Beschreibung:

SPENSER, Edmund (ca 1552-1599). The Faerie Qveene. Disposed into twelue books, fashioning XII. Morall Vertues [contains Books I-3]. London: [John Wolf] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. - The Second Part of the Faerie Qveene, containing the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Bookes . London: [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, 1596. 2 parts in 2 volumes, 4 o in eights (188 x 136 mm). Roman letter. Woodcut device on each title (McKerrow 243 and 222), woodcut of St. George and the dragon on verso of M5 in part one. Woodcut headpiece and opening initial at the start of each book, typographical frame around legend at the head of each canto. ([Vol. I:] title with a few minor stains and splitting slightly along upper gutter, quires A-B with a little marginal staining, quires Y-2A loose, tiny rust hole on Ee5-7 touching a few letters; [Vol. II:] Title fore-margin with a few very minor repairs, lower corner of L6 torn away.) Late 17th-century speckled calf (rebacked in sheep, preserving old lettering-pieces, some other repairs to corners and board edges); quarter morocco slipcases. Provenance : ELIZABETH BEVIL, daughter of Philip Bevil of Kellygarth, Cornwall (signature ["Elyzabeth Beuill"] at head of A2 in part one, cropped by binder) -- SIR BERNARD GRENVILLE (d. 1636), eldest son of Sir Richard Grenville (1541?-1591) and husband of Elizabeth (signature ["Bar Greynvile"] below imprint on title to part one, cropped; anagram and signature, below his future wife's signature, on A2, part one; Latin motto and signature with flourishes on errata leaf; anagram and signature on A3, part two) -- part one with small erasure at head of dedication and erased contemporary inscription of ten lines on verso of penultimate leaf -- careful manuscript corrections by an 18th-century reader in part one, partly following the printed errata -- [?]18th-century shelf mark in ink on front pastedown of part two -- a smaller number of corrections in pencil in both parts -- Daniel Wray, a gift to the Carthusian College, London (donation stamp in Latin on verso of both titles) -- [William H. Robinson (bookseller, included in his catalaogue 65, 1938, no. 81, for £450)] -- Moncure Biddle (armorial bookplates), included in the sale of his library, Parke-Bernet, New York, 30 April 1952, lot 717, sold for $1050 -- purchased from John F. Fleming, New York, 11 April 1973. Exhibited : Grolier Club, "This powerfull rime," 1975, no. 3. FIRST EDITION OF BOTH PARTS AND AN IMPORTANT ASSOCIATION COPY. Except for two cantos of "Mutabilities" which were first published in the 1609 folio edition, these two volumes contain the full published text of the Faerie Queen . The contemporary signature of Sir Bernard Grenville in both indicates that they are homogenous, and were united not long after printing. Part one has the following issue points: the imprint has the first digit of the date under "r" in "for," and the dedication to Queen Elizabeth is printed on the title verso, page 309 is incorrectly numbered 319, the Welsh (and English) words in lines 4 and 5 of p. 332 are not printed but have been neatly inked in, pages 486-87 are numbered correctly. Most importantly, quire Qq 4 cancels Pp6-7 as intended. Jackson notes that the cancels contain a sonnet to Lord Burghley and six other new sonnets as well as the eight sonnets of the cancellanda. "The confusion which has arisen in regard to these final leaves is due to the fact that the intended cancellation and substitution were only made in a very few cases." FIRST OWNERSHIP BY ELIZABETH BEVIL AND THEN BY HER HUSBAND, SIR BERNARD GRENVILLE, SON OF SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE, VICE-ADMIRAL AND COMMANDER OF THE REVENGE , GIVE THIS COPY A UNIQUE CONNECTION WITH ELIZABETHAN HISTORY. In the opinion of many contemporaries, the loss of Sir Richard's ship, most of his crew, and of his own life in the naval engagement off the Azores in 1591 was entirely due to his own obstinacy and refusal to obey the orders of Lord Howard. However, the episode was to be imm