The Hearse of the Renowned and A briefe and compendious Narrative

I found these entries by paging through the Bodleian's pamphlet C 77 (2). I'm stopping because the copperplate etching of Essex in "The Hearse of the Renowned" (C 77 2 8) is almost certainly the source for the smaller, less detailed woodcut engraving in "A brief and compendious Narrative" (C 77 2 9).

"The Hearse of the Renowned" etching (121.0 mm high, 116.0 mm wide) is bound in a preliminary position, but the signatures were cut off in binding. I infer that it's the verso of A1, and it's left an inky residue on the recto of an inferred A2, but there are some reasons to disbelieve that placement. If title-pages functioned as advertisements, as we're so often told, then it may have been that this page would be set in the A1r position. The title-text is on A2r.  The chain-lines on the inferred A1 match the width of the chain lines on A4. On the A1 leaf, the upper chainline is 29.5 mm above the bottom edge as measured along the binding; the lower chainline is 7.5 mm above the bottom edge as measured along the binding; the difference is 22 mm between chainlines. On the A4 leaf, the upper chainline is 31 mm above the bottom edge as measured along the binding; the lower chainline is 8.5 mm above the bottom edge as measured along the binding; the difference is 22 mm between chainlines.

The Harvard copy seems to have the same setting of type, except I must dive into some of the weirdness of bibliographic description. The plates are different: Harvard's copy shows Essex in front of a hatched backdrop; Oxford's copy has Essex in front of a floral curtain, parted along the right to reveal the shield, "Ætatis ſuce. 56." and the background, several groups of pikemen. Does the difference in engraving mean that this is a different edition? It's not certain whether the title-page illustration was actually the title page, or the degree to which the differences in title page may indicate another unit of intended publication.

The Union copy seems to have the same engraving, but a significantly different setting of type.

The ESTC shows five editions containing this text or its illustration, and three editions by the same publisher under the same title within a year. All of this suggests to me that this was a popular pf "rint in 1646, which may have exhausted the original copperplate used for each edition.

The woodcut from "A brief and compendious Narrative" (97.5 mm high, 78.0 mm wide) is bound on the (unsigned) A1v. The title-text is on the (unsigned) A1r. This woodcut seems especially clear to be a direct plagiarism from the engraving from the Oxford copy of "The Hearse of the Renowned" based on two unique similarities:

• The "Narrative" woodcut includes a flask, labelled "s," as seen in the Oxford and Union editions of "Hearse," but not in the Harvard or BL editions.
• The "Narrative" woodcut includes both elbows, as seen in the Oxford and Union editions of "Hearse," but not in the Harvard or "BL" editions. 

That said, the woodcut includes no background whatsoever, and is significantly simpler in several aspects than any engraving in two regards:

• the woodcut portrait has a completely unornamented collar
• the woodcut portrait has fewer buttons

I conclude that the "Narrative" is a reductive imitation of "Hearse" not only because of it's illustration is simpler and it contains fewer pages, but also because of the reported dates on each title page. "Hearse" purports to conclude a funeral sermon from 22 October, 1646, whereas "Narrative" alludes to Essex's death on 15 December, 1646. Even though "Narrative" revises the date of Essex's death, it doesn't contain any content from his life after he was sacked from the army in May of 1646. Furthermore, the date recorded on "Hearse" comes closer to the date recorded in the Oxford DNB, 14 September 1646.