Books and Manuscripts

(Gower, John)
(De Confessione Amantis)
(London: Thomas Berthelet, 1554). Third edition. Folio. Fol. II-CLXXXVI (of CXCI); lacking 15 leaves: *1-6, title-page, A6, C1, and 2I1-6. Gothic letter, double-column. Full contemporary speckled brown calf, rebacked, stamped in gilt, extremities and boards rubbed and worn; all edges trimmed; illustrated book-plate of Edmund McClure on front paste-down; A2r darkened and soiled; dampstaining in gutter, A2r-A5r; bottom edge of A5 and J3 torn away; foxing to B1r and B1v; C2r darkened and soiled; closed tear in upper fore-edge, S5; scattered dampstaining in gutter and edges; scattered small repairs to edges; scattered soiling to text. Pforzheimer 422; Langland to Wither 116. Sold with all faults. 

Third edition of John Gower's collection of narrative poems, framed as a confession of an aging lover to the chaplain of Venus. Inspired by Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, the work was composed probably beginning around 1386, and was completed in 1390. As Gower's most enduring and popular work, it was frequently revised by him and others, and was considered one of the most copied manuscripts before the rise of the printing press. This third edition is a reprint of Berthelet's 1532 edition, with some revisions.