“ALL THE GLORIES OF THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH I”: FIRST EDITION OF RALEIGH’S HISTORY OF THE WORLD, 1614, WITH EIGHT ENGRAVED MAPS AND PLANS, IN JAMES I ARMORIAL BINDING

(RALEIGH, Walter). The History of the World. London: (William Stansby) for Walter Burre, 1614. Thick folio (9 by 13 inches), contemporary calf boards with gilt-tooled royal arms of James I, rebacked in calf-gilt, red morocco spine label, raised bands.

First edition, first issue, of Sir Walter Raleigh's ambitious world history, illustrated with beautiful engraved allegorical frontispiece and eight double-page engraved maps and plans, in contemporary calf boards bearing the gilt heraldry of King James I.

"Both in time and in merit, [Raleigh] belongs among the first writers of impassioned English prose" (Baugh et al., 625). James I imprisoned Raleigh in the Tower between 1603-16, during which time Raleigh wrote this, his great last work. "The success of Raleigh's History… can perhaps be explained by the very fact that it is not a work of history in the academic sense but a political tract of immediate applicability. Its author was listened to, not so much because he was a scholar… as because he embodied all the glories of the reign of Elizabeth I, which at the time of publication had already begun to be transfigured into a golden age… The Historyprovided an arsenal of political ammunition to the Englishmen who overthrew the absolutism of the Stewarts at home and laid the foundations of New England beyond the seas… Raleigh can be taken as the epitome of the Elizabethan idea of courtier and politician, sailor and explorer, writer and poet… He was among the first Englishmen to envisage clearly that the Americas should be the principal goal of English overseas expansion… The reversal of Elizabeth's policy by James I encompassed Raleigh's ruin… He finally fell a victim to James's pro-Spanish inclinations, and the last Elizabethan died by the executioner's axe" (PMM 117). Raleigh intended to publish the history in three parts, but completed only the first volume, beginning with the Creation and ended at 130 B.C. He traces the rise and fall of the three great empires of Babylon, Assyria and Macedon, and deals exhaustively with the most flourishing periods of Jewish, Greek and Roman history. "Raleigh's long preface was the most comprehensive and eloquent discussion of historiography so far given by an Englishman. It included a philosophized survey of English history from Edward II to Henry VIII" (Bush). The beautiful engraved title page by Renold Elstrack serves as a pictorial allegory of the work as a whole, and includes a world map incorporating several important allusions to Raleigh's career. Facing the title page is a poetical explanation of the images, attributed to Ben Jonson. Two of the eight large, double-page maps and plans (between leaves [Z4] and [Z5], and between 2N3 and [2N4]) are signed by of "one of the earliest English engravers," William Hole (Tooley, 88); the others are attributed to him "but show considerable variation in skill an technique" (Pforzheimer). With ornamental woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces. First issue, with uncorrected errata and blank leaf [3K4] (pages [653-4]) at end of Book II. Without final blank [7C6]. Both boards of this copy boast the gilt-tooled royal arms of James I. STC 20637. Armitage 38. Brushfield 223A. Pforzheimer 820. Occasional old marginalia; old ink annotation to center of map between [5P5] and [5P6].

First map with minor worming to center fold and marginal restoration. Occasional light foxing; mild marginal dampstaining to first several and last few gatherings. Corners of title page and facing leaf restored, affecting content of neither leaf. Engraved title and dedication leaves possibly supplied from another copy. Contemporary gilt-tooled boards with royal arms of James I with expert restoration. A very good copy.