ONE OF ONLY 75 LARGE-PAPER COPIES OF CUSSANS’ ILLUSTRATED FOLIO HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE

CUSSANS, John Edwin. History of Hertfordshire. London: Chatto and Windus, 1870-1881. Three volumes. Thick atlas folio (13 by 20 inches), contemporary three-quarter black morocco gilt, raised bands, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. $3000.

Limited large-paper first edition of this monumental county history, number 10 of only 75 copies, with engraved frontispiece portrait, six full-page chromolithographs, 13 tinted lithographs, four engraved plates, a double-page hand-colored map, and numerous in-text wood-engravings.

“The first inhabitants of Hertfordshire of whom we have an account were the Catieuchlani and the Casii, two British tribes, who also occupied a great portion of the adjoining counties.” Published in 16 parts between 1870 and 1881, Cussans’ detailed Hertfordshire contains, in addition to the histories of the more important houses and parish churches, transcriptions of a large number of memorial inscriptions from church interiors, and in some cases the more impressive memorials in the churchyards. These Hertfordshire families were meticulously documented by Cussans, who had devoted the best part of his life to heraldic and genealogical studies, 15 years of which were spent on Hertfordshire. Bookplate.

Fine condition, a splendid copy.