be encouraged and given access to all manner of teachers, instruction, and instructional materials in order to further the mistery or art of Stationery.Further we will, grant, ordain, and appoint for ourselves, the heirs and successors of us the foresaid King and Queen to the foresaid Master, Keepers or Wardens and community of the mistery or art of Stationery of the kingdom of the East aforesaid and their successors for ever, that it shall be lawful for the Master and Keepers or Wardens aforesaid and their successors for the time being to make available education in the knowledge of papermaking, parchment making, book binding, printing, lymning, block cutting, engraving, text-writing, book selling, and all skills relating thereto, whether in the form of teaching in a one to one relationship, in classes, workshops, scholas or universities, or in the publishing of instructions of same, and to promote these arts in all ways that the foresaid Master, Keepers or Wardens and community of the mistery or art of Station deem best, without let or hindrance. 

Notwithstanding that express mention of the true yearly value, or of the certainty of the premises, or of any of them, or of other gifts or grants made by us or by any of our progenitors to the foresaid Master and Keepers or Wardens and community before these times, is not made in these presents, or any statute, act, ordinance, provision or restriction to the contrary hereof previously made, published, ordained or provided, or any other thing, cause, or matter whatever in any wise.

In witness of which thing we have caused to be made these our letters patent.The King and Queen, etc. We have inspected the letters patent to be granted to the Master, Keepers or Wardens and Community of the Mistery or Art of Stationery of our Kingdom of the East, made in these words:-- 

We therefore holding firm and agreeable the foresaid letters and all and several the contents of the same, for ourselves, our heirs and successors as far as in us lies accept and approve of them, and ratify and confirm them to our beloved [name of master] now Master of the Mistery or Art of Stationery aforesaid and to [names of wardens], Keepers or wardens f the same Mistery and their successors, as the foresaid charters and letters reasonably testify in themselves.In witness of which thing, etc. Witness the King and Queen at Barony of Bergental, the first day of April in anno quadraginta Societatis at our celebration of the coronation of Brion and Anna, King and Queen of the East.
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