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<P><FONT face=Garamond color=#008080>Greetings to the List!</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Garamond color=#008080>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.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Garamond color=#008080>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.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Garamond color=#008080>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!</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Garamond color=#008080>Thanks,</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Garamond color=#008080>Elwynne</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Garamond color=#008080>***</FONT></P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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:-- </P>
<P>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.</P></BODY></HTML>