John SPEED Historie of Great Britaine 3rd ed 1632

November 23, 2021

Rare Books, Documents, Photos, and Artwork

Lot 52

John SPEED Historie of Great Britaine 3rd ed 1632

Estimate: $1,200 - $1,500

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About this Lot

Description

John SPEED The Historie of Great Britaine under the Conquests of the Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans.

Offered for sale by Trillium Antiquarian Books. For more information please contact William Van Nest at info@trilliumbooks.ca.

John Speed. The Historie of Great Britaine under the Conquests of the Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. Their Originals, Manners, Habits, Warres, Coins, and Seals: with the Successions, Lives, Acts, and Issues of the English Monarchy from Julius Caesar, unto the Raigne of King James of famous Memorie. London: Printed by John Dawson for George Humble, 1632. Sold in Popes-head Pallace, at the signe of the White Horse. Third edition, re-issued, enlarged, and corrected (pp. 1237, Summary of the Whole, Table of Contents). Small folio (34 cm) in full modern calf with restrained decoration by Burbidge, gilt titles to spine, six raised bands. New endpapers, archival repairs to the title page, the first ten pages, and to a few subsequent pages; table of contents ends at ‘traitors’. Text in two columns and with lined margins; numerous woodcuts as seals, coins, head and tail pieces, and other decorations; genealogical charts, arms. Text generally clean and bright, text block firm. Although Speed is said to have regarded his Historie as his most important work, it is for the atlas volume comprising which accompanied it, Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, that he is best known. The Historie and the Theatre, as was the practice of the time, were something of a joint effort-- the plates from which the maps were printed having been engraved by Hondius and Speed was closely associated with fellow members of the Society of Antiquaries such as William Camden and Robert Cotton (ODNB). In his biography of Speed (1551- 1629), Baynton- Williams says, “We do not know the price for which the First Edition sold, but the 1627 edition of the Theatre was offered at 40 shillings bound, 30 shillings unbound, and the History for 30 shillings bound, 20 shillings unbound. In much the same way, the atlas could be purchased with the maps either in black and white or coloured”. According to the ODNB, the “Theatre and History were published together in 1611–12. They were an immediate success: three new editions and issues of each appeared during Speed's lifetime, and a miniature version was first published about 1619–20. The maps in the Theatre became the basis for subsequent folio atlases until the mid-eighteenth century” (Sarah Bendall). A clean, bright, sound copy in a suitably plain style binding. Good for another hundred years.

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