The Historie of the Most Renowned and Victorious Princesse Elizabeth, Late Queene of England. Cantayning All the Important and Remarkeable Passages of State Both at Home and Abroad, During Her Long and Prosperous Raigne. Composed by Way of Annals. Neuer Heretoforeso Faithfully and Fully Published in English. London: Printed for Benjamin Fisher and are to be Sold at His Shop in Aldergate Streete, at the Signe of the Talbot. MDCXXX (1630).
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This is the first complete edition in English of William Camden’s important history of Queen Elizabeth I, “among the best historical productions which have yet been composed by an Englishman” (David Hume).
This "most exquisite history" (Lowndes, 358) by the greatest Renaissance historian (and teacher of Ben Jonson) granted William Camden full "claim to be considered as the founder, not merely of antiquarian studies, but also of the study of modern history" (PMM 101). His "friend and patron, Lord Burleigh, had in 1597, a year before his death, urged Camden to compile a history of the reign of Elizabeth. His lordship had carefully noted the events and actors of the time, and his information and literary records were of invaluable assistance to the historian." In his History of England David Hume notes that this work "is written with simplicity of expression, very rare in that age, and with a regard to truth. It would not, perhaps, be too much to affirm that it is among the best historical productions which have yet been composed by any Englishman."
VERY RARE! We can trace only a single sales record for this first complete English edition.
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Size: 185 x 286 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[t.p., 12pp., 6pp., 148pp., 224pp., 19pp.]
Full brown calf binding, rubbed and scuffed, lacking the tooled label. Both boards attached with the front joint cracked, rear joint starting, and both hinges cracked, thus fragile. Shelf and edge wear. No shelf lean. Page edges dulled. No attached bookplates or ownership inscriptions. Front blank partially stuck to the front pastedown. Text block fairly clean with light toning and some foxing, as well as damp staining throughout to the edges of leaves. Tear to the last leaf of the text block and holes and tears to the rear blank. Lacks frontispiece.
