first collected by master Iohn Stow, and after him augmented with sundry memorable Antiquities, and continued with maters forrein and domesticall, vnto this present yeare 1607.
London, Printed [by John Windet] for the companie of stacioners, 1607
The first edition of Edmund Howes' abridgement to this popular history of England by the chronicler John Stow, a concise historical record running from Britain's legendary foundation under Brutus of Troy to the Gunpowder Plot and political intrigues of Howes' own day.
'Odd events such as the birth of lion cubs in the Tower of London and the discovery of a whale's dead body far up the Thames estuary, in which one might see omens or the hand of God, contrast with lengthy discussions on important political events such as the Gunpowder Plot, the creation of the East India Company, and news from Virginia, where Stow had chronicled the history of English efforts at colonization from 1584 to his date of writing' (ODNB).
Howes took over the imprint following Stow's death in 1605 'After I had well observed, that no man woulde lend a helping hande vnto the late aged painfull Chronicler: nor in many moneths after his death, that any would expose or shew themselues to prosecute so good a work' (Epistle Dedicatory).
First Howes abridged edition; small 8vo (14.5 x 9.5 cm); woodcut title, initials, head and tail pieces, margins with the odd small tear and minor chip, lacking front and end blank ff.; contemporary vellum covers, MS title to spine, a little soiled, covers becoming detached from text-block but still holding, very good; [14], 616, [38]pp.
ESTC S117859.
'Odd events such as the birth of lion cubs in the Tower of London and the discovery of a whale's dead body far up the Thames estuary, in which one might see omens or the hand of God, contrast with lengthy discussions on important political events such as the Gunpowder Plot, the creation of the East India Company, and news from Virginia, where Stow had chronicled the history of English efforts at colonization from 1584 to his date of writing' (ODNB).
Howes took over the imprint following Stow's death in 1605 'After I had well observed, that no man woulde lend a helping hande vnto the late aged painfull Chronicler: nor in many moneths after his death, that any would expose or shew themselues to prosecute so good a work' (Epistle Dedicatory).
First Howes abridged edition; small 8vo (14.5 x 9.5 cm); woodcut title, initials, head and tail pieces, margins with the odd small tear and minor chip, lacking front and end blank ff.; contemporary vellum covers, MS title to spine, a little soiled, covers becoming detached from text-block but still holding, very good; [14], 616, [38]pp.
ESTC S117859.
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