[Rarebooks] fa: FUNERAL PROCESSION OF QUEEN ELIZABETH I - William Camden - 4 LARGE ENGRAVINGS 1791

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auctions ending Sunday, June 7. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/qfzvn76

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

[William Camden, artist; James Basire, engraver:] [The Funeral Procession of Queen Elizabeth I.] London: Sumptibus. Soc. Antiquar, [Society of Antiquaries], 1791. First edition. Four double-page engraved plates, the largest two measuring ca. 68.5 x 49 cm (27 x 19 1/4 in), the other two slightly less wide. Some chipping and tears, mostly confined to the edges, occasional damp-staining to the margins, browning to the central creases, scattered light foxing.

An incomplete set, comprising four of the seven plates issued. Some background is provided by the "Univ Treasures" website of University College Oxford (also the owners of an incomplete set): "On 28th April 1603, the death of Queen Elizabeth I was marked by a great funeral procession from Whitehall to Westminster Abbey. Two drawings of the procession exist, providing an interesting account of the event. Although both originals are now housed in the British Library, Univ owns a fine eighteenth century reproduction of the drawing attributed to William Camden (1551-1623)… Camden’s pen and ink drawing of Elizabeth’s funeral procession provides a detailed description of the people present and a unique insight into Elizabethan society. Amongst the mourners are commoners and noblemen alike, each named and, in some cases, numbered. At the end of the procession, Elizabeth’s effigy is carried beneath a canopy on a chariot drawn by four horses and flanked by six barons carrying banderoles… The original scroll was found by an Old Member of Univ, John Eardley Wilmot (bap. 1749 - d. 1815, later John Eardley Eardley-Wilmot), amongst the papers of his wife’s grandfather, Peter Sainthill… Upon finding the scroll, he donated it to the British Museum, presenting a facsimile to his old College in 1791. This facsimile was made up of a series of fine engravings published in 1791 by the Society of Antiquaries, of which Wilmot was a fellow. Engraved by James Basire (bap. 1730 - d. 1802) and originally printed in fourteen sections on seven folio sized plates, Camden’s drawing was reproduced in the Vetusta Monumenta; a series published irregularly between 1747 and 1906 to document ancient monuments and artefacts… Although Univ’s scroll is incomplete, it shows many of the men, women, and children who walked ahead of Elizabeth I’s effigy…"