"A MASTERPIECE OF HISTORIC BIOGRAPHY"
- Horace Walpole -
The Life and Raigne of King Henry the Eighth. Written by the Right Honourable Edward Lord Herbert of Cherbury. London: Thomas Whitaker, 1649.
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FIRST EDITION of "one of the best histories in the English language" (Lowndes 1047). Edward Herbert began writing this biography of Henry VIII using all of the best original first hand sources available at the time. Beginning his writing in 1632, it wasn't published until after Herbert's death in 1649 and was a gargantuan effort at the time and is one of the best sources by which we know of the life and reign of King Henry VIII, one of the most infamous of British monarchs, to this day.
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Size: 190 x 284 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[A1-A5, 575pp., 5ff. (index)]
Half morocco over marbled paper backed boards, the front with some earlier leather, probably 18th century. Shows very attractively indeed on the shelf with the spine very lightly rubbed and a little sunned, but generally excellent. Preserving an earlier tooled morocco label in between raised bands with a gilt date of 1649 at the foot. Joints fine with both boards securely attached, with the hinges reinforced with cloth. Shelf and edge wear with some loss to the marbled paper at the edges as typical. Boards a little bowed but the binding is without shelf lean. Without any attached bookplates but with an ink ownership inscription to the head of the ffep of R. H. Shuttleworth and another contemporary ownership inscription to the head of the title page, partially trimmed away at the head, of George Masterson (?). Pasted cutout of Henry VIII. to the verso blank of the title page acting as a frontis, but lacking the original frontis, as often. This cutout could be taken from the original frontis, it matches the original size etc (?). Very clean throughout the text block, indeed internally excellent, just mildly toned throughout, with the odd few early ink marks in the margins throughout, nothing obscuring any text. Collated as complete except for the frontispiece.
[OCLC 42945493; ESTC R015909; Wing (2nd ed.) H1504; Pforzheimer 463; MMSID 9928292763804341; Lowndes 1047].
