Introduction to a Breviary of the History of England with the Reign of King William the I First Edition - Walter Raleigh - Bauman Rare Books

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Introduction to a Breviary of the History of England with the Reign of King William the I

Walter RALEIGH

Item#: 114334 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Introduction to a Breviary of the History of England with the Reign of King William the I

Introduction to a Breviary of the History of England with the Reign of King William the I

"AND BEING ABOUT FIFTY ONE OF HIS AGE, WHEN HE SUBDUED THIS KINGDOM, IT SEEMS BY HIS CONTINUAL ACTIONS, HE FELT NOT THE WEIGHT OF YEARS UPON HIM": FIRST EDITION OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH'S AN INTRODUCTION TO A BREVIARY OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND WITH THE REIGN OF KING WILLIAM THE I, ENTITLED THE CONQUEROR, 1693

RALEIGH, Walter. An Introduction to a Breviary of the History of England with the Reign of King William the I. Entitled the Conqueror. London: Printed for Sam. Keble, 1693. Tall 12mo, 19th-century full brown calf, raised bands, dark brown morocco spine label; pp. 77.

First edition of this unfinished biography of William the Conqueror, purportedly written by Raleigh and then discovered posthumously in the library of a "Person of High Quality," with frontispiece portrait of Raleigh by Frederick Hendrik van Hove.

An Introduction to a Breviary was originally intended to provide a history of England from William the Conqueror to the end of Elizabeth I's reign. However, the final manuscript was left unfinished, possibly due to the death of the author, and concluded with William's death. The work, though brief, offers interesting insights into historical events during William I's reign as well as the nature of government. The authorship of this work has long been in dispute: Thomas Nadauld Brushfield and Arthur Cayley—both experts in Raleighana—assigned authorship to Samuel Daniels, but Raleigh biographer Edward Edwards—with the support of added research—disputed that finding. With three pages of publisher's advertisements. Wing R169. Bookplate. Pencil auction notations.

A few faint stains and only slight marginal foxing to a few leaves, wear and slight splitting to joints, small stain to front board. A handsome near-fine copy.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
Association Copy copy that belonged to someone connected with the author or the contents of a book.
Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
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Calf Binding material made from cowhide—versatile, durable, usually tan or brown in color, of smooth texture with no or little apparent grain. Readily marbled (“tree calf”), mottled, diced, colored, polished, tooled in gilt or blind, even scented (known as “russia”). Reverse calf, with a distinctive suede-like texture, is occasionally used.
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Doublure Pastedowns made not of paper but of leather, for decorative purposes.
Duodecimo (12MO) Smaller than an octavo, typically less than six inches tall; smaller formats, such as 24mo and 32mo, are uncommon.
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Half Title Leaf preceding the title page that bears the book’s title, originally used to identify the unbound text block. The book’s binder would often remove and discard the half title at the time of binding. Remaining half-titles are therefore of interest to collectors.
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Japanese Vellum Expensive handmade paper often used in deluxe editions.
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Morocco Binding material made from goatskin—versatile, durable, with a distinctive pebbled texture and visible grain. Readily stretched (“straight-grain”), crushed (flattened smooth), tooled in gilt or blind, inlaid with leathers of different colors. So-called because much of the raw material originally came from the tanneries of North Africa (other types of goatskin bindings denoting regions of origin include levant, turkey, niger).
Offset The unintended transfer of ink from one printed page to an adjacent page.
Period-Style binding executed with materials, tools and techniques to approximate the look of a contemporary binding from the period of the book’s publication. The term implies that the binding is modern, or recent, unless otherwise specified.
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Wood-Engraving Engraving made with the graver or burin on the cross-section of a piece of boxwood; the harder wood and finer tools allow for more delicate, finely detailed images, while the block can still be set in the page alongside text and printed on the same stock as the text. While much older, wood engravings enjoyed an important renaissance in the late eighteenth century through Thomas Bewick and continued in popularity thorugh the nineteenth century.
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