Polydori Vergilii. Urbinatis Anglicae Historiae Libri XXVI. Basileae: Aupod Io. Bebelium, 1534.. First edition...

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First Edition of Polydore Vergil's History of England

Polydori Vergilii. Urbinatis Anglicae Historiae Libri XXVI. Basileae: Aupod Io. Bebelium, 1534.

First edition. Folio. 610, [48] pages. Index. Woodcut printer's device on title page and the verso of final index page. Woodcut initials throughout. Text in Latin.

Early full calf over wooden boards. Ornate blind-stamping to boards. Corners restored. Rebacked in later calf; raised bands and gilt lettering to spine. Brass clasp catches to edge of top board, missing clasps. Front hinge and joint tender. Inked name of previous owner on front free endpaper. Inked notations in a contemporary hand to title page and occasional marginalia throughout. Some dampstaining to beginning and end of text block. Very good.

"The Historia Anglica of Polydore Vergil is the production of a learned Italian, the friend of Erasmus. [...] He resided in England nearly half a century (A.D. 1503-50), and his work, undertaken at the request of King Henry VIII, appeared at Basil in 1534. It was divided into twenty-six books, of which three relate to the reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV, and Richard III" (Gardiner).

Samuel Rawson Gardiner, Introduction to the Study of English History, 298.