The collection of the history of England. by Daniel, Samuel - 1626

London: Printed [by Nicholas Okes] for Simon Waterson, 1626. Folio (28.5 cm; 11.5"). [4] ff., 222 pp. (without imprimatur and dedication leaves).

Daniel (1562–1619), a poet and historian, was educated at Oxford but left without taking a degree. During his life he had several patrons, served several lords, and only obtained financial security early in the 17th century when Queen Anne became his Maecenas. His early poetry varied in style but by the early 1590s it was solidly in the dolce stile.
    In 1612 Daniel brought out his first important prose work, The First Part of the Historie of England. The present work completes that earlier one and after recapitulating the earlier history in just 22 pages, takes the story from the Conquest to the end of the reign of Edward III.
    The title is printed within a woodcut "arabesque" border and the text is in roman within line borders defining space for sidenotes.
    Evidence of Readership: Occasional pencil marks in text; final blank with old pencil notes and an inked couplet of yet greater age: "To make poor mortalls more in Love with breath / The Gods conceale the benefitts of Death."
    Provenance: Signature on front free endpaper of "Thos. Hekt"(?) dated 1822; older ownership note on inside rear board of "Fransisci Heyct"(?); 20th-century bookplate of the famous collector Boies Penrose II.
    
    STC (rev. ed.) 6251; ESTC S107343. Contemporary calf over paste boards, modest blind double-ruled border on boards, gilt beading on board edges; binding worn, lacks pastedowns, hinges (inside) open but binding strong. Inner margin of title-leaf discolored from old glue. Text generally clean with only light waterstains in some early leaves' upper inner parts, a few stray stains or pencil marks as noted above in text, one leaf with a short closed tear. Without the imprimatur leaf preceding the title and lacking the dedication leaf, which was an insert between A2 and A3 and is frequently lacking; final blank leaf, also usually missing, present here with notes as above. Ownership notes as noted. On the whole, a good copy.