THE CHRONICLES OF ENGLAND, SCOTLANDE AND IRELANDE. by HOLINSHED, Raphael.: - 1577

At London, imprinted for Iohn Hunne, 1577.. Conteyning, the description and chronicles of England, from the first inhabiting vnto the conquest. The description and chronicles of Scotland, from the first originall of the Scottes nation, till the yeare of our Lorde. 1571. The description and chronicles of Yrelande, likewise from the firste originall of that nation, vntill the yeare. 1547. Faithfully gathered and set forth, by Raphaell Holinshed. Arthur Satrey's ownership inscription in old ink dated 27 February 1577 on dedication leaf and John Harding's ownership inscription dated 1678 in upper margin of title to second part. FIRST EDITION, VOLUME I ONLY OF TWO, 1577, (Volume II continued the history of England to the reign of Elizabeth I). Small folio, slightly trimmed copy, 285 x 190 mm, 11¼ x 7½ inches, bound in eights, each of the 3 parts has its own decorated title page showing a mermaid, lion heads, fruit and plants, an angel at the top and beneath 1577, at the foot "God save the Queene", text in black letter in 2 columns, over 500 woodcuts in the text of various sizes, plus large historiated initials, leaves: [9], 1-126, (last page misnumbered 124), pages: 1-289, [1]; [8], 1-22, lacks blank, 1-518, [26] ; leaves: [4], 1-28; pages: 1-115, [8 of 9]; lacks page of faults, bound in full blind stamped calf, rebacked at sometime keeping early covers. Binding rubbed and with repairs, slight loss to head of spine, hinges cracked and weak, , covers still firmly attached, inner hinges strengthened, first title page has margins neatly trimmed and is laid down on old paper, with Holinshed's coat of arms pasted to blank side, tear with loss to the lower margin of page 57 in the Scottish part, with loss to three lines on either side, and a tear to outer margin of page 97 with slight loss to side notes but not affecting main text, loss to tip of a few corners nowhere near text, minor light damp staining to about 30 pages, Porkington library bookplate to first pastedown, some old ink annotations and underlining in an early hand, mostly to upper margins of the "History of England", a small burn hole to centre margin of leaf 4, a few other minor stains and marks but overall a very good clean copy. The 3 sections on the 3 countries are divided into a description of the country plus its history. Woodcuts appear on most pages, there are small portraits of kings and queens, many large 2 column cuts of varying height, battle scenes, sieges, towns ablaze, duels, cruel punishments, a guillotine, warships, hunting, court and street scenes, building churches, harvesting; many repeated, some several times. See: The Carl H' Pforzheimer Library, English Literature 1475-1700 Volume 2, No., 494; ESTC S3985. MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE, FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. POSTAGE AT COST.