1615 The Annales or Generall Chronicle of England by John Stow

1615 edition of John Stow's Annales or Generall Chronicle of England. This edition augmented to 1614 by Edmond Howes. Also, includes an Appendix of the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and London. On page 811 there is an early mention of "William Shakespeare gentleman", as an Elizabethan poet.

About the Chronicles -

In 1580, Stow published the more expansive The Chronicles of England, from Brute unto this present yeare of Christ, 1580. He later developed this into the still more substantial The Annales of England, of which editions appeared in 1592, 1601, and 1605 – the last being continued to 26 March 1605, or within ten days of Stow's own death.

Edmund Howes issued in 1615 an expanded version of Stow's well-known Annales or Chronicle, with an historical preface, and a continuation from 1600, the date of the last edition, to 1615. According to Howes's own account, Archbishop Whitgift had suggested this task to him, and he received little encouragement while engaged on it.

A further posthumous edition by Edmund Howes was published in 1631.

About the Author John Stow -

John Stow (1524/25 - 1605) was an English historian and antiquarian. He wrote a series of chronicles of English history, published from 1565 onwards. A. L. Rowse has described him as "one of the best historians of that age; indefatigable in the trouble he took, thorough and conscientious, accurate – above all things devoted to truth”.

Bibliographic Details -

Universal Short Title Catalogue reference number 3006639. Not rare, found in many of the world's best libraries.

English Short Title Catalogue reference number S117596.

Worldcat OCLC reference number 29318001.

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 32.5 x 22 x 5.5 cm, quarto, signed in 6. Leather binding. Spine with six raised bands. Title page woodcut, and a second title page for the work on Universities near the end.

Pages - Title page, Pi leaf, Pi1-8 leaves, 1-988, and 15 leaves of index, etc.

Collation - Title leaf, Pi leaf, Pi1-8 leaves, A-Zzz6, Aaaa-Qqqq6

Condition -

See pictures. Leather binding very worn with a rudimentary older library cloth repair to the joints/hinges; wear to edges, scrapes, cracking to spine, etc. Book plate of the Sondley Reference Library on the pastedown; the Sondley books were passed around the City of Asheville's administrative divisions (after Sondley willed them to the City), and experienced little care until they were sold off in the late 1980s after the City was allowed to sell them by court order, breaking the expressed desires of Sondley.

Title page backed, upper corner and another 1" section missing from title page, spilled and wiped ink stain on title page, missing corner looks to have been eaten by gall ink. Erased shelf mark on back of tp. Second leaf with some spots at upper corner from same ink gall as tp. Some worming fore-edge margin first five leaves. Text block toned throughout (more towards edges) with some thumbing, page edge chipping, occasional dog-eared corner,/spot/ink smudge/candle ember hole, etc common to ex-libris books. Leaf A2 with a moisture mark at bottom edge. Chip out of bottom gutter margin of C3, no text affected. Occasional marginal annotation. Stain bottom margin U2 and Z2. Stain gutter margin Cc gathering. 2" tear bottom Ss5. Yy5 bottom corner (margin only) missing and 2" tear in leaf. 4" tear from bottom edge of Aaa5. 1" tear from top edge of Ttt5. 4" tear from bottom edge of Hhhh2. Top corner margin of Hhhh6 missing. Moisture mark at top edge margin of Oooo1 and 2 and fore-edge. Last two gatherings with some moisture mark lines in the margins and from bottom corner (extending into text). 2" tear from bottom of Pppp5. Last leaf, Qqqq6, with missing upper corner, old elementary repair, with some text missing.

All pages present. Collates complete. Some odd numbering but the signatures on the gatherings are complete.