THE ANNALES, OR GENERALL CHRONICLE OF ENGLAND, begun first by maister John Stow, and after him continued and augmented with matters forreyne, and domestique, auncient and moderne, unto the end of this present yeere 1614, by Edmond Howes, gentleman. STOW, John and Edmund Howes. tick

WITH A VERY EARLY MENTION OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. This is the first edition to include Howes' augmentations and the appendix on London University with separate title page, 1615. HENRY HUTH COPY. Folio in sixes, 340 x 220 mm, 13½ x 8½ inches, elaborate engraved architectural title page with King James at the top in the centre with his arms below, with Queen Anne and Prince Charles on either side and below a Dane, a Roman, a Saxon and a Norman, woodcut head- and tailpieces and historiated initials, printed in black letter on 2 columns, pages: [20], 1-430, 432-576, 578-815, [1], 816-957, [4], 961-968, 967-988, [30] - index and colophon, the third leaf of the Preface is misbound between the 6th and 7th leaves, gatherings Q and R (pages 181-204) are misbound between pages 240 & 241, Ee1-3 (pages 325-330) are misbound between (pages 336 & 337), collated and guaranteed complete, bound in 18th century diced calf with gilt Greek key borders to covers, rebacked with raised bands, gilt rules and blind stamped motif in compartments, gilt lettered morocco label, new endpapers. Corners and board edges worn, slight damage to gilt borders in a couple of places, small gilt leather bookplate on front endpaper of the library of Henry Huth (English merchant banker and important bibliophile,1815-1878 (see Henry Huth, Catalogue of the Famous Library, seventh part, No 7101), original endpapers browned in the margin, light spotting to margins of engraved title page, small piece missing from 3 corners (paper flaw), small closed tear in text with small hole and loss of 4 words on recto and verso, 6 tiny rust holes, no loss of legibility, 1 tiny rust hole with 2 letters missing obscuring 1 name, tiny stain on text with loss of 2 letters, easily legible, 2 tiny holes in 1 fore-edge margin with slight loss to side note, small closed tear to 1 lower margin affecting 3 lines of text, another to 1 fore-edge margin, both repaired neatly, no loss, 2 leaves lightly browned, pale browning to many margins, otherwise contents clean, binding tight and firm. A very good complete copy. John Stow (1524/5 1605), antiquarian and historian born in London built up a large library of manuscripts and antiquarian books. The Annales was first published in 1580 with the title Chronicles of England from Brute (the legendary first king of Britain). With the edition of 1605 Stow continued the history to the accession of James I. Our edition augmented and expanded by Edmund Howes reaches 1614. To Stow's brief Appendix on the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge is added a 26 page account of the colleges of London University by Sir George Buck. It is believed that Stow was the first English historian to make systematic use of public records for the purpose of his work and that by this research he did more to advance the study of 15th century England than any other writer of his time. In the emendation by Edmund Howes on page 811 there is a mention of Shakespeare: "Our modern, and present excellent Poets which worthily flourish in their own works, and all of them in my own knowledge lived together in this Queen s reign, according to their priorities as near as I could, I have orderly set down (viz) George Gascoigne Esquire, Thomas Churchyard Esquire, Sir Edward Dyer Knight, Edmund Spencer Esquire, Sir Philip Sidney Knight, Sir John Harrington Knight, Sir Thomas Challoner Knight, Sir Francis Bacon Knight, & Sir John Davie Knight, Master John Lillie gentleman, Master George Chapman gentleman, M.W. Warner gentleman, M. Willi. Shakespeare gentleman," (and others). ESTC S117596. MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE, FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. POSTAGE AT COST. A heavy book which may require extra postage.