Report and Discourse Written by Roger Ascham by ASCHAM, Roger - 1570: of the Affaires and State of Germany and the Emperour Charles his Court, During Certaine Yeares while the Sayd Roger was There.

London: Printed by John Daye, 1570. First Edition of Ascham's Account of Contemporary Political Development in Germany

[ASCHAM, Roger]. A Report and Discourse Written by Roger Ascham of the Affaires and State of Germany and the Emperour Charles his Court, During Certaine Yeares while the Sayd Roger was There. London: Printed by John Daye, [n.d.c.a. 1570].

First edition. [3], 33 leaves. (7 x 5 5/8 inches; 178 x 135 mm). Title-page within a woodcut border. Woodcut initials. Text in black letter. With a preface letter from John Astely to R. Ascham, dated 1552.

Full contemporary calf, bound to style. Board with numerous rules in blind, and double ruled in gilt. Gilt leaf corner devices and central gilt acorn and leaf device. Spine stamped and ruled in gilt, and ruled in blind. Top margin of title-page trimmed close, just touching woodcut border. Previous owner Robert Pirie bookplate laid in. Overall a very good copy in a beautiful binding.

"The edition dated 1552 (The date [1553?] given by B.M. Catalogue and the Huntington C.L. is a rationalization from the date of Astley's letter.) and 1570 noted by Lowndes and other authorities are ghosts, the first being the date of composition, by misinterpretation, taken as the date of printing, and the second originating with the Douce copy which has inserted, at the end, the colophon leaf from Day's 1570 edition of the Scholemaster [q.v.]." (Pforzheimer 14)

ESTC S100282. Pforzheimer 14.

HBS 67651.

$5,000.