Item #20035 The Epistle of Gildas, the Most Ancient British Author: Who Flourished in the Yeere of our Lord, 546. Gildas.
The Epistle of Gildas, the Most Ancient British Author: Who Flourished in the Yeere of our Lord, 546. ...
The Epistle of Gildas, the Most Ancient British Author: Who Flourished in the Yeere of our Lord, 546. ...
The Epistle of Gildas, the Most Ancient British Author: Who Flourished in the Yeere of our Lord, 546. ...

The Epistle of Gildas, the Most Ancient British Author: Who Flourished in the Yeere of our Lord, 546. ...

London: T. Cotes for William Cooke, 1638. First edition in English. Hardcover. Fine. Item #20035

12mo. (134),327pp. Engraved frontispiece of Gildas by William Marshall. First edition in English, translated from the Latin by Thomas Habington. Early handwritten notes on the front blanks. Bookplate.


Nicely bound in full brown morocco, spine in six compartments, tooled in blind and with the title in gilt; boards intricately tooled in blind. Marbled endpapers. Title page, frontispiece and preliminary blank remargined (no loss). Some contemporary names and notes mostly on the beginning and ending blanks. A fine copy.


Gildas provides some of the earliest commentary on the war effort associated with King Arthur. The first edition of the original Latin was pubished as Opus de Calimitate, Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae in 1525.


STC 11895. Potthast, I, 525. Sarton I, 455. Lowndes, p. 790. ESTC S103163.

Price: $5,000.00

See all items by