Original letters, written during the reigns of Henry VI. Edward IV. and Richard III. by various persons of rank or consequence; containing many curious anecdotes, relative to that turbulent and bloody, but hitherto dark, period of our history; and elucidating, not only public matters of state, but likewise the private manners of the age: digested in chronological order; with notes, historical and explanatory; and authenticated by engravings of autographs, paper marks, and seals. By John Fenn, Esq. M.A. and F.A.S. In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].
Sir John Fenn (1739-1794)
Category
Books
Date
1787
Materials
Place of origin
London
Collection
Felbrigg, Norfolk
NT 3026233
Summary
Bibliographic description
2 v. : ill. (some col.), facsims, fold. geneal. tables, ports. ; 4to. Shelved and uniform with vols. 3-4 (1789) and vol. 5 (1823). Vol. 1 with two additional hand-coloured plates. Frontispieces are hand-coloured. Provenance: circular seal armorial bookplate in both vols., printed in gold on vellum (Franks 30060): 'William Twopeny' with motto 'Virtue et industria' (arms Twopeny impaling Best. William Twopeny married Dorothy, daughter of James Best of Park House, Boxley, Kent) [i.e. William Twopeny (1797-1873), antiquarian and bibliophile, of Rochester, Kent]. Bookseller's pencil inscription on vol. 1 front pastedown: "First edition, 2 extra plates, & some plates specially coloured". Other pencil inscriptions on vol. 1 front pastedown: "ospald" or "aspald" and "XXIV / 1". Lengthy manuscript inscription on the plates and the origin of the letters included in the printed text in hard-to-read nineteenth-century hand (the writing is fuzzy and the ink has bled into the surrounding paper) on vol. 1 front fly-leaf : "Two additional plates are inserted in this volume, viz portrait of Edward 4th and his ... [illegible] in Canterbury Cathedral. The originals of the letters in the first 4 vols ..." [rest largely illegible]. Manuscript price[?] on vol. 1 front fly-leaf, erased: "6 16 6". Binding: nineteenth-century gold-tooled full sprinkled calf; sewn onto four recessed cords; smooth spines; gilt fillet and roll pattern border; gilt roll pattern along board edges; gold-tooled spines; gilt title on red morocco label and gilt vol. number on black morocco label on spines. Yellow textblock edges.
Makers and roles
Sir John Fenn (1739-1794), compiler Thomas Cook (c.1744 - 1818), engraver (printmaker)