Beschreibung:

Ashmole, Elias The institution, laws & ceremonies of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. London: Nathanael Brooke, 1672. First edition, title-page in red and black, engraved illustrated in the text, with an engraved portrait frontispiece of Charles II by Sherwin and 32 engraved plates (of which a number are double and 5 double sided) by Hollar, with the errata leaf at the end, contemporary mottled calf, spine decorated gilt in compartments, spine repaired with the original backstrip laid down, title-page a little dusty and with a small piece torn from the lower corner (repaired), small tear in p, 223 (no loss), with the blind book stamp of Edinburgh Public Library on the lower cover and in ink at the end. Note: Moule 250; Wing A 3983. "It is a notable work of scholarship, handsomely produced and illustrated and dealing with many cognate matters." (Wagner Heralds of England p. 265. The work includes a fine series of engravings of Windsor Castle and the Chapel by Hollar. Ashmole, who held the office of Windsor Herald, was instrumental in founding the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford to which he bequeathed his collection of manuscripts and most of his printed books along with the famous collection of John Tradescant the naturalist, who had presented his collection to Ashmole in gratitude for cataloguing it. Provenance: With the armorial book-plate of Thomas Hayward Southby of Carswell. Sheriff Bogie records his purchase from the Edinburgh bookseller Grant & Shaw in the following terms "The book was sold by Edinburgh Public Library, along with seemingly others, to the disgrace of Edinburgh."