Books and Manuscripts

Camden, William
Annales Rerum Anglicarum, et Hibernicarum, Regnante Elizabetha…
London: William Stansby for Simon Waterson, 1615. First edition. Folio. (viii), 499, (21) pp. Full contemporary calf, stamped in gilt with the Royal Arms of Scotland on front and rear boards, rebacked, original red morocco spine label laid down, boards and extremities rubbed and scratched; edges stained red; ownership signature of Mildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of Westmorland (1602-66) on rear free endpaper; manuscript book-plate of the Earl of Westmoreland, dated 1856, on front paste-down; ownership signature of Harry Fane on rear paste-down; contemporary inscriptions on front free endpaper and on title-page; small wormhole in bottom corner of first 55 leaves.

First edition of part one of English antiquarian and historian William Camden's groundbreaking history of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, a landmark text in historical scholarship and the first full-scale history of her rule. A second part was completed in 1617 but was not published until 1625, two years after Camden's death. 

Mildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of Westmoreland, was the son of Francis Fane and Mary Mildmay. Educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he was a member of Parliament for Peterborough in 1620, and Kent, in 1625. A Royalist during the English Civil War, he was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London, and was later freed to his estate in Northamptonshire. A prolific writer, he authored over 900 works during his life, largely poetry and some stage plays, many not published until the 20th century.