Rowlands, Henry: [Owen, Henry, ed.:] Mona Antiqua Restaurata. An Archaeological Discourse on the Antiquities, Natural and Historical, of the Isle of Anglesey, the Antient Seat of the British Druids. In two essays. With an appendix, containing a Comparative Table of Primitive Words, and the Derivatives of them in several of the Tongues of Europe; with Remarks upon them.Together with some Letters, and three Catalogues, added thereunto. I. Of the M London: printed for J.[ohn] Knox, near Southampton-Street in the Strand, 1766. Second edition. 4to., pp. xi, [v], 357, [iii] + map frontispiece + 12 plates. Final leaf has a publisher's advert and errata. A few slight smudges and some faint pencil marks to margins but generally very clean. Contemporary tan speckled calf. Spine gilt with raised bands and red title label, small gilt crest to centre of each board. Joints worn with some areas of cords exposed, chip at tail of spine, corners frayed, very good. The second edition of Rowland's (1655-1723) work, in which he hypothesises that Anglesey was an ancient Druidic centre and that Britain was initially established by the Phoenicians. The first edition was published in Dublin in 1723. Rowland had died in the year of first publication, and so it was left to Henry Owen (1716-1795) to correct and revise this second edition (London, 1766). An edition of supplementary topographical details overseen by Nicholas Owen (1752-1811) appeared in 1775. From the ESTC: 'In some copies the plates are numbered I-IX and XI-XIII but they are the same 12 plates. Thus in some copies the plate of a king is numbered X and in others it is numbered XI. This may be an error in plate numbering which was later corrected or possibly there was an intention to insert an extra plate "X".' In this copy, the plate of a king is numbered XI. ESTC T139796 Ref: 55048show full image..
[Rowlands, Richard, pseud:] Verstegan, Richard: Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities, Concerning the most Noble and Renowned English Nation. By the Study and Travel of R.V. London: John Bill, printer to the King's most Excellent Majestie, 1628. Second edition, first printed in England. 4to., pp.[xxiv], 338, [xii]. Title-page in red and black with large engraved vignette, woodcut initials head- and tail-pieces, many handsome illustrations in the text. Neatly pencilled bibliographical notes to ffep, few marginal notes in an older hand. Title-page a little foxed, occasional light ink blots and some spotting, a few pages with some light smudgy marks, eg. p.99. Trimmed a little close at head edge but never touching text. Later pale tan calf (probably late 19th c.), red and green labels to spine with date at foot wrongly put as 1828, blind tooled borders, edges coloured yellow, endpapers renewed. Headcap worn with small loss, some scuffs, joints worn with upper beginning to split at head, corners worn, frame of toning around free endpapers, still very good. To front paste-down the armorial bookplate of Hugh Robert Hughes of Kinmel, H.M. Lieutenant of Flintshire, obscuring a second bookplate beneath. Hughes (1827-1911), an avid collector of books and manuscripts on welsh history, topography and genealogy, purchased the collections of John Williams (1833-1872) of Beaumaris and Angharad Llwyd (1780-1866) of Caerwys (and later of Tyn-y-Rhyl), so the concealed bookplate may belong to one of these earlier collectors. Also to the paste-down is a small library label with shelf mark, and an ownership inscription of Brent Grafton-Maxfield dated 1972. An important work of early Anglo-Saxon scholarship originally published in Antwerp in 1605. Richard Rowlands (1548/50 ? 1640), English-born Anglo-Dutch writer and intelligence informant, was forced to flee England in 1581 having secretly printed Thomas Alfield's account of the execution of Edmund Campion. It was during this time that he revived his ancestral surname of Verstegan. 'From March 1587 Verstegan lived in Antwerp. From 1590 until 1603 he worked as a publishing and intelligence agent for the superiors of the English mission, William Allen in Rome and Robert Persons in Spain. He maintained communications between them and the missionaries in England, arranged passports and the smuggling of books, bought books in Flanders for the seminaries in Spain, and oversaw the printing of numerous English Catholic works in Antwerp. He continued to write polemical and martyrological works, including, most importantly, answers to the 1591 proclamation against Jesuits and seminary priests. He also produced devotional translations (among them the first English translation of the Tridentine primer), religious verse, and a seminal work of Anglo-Saxon scholarship, the Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities (1605), about which he corresponded with Sir Robert Cotton. He edited or contributed to several of the political works generally attributed to Robert Persons. His writings in these years were a cause of great concern to the authorities in England, and did much to shape the perception of Queen Elizabeth's policies on the continent.' (Arblaster, ODNB). ESTC S116256 Ref: 54568show full image..
Roy, William: The Military Antiquities of the Romans in the North of Britain. [...]. Published by the Order, and at the Expense, of the Society of Antiquaries of London. London: printed by W. Bulmer and Co. and sold at the apartments of the Society, in Somerset-Place; a 1793. Large folio (540 x 365mm), pp. [x]xvi, 206, [ii] + 51, plates as called for. The three final leaves contain a list of plates and a list of members of the Society of Antiquaries. Occasional spots of foxing. Contemporary chestnut brown diced calf, rebacked with gilt title and rules, gilt borders, edges yellow, blue marbled endpapers. Spine scuffed, a few chips to edges, corners repaired, inner hinges repaired with cloth. A very good, sound copy. Bookplate to front pastedown of Charles Abbott (1761-1817), a lawyer and botanist whose name appears in the list of Society of Antiquaries members found within. To preliminary blank, 'Fred. Swan, Trin. Coll. Cambridge, 1907'. Loosely inserted, a single printed leaf advertising Sir David Wilkie's 'Sketches in Turkey, Syria and Egypt'. Secondary title-page: [...] Particularly Their Ancient System of Castramentation, Illustrated From Vestiges of the Camps of Agricola Existing There: Hence His March From South Into North Is In Some Degree Traced. Roy's systematic studies yielded the first accurate maps of Roman archeological sites in Scotland. In the case of sites where the Roman remains were later destroyed by human development, these drawings are now the only reliable record of their former existence. Roy's innovation and leadership led to the creation of the Ordnance Survey in 1791, one year after his death, and two years later the Society of Antiquaries published this, 'a fine work which precisely described sites that in many cases are no longer visible; its map was finally superseded only with the Ordnance Survey's map of Roman Britain of 1924' (ODNB). ESTC T105077 Ref: 55034show full image..
Sarpi, Julie: Joanna of Flanders: Heroine and Exile. Stroud: Amberley Publishing, 2019. First edition. 8vo., pp.283 + plates. 4 maps to text. Hardback: black cloth, gilt-lettered to spine. Dust-jacket. Unused, a hint only of shelf-dust: a fine copy. Ref: 54472
Selden, John: Titles of Honour. London: Printed by William Stansby for Richard Whitakers [sic], and are to be sold at the Kings Arme 1631. Second edition. Folio in 4s, pp. [xxxvi], 941, [i]. State three, of three: p.354 numbered correctly (misnumbered as 356 in states one and two); p.592 misnumbered 992 and lists items XXI-XXXIX. Title-page in red and black, large woodcut initials, illustrations in the text including coins, crowns and six full-page engravings of ceremonial dress, with final errata leaf. Occasional marks to margins, eg. lines, crosses. Some library inkstamps, small paper repairs to title-page fore-edge, small faint dampstains here and there towards edges, occasional faint spotting, a little toned. Recent heavily-grained brown morocco, raised bands, gilt title to spine, blind-tooled diaper pattern within frame to each board, endpapers and endbands renewed, edges red, very good. Birmingham Law Society round inkstamps, 2 to title-page, 2 to dedication leaf, 2 to p.1 and others scattered throughout (approximately 1 every 30 pages). Work on this second edition (the first having appeared in 1614) was done by Selden (1584?1654) during his imprisonment in the Tower of London from late June 1629 until the summer of 1630, and the period immediately afterwards when he regained access to his books and was allowed to move in and out of the Tower. 'A monument to the wide-ranging mastery of medieval continental and English sources and studies, the weighty second edition of Titles of Honor (1631) drew its evidence widely. As well as providing a model for a true history based upon many primary sources, this edition also sought to establish a solid foundation for a new philosophy of politics that would emulate the revolution in astronomy brought about by 'Copernicus, Tycho, Galileus, Kepler' (sig. ?2r), although Selden's political advice remained more than a little obscured by the details of his analytical narrative. Attempting to chart the origin and development of the titles of monarchy, nobility, and gentility in western Europe from the end of the Roman empire to the present, this new edition dissolved the unitary feudal law interpretation espoused in the first edition into various national, provincial, or local feudal laws. Selden portrayed these jurisdictions as a series ofancient constitutions, each having its own 'state' or 'frame of government' and its own feudal customs. Only the titles of emperor and king received a fully comparative treatment, with those of duke, count, baron, and knight unfolding country by country as rulers carried out their own adaptation of northern European customs to Roman offices. [?]. Indeed, the second edition of Titles of Honor provided sophisticated historical support for Selden's interpretation of the mixed monarchy of England, not least by placing it in a plausible, equally well-supported context of European ancient constitutions. It portrayed the continual calling of parliaments as a necessary part of English governance.' (Christianson, ODNB) STC (2nd ed.) 22178 Ref: 54660show full image..
Shrubsole, William & Denne, Samuel; Fisher, Thomas, ed. The History and Antiquities of Rochester and its environs: To which is added a Description of the Towns, Villages, Gentlemen's Seats, and Ancient Buildings [...]. Rochester: Printed and sold by T. Fisher, 1772. First edition. 8vo. pp. [xiv], 353, [1]. With 1 folding map and 5 plates, few small illustrations. Small clean tear to lower blank margin of one leaf, title and verso of last a bit dusty, last few leaves somewhat foxed. Modern quarter calf over marbled boards, spine gilt, gilt-lettered label to spine. Stamp of Woods, Forests & Lands Revenue to title. First edition of this beautifully illustrated history of Rochester. William Shrubsole (1729?1797) was an English nonconformist minister, author of works on subjects as varied as local history, theology and even the Sheerness dockyards, where he was employed. The present work discusses the history of Rochester from the 11th century, lingering on its most important monuments. It was finished by the antiquary Samuel Denne, with the assistance of Thomas Fisher, printer, bookseller and alderman of Rochester. The initial folding map, with a plan of the city, also marks the ruins of the fire of 1768. ESTC T63426. Ref: 53275show full image..
Stephens, W. B. (ed.): The Victoria History of the County of Warwick. Volume VII: The City of Birmingham. London: Oxford University Press for the Institute of Historical Research, 1965. First edition, second impression. 4to. Fully illustrated. Hardback: red cloth, gilt. Edges uncut. Dust-jacket, price-clipped. Light shelf-wear, a little fraying along jacket edges, but still very good. First published 1964. Ref: 54099
Stevenson, William Henry (ed.): Asser's Life Of King Alfred Together With The Annals Of Saint Neots Erroneously Ascribed To Asser. Edited by William Henry Stevenson with an Introductory article by Dorothy Whitelock. Oxford University Press (Sandpiper reprint). 1998. 8vo. pp.386. Hardback: black cloth, gilt-lettered to spine. Dust-jacket. Unused: as new. OUP edition first published 1959. Ref: 54932
Stone, Lawrence: Uncertain Unions: Marriage in England 1660-1753. Oxford University Press, 1992. First edition. 8vo., pp. xiii, 281 + plates. Hardback: black cloth, gilt-lettered to spine, fine. Dust-jacket, very good. Ref: 53574
Thomas, Melita: The King's Pearl: Henry VIII and his daughter Mary. Stroud, Glos.: Amberley Publishing, 2017. First edition. 8vo., pp. 320 + colour plates. Hardback: black cloth, gilt-lettered to spine. Dust-jacket. Unused, a hint only of shelf-wear: a fine copy. Ref: 53859
