Connecting Collections – Have with You to Saffron-Walden
A short publication that was Thomas Nashe’s (1567–1601) final response in a four-year war of words with his rival, Gabriel Harvey (1545–1631).
Have with You to Saffron-Walden. Or, Gabriell Harveys Hunt is Up (1596) is a rare and outspoken pamphlet by Thomas Nashe (1567–1601), a Cambridge-educated writer known for his sharp wit and confrontational style. Nashe was one of the most distinctive voices of late Elizabethan literature (16th century), using pamphlets, plays, and prose fiction to critique society and attack his rivals.
This work is the final entry in a long-running argument between Nashe and Gabriel Harvey (1545–1631), a scholar and writer also educated at Cambridge. Harvey was known for his academic tone and efforts to reform English verse along classical lines, but he was widely mocked by his contemporaries for his self-importance. Nashe’s pamphlet takes direct aim at Harvey, using humour, ridicule, and inventive language to undermine his reputation.
Nashe’s prose in Saffron-Walden is fast-paced, mocking, and full of elaborate insults, classical references, and wordplay. What makes the pamphlet stand out even more is its inventive use of print. Nashe’s printer, John Danter, employed nearly every available hand-press trick—most notably a crude woodcut caricature of Harvey rushing to the privy, a visual pun on “Ajax” (Elizabethan slang for a toilet, or “jakes”).
With only sixteen known copies surviving today, Have with You to Saffron-Walden is not only a fierce piece of satire but also a fascinating example of how writers in the 1590s used the new power of print to shape public discourse. This pamphlet perfectly exemplifies the “pamphlet wars” of the late 16th century—a time when print allowed writers like Nashe to attack reputations, engage readers, and reshape public discourse with wit, mockery, and visual provocation.
In 2022, this copy of the pamphlet was donated to Newcastle University Library from the Blavatnik Honresfield Library by the Friends of the National Libraries, ensuring wider access to this historically significant text.
The Blavatnik Honresfield Library was a major private collection of Jewish books, manuscripts, and historical materials, covering a wide span of Jewish thought, culture, and history. When the collection faced an uncertain future, it was saved through the support of Sir Leonard Blavatnik.
Rather than remaining private or being sold off, the library was carefully dispersed across UK institutions, with items allocated based on existing collection strengths. This ensured the materials would be preserved, catalogued, and made publicly accessible, while enriching library holdings and supporting ongoing research and education.
Dr. Kate De Rycker and Professor Jenny Richards explore the pamphlet in more depth in a Newcastle University Connecting Collections video below. Their work is part of The Thomas Nashe Project, a major research initiative based at Newcastle University, dedicated to editing and reintroducing Nashe’s complete works for modern readers.
This video was filmed as part of our Connecting Collections video series, in which academic colleagues from Newcastle University talk us through some of the unique and distinctive items held in our collections pertinent to their areas of research and expertise.
