Harrison's Description of England in Shakspere's Shakespeare's Youth. Being the Second and Third Books of His Description of Britaine and England. Part I, Part II, and Part III bound in one volume.
London: New Shakespeare Society/N. Trubner & Co., 1877. First Edition. Hardcover. Octavo (8vo). Very good- condition. Item #013233
Three parts bound in one volume, published between 1877 and 1881. Full maroon buckram (hardcover) with minor shelfwear, including minor bumping to corners, and minimal spotting. Both inner hinges are cracked, remaining attached. Complete with 16 illustrations, including 8 fold-out, of which one is in color. Part I: cxii, 368 pages. Large fold-out map. Title continues "... Edited from the First Two Editions of Holinshead Chronicle, A.D. 1577, 1587. Part I: The second book, extracts from the autograph ms of Harrison's Chronologie, and from foreign writers on England; also with Norden's map of London, 1593, and notes on it by Henry B. Wheatley." Part II: 66 pages, xxxii (appendix I), followed by 123 pages of text. Contains seven maps/plans/views, including three fold-out. Title of Part II. continues "Part II. The Third book, with a view of the North of Cheapside in 1638 A.D., Extracts from Stow, Howes, Busino, and de la Serre on London, 1598 -1638; plans of Cambridge, and Canterbury, 1588 A.D.; and a map of Shakspere's Routes to London; also with Plans of Paris Garden, 1627, and the Bankside, Southwark, and an Account of these Places and the Globe and other Theatres there, by W. Rendle." Part III: [iv], 196 pages of text. Contains four fold-out views/plans, including one in color, and four etchings. Title continues "...Part III. The Supplement, I: Four Chapters of Harrison's First Book, and Extracts from Churchyard, 1593, 1594, and John Norden, 1608; with a Chromo-Foto-Lithograf of the only Genuine Earliest Full View of 'Old London Bridge' as Shakspere Saw It; a Large View of 'the Beauty of London,' and Edw. VI's Procession from the Tower to Westminster in 1547; Views of West Chepe in 1585, and the Preaching at Paul's Cross in 1620; and an Appendix by W. Niven, Esq., on 'English Houses In Shakspere's Time,' with 4 Etchings." From the previous bookseller's catalogue entry: A fascinating description of Elizabethan England. It sets before us the England of Shakespeare's day in every detail from its Parliament and Universities, to its beggars and rogues; from its castles to its huts, its horses to its hens; from how the state was managed, to how Mrs. Harrison (and no doubt Mrs. Shakespeare) brewed her beer. From the collection of Louis Marder, Shakespeare historian and collector of books by, on or referring to William Shakespeare.
Price: $650.00