The Life and Reign of King Henry The Eighth

HERBERT, Edward.  THE LIFE AND REIGN OF KING HENRY THE EIGHTH.

London: T. Martyn, S. Mearne, and W. Herringman, 1672. Contemporary full-calf. Frontispiece, (vi), 639, (16) pages. Second edition.

First published in 1649, this second edition, considered the best, was heavily corrected and contains a much larger index.  Herbert began writing the text in 1632.  At the time it was considered to be a masterpiece of early historical biography and remains a major source for information on the period.  In colonial Virginia, both William Byrd and Thomas Jefferson owned copies.  Lord Herbert of Cherbury was highly placed in Royal society from Elizabeth to James I, serving the latter as royal liason to the courts of France and the Oranges.  This copy has an interesting association.  It belonged to John Fitzwilliam (    - 1699), nonjuring divine and librarian at Magealen College, Oxford, with his inscription on the front free endpaper.  It also contains the bookplate of Rev. Herbert Hawes of Salisbury, the last descendent of Isaak Walton, author of The Complete Angler.  A very good copy.

 

$1,100.00