[Rarebooks] fa: THOMAS LANQUET & THOMAS COOPER - AN EPITOME OF CRONICLES - 1549

[ArCh]

Auction ends Sunday, October 29. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

https://tinyurl.com/ymdoqaee

Many thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Thomas Lanquet; Thomas Cooper: An Epitome of Cronicles conteining the whole discourse of the histories as well of this realme of England, as all other countreis, with the succession of their kynges, the tyme of their reigne, [and] what notable actes thei did: much profitable to be redde namely of magistrates and suche as haue auctoritee in comen weales: gathered out of most p[ro]bable auctors, fyrst, by Thomas Lanquet, from the beginnyng of the world to the incarnacion of Christ, and now finished and continued to the reigne of our soueraine lorde kynge Edwarde the sixt by Thomas Cooper. [London: Thomas Berthelet] Anno. MDLXIX [i.e. 1549]. Small 4to (20 cm) in early/period blind-tooled calf, rebacked with the original spine laid down, later gilt-lettered spine label, marbled endpapers; modern cloth slipcase; [28], 288 leaves (i.e. 632 pp.; pages numbered on the rectos only); elaborate woodcut framing device to the title-page, woodcut initials in the text. STC 15217; ESTC S108238.

A "history of the known world" from the Creation, begun by the chronicler Thomas Lanquet, who had only reached the accession of the Emperor Tiberius before dying in 1545. The work was then completed by Thomas Cooper, the future Bishop of Winchester, who brought it up through the reign of his contemporary, King Edward VI. Subsequent editions were known as Cooper's Chronicles. "This history... preserves many curious traditions. Under the year 1452, it is noted that 'One named Johannes Faustius fyrst founde the crafte of printynge in the citee of Mens in Germanie'" (DNB). Also mentioned is "Arthur, the sonne of Uter Pendragon."

The year on the title-page is a misprint, the actual date of publication being 1549, per STC. This copy lacking the last four leaves, including the colophon leaf. Binding with crazing to the leather; old paper repair to the foot of the title-page verso, contents with generally light browning, a few occasional small spots, else clean and sound, firmly bound. Title-page with the early owner's signature of Richard Marwood. Interestingly, a character of that name and living at the same time plays a prominent role in a series of historical novels known as the "Marwood Family Tudor Saga." We're not sure if there's any relation.