Villare Anglicum: Or, A View of the Townes of England. Collected by the appointment of Sir Henry Spelman Knight. London: R. Hodgkinsonne, 1656.
THE VERY RARE FIRST EDITION OF THIS VERY USEFUL (AT THE TIME) LIST OF THE TOWNS IN ENGLAND, PRINTED DURING A TUMULTUOUS TIME IN ENGLISH HISTORY, JUST PRIOR TO THE REFORMATION OF THE MONARCHY.
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The very rare first edition of this early work concerning English towns, preceding the more common second edition which arrived in 1678. This would have been a very useful book to own back in the 17th and 18th centuries, as the author remarks in the preface "Travelling long journeys is costly, at all times troublesome, at some times dangerous: yet is it both a general and generous desire of most men to be acquainted with their native country. To satisfie them herein, this work is set forth where thou mayest crosse Rivers without Boat or Bridge, climbe up Mountains without pains, and goe down without danger..."
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Size: 152 x 197 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[title page, a3-a4, A1-2B3]
Full leather, spine tooled in gilt with some stamped lines decorating the binding in a very traditional 17th century style. Binding is circa the 19th century and is very nicely executed. Spine uniformly sunned but shows very well on the shelf with the gilt bright. Joints very slightly rubbed but generally near fine with both boards securely attached, the binding secure and without shelf lean. Very minor rubbing to boards else they are near fine. Page edges dulled and discoloured as typical. Without any attached bookplates. Early ink ownership inscription to the head of the title page dated August 8th 1725 with a further of Daniel Jennings dated 1730 to the lower part of the title page. The text is unpaginated but the main text collates as complete according to a WorldCat copy. The preliminaries lack one leaf according to the signatures, perhaps a dedication? Mildly toned throughout else very clean. An excellent copy overall.
[OCLC 3905447].
