1577 The First (& Second) Volume Of The Chronicles Of England, Scotlande and Irelande

By Raphael Holinshed

The First Volume From Hunne & The Second Volume From Harrison

Predominantly Complete; lacking only the title and preface leaf of the second volume. Each of these volumes is in a scarce single state of the first edition, as most extant copies are made up from the multiple issues from the various members of the stationers consortium responsible for the final publication. complete with blank *b*6 in vol. II., Part I: leaf r1 ‘Faultes escaped’ bound before A1 , part II: leaf ()1 ‘Faultes… escaped’ bound before *a*1, ()2 ‘Faultes… escaped in the printing of the first part of the English Historie before the conquest’ bound after 4Z2. See below for the full pagination details.

In Excellent Condition; It has been rebacked, but retains the leather on the spines and in the center panels of the first volume. The Boards and spine have been well cared for, and have very little in the way of scuffing or bumping, and the hinges are very strong. Internally, the leaves are very clean and well margined, with occasional toning and some small marginal tears and stains, the the only specific damage of note being a small, rust coloured hole in Pp 63-4 of the history of Ireland in Vol 1, leaves A3 and o2 with marginal repairs, minor marginal worming from beginning through to gathering i, Bb8 remargined, and paper repairs at the edges of some leaves, particularly leaf signed 4E5 ‘The names of the Knights made at Leith’ and inserted after 4E4 at Pp. 1592 of Volume 2 final leaf N2 remargined, a few leaves trimmed close just touching catchwords or side-notes, scattered spotting and staining.

The Holinshed Chronicles

This work stands as a landmark of early English publishing for its extensive use of illustrations. While the ‘Description’ sections eschew woodcuts, the ‘Histories’ contain 212 unique woodcuts, used multiple times. According to Ruth Luborsky “[c]opious secular illustration reached its apogee” with the Holinshed Chronicles.

Constituting one of the most complete, early accounts of medieval England, The Holinshed Chronicles is a monument of English language publishing that remains influential to this day. Shakespeare, along with Marlow and other playwrights of the day, used the Chronicles as a source for history plays. The plot of Macbeth, and portions of King Lear and Cymbeline are sourced from Chronicles. Shakespeare also used it as a primary source for the historical events of Henry V. Covering history from the Roman era to the time of publication, the descriptions of bloody rebellions, murder, executions and warfare are instantly familiar to fans of the “Game of Thrones” television and book series and Holinshed’s account of invasions from “The Danes” in the 8th and 9 th centuries, describe the events dramatically retold in the television series “Vikings.”

In 1548 Reginald Wolfe, a London printer, conceived the idea of creating a “Universal Cosmography of the whole world, and there with also certain particular histories of every known nation.” He wanted the work to be printed in English and he wanted maps and illustrations in the book as well. Wolfe acquired many of John Leland’s works and with these he constructed chronologies and drew maps that were up to date. When Wolfe realised he could not complete this project on his own, he hired Raphael Holinshed and William Harrison to assist him.

Wolfe died with the work still uncompleted in 1573, and the project, changed to a work about just the British Isles, was run by a consortium of three members of the London stationers. They kept Raphael Holinshed who employed William Harrison, Richard Stanyhurst, Edmund Campion and John Hooker. In 1577 the work was published in two volumes after some censorship by the Privy Council of some of Stanyhurst’s contribution on Ireland. When the Chronicles were first published, they were met with suspicion by many scholars, who regarded the works as un-academic.

Provenance :

Signature on the title page William Kyllygrewe (contemporary ink ownership inscriptions of titles).

According to Rare Book Hub this set has not appeared at auction before 2015. We were able to ask the previous owner about the volumes. We know that it was owned by his grandfather, and that it appears to have been in the family for some time before that.

“I believe we had the chronicles because our family features in the early pages as coming over to England from Normandy with William the Conqueror who gave the Granvilles (varyingly and loosely spelt before these things were set in stone in Charles II’s reign as Grenville/ Greynfell/ Grenvil, etc.) lands in Wales in return for supporting his biffing of poor old Harold. The original seigneury was that of Granville in Normandy. But a cousin branch of the family still uses the mediaeval Grenville spelling.”

From this we were able to discover that there was a Sir Willam Killigrew (B 1561) who was the brother of Maria Killigrew (B 1595) who married Sir George Grenville (B 1586) to become Maria Grenville. Whether this is the connection between the Grenville’s and Killigrew’s is speculation, however the timing is right and given the condition of the set and the supporting statement from the surviving Grenville, it is very possible that this set can trace itself back to 16th Century.

Pagination and Dimensions :

The volumes are Paginated as follows: Vol 1; [16], 126 leaves, 289, [xi], 22, [24], 1-518, [xxvi], [iv], 28 leaves, [1], 115, [7.] Vol 2; 291-659, 700-981, 990-1592, [2], 1593-1876, [104].

Volume 1 Measures 30 cm. by 22 cm. by 8 cm. with each leaf measuring 292 mm. by 198 mm.

Volume 2 Measures 28.5 cm. by 21.5 cm. by 9 cm. with each leaf measuring 280 mm. by 190 mm.

The pagination errors are as follows;

For the Description of England: 61, 102, 113, 126 are misnumbered 69, 103, 131, 124.

For the History of England : 7, 10, 21, 26, 28, 75, 91, 121, 132, 136, 138, 141, 149, 229, 250, 280-1

misnumbered 10, 7, 27, 42, 21, 57, 93, 105, 136, 156, 158, 147, 150, 195, 248, 264-5.

For the Description of Scotland: None

For the History of Scotland: 21, 64, 79, 110, 145, 267, 335, 347, 419, 430, 447, 463, 478, 498 misnumbered 25, 60, 70, 118, 149, 255, 336, 335, 430, 419, 445, 465, 494, 598

For the Description of Ireland: None

For the History of Ireland: 9, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90misnumbered 6, 89, 90, 71, 78, 88

For the History Of England Pt2 (volume 2) : 316, 360, 401, 402,415, 416, 428, 430, 434, 595, 658, 711, 720, 721, 760, 784, 785, 803, 809, 841, 900, 909, 936, 1013, 1020, 1068, 1069, 1122, 1166, 1170, 1175, 1177, 1182, 1183, 1268, 1271-4, 1277, 1309, 1311, 1368, 1486, 1512-3, 1523, 1540, 1549, 1587-8, 1597-8, 1639, 1642, 1680, 1681, 1689, 1698, 1753, 1772, 1786, 1793-9, 1822, 1828-9, misnumbered 332, 325, 403, 404, 413, 414, 396, 428, 424, 593, 758, 611, 728, 729, 800, 824, 825, 033, 823, 825, 600, 915, 930, 1019, 1013, 1268, 1037, 1120, 1153, 1181, 11175, 1077, 1180, 1170, 1276, 1255-8, 1269, 1390, 1297, 1367, 1456, 1500-1, 1522, 1548, 1541, 1595-6, 1589-90, 1641, 1640, 1676, 168, 1869, 1689, 173, 1773, 1788, 1773-9, 1821, 1838-9,