Beschreibung:

DRAYTON, Michael (1563-1631). [ Poly-Olbion .] A Chorographical Description of all the Tracts, Rivers, Movntains, Forests, and other parts of this renowned Isle of Great Britain . London: John Marriott, John Grismand and Thomas Dewe, 1622. [ Bound with :] The Second Part: or A Continuance of Poly-Olbion from the Eighteenth Song . London: [Augustine Mathewes] for John Marriott, John Grismand and Thomas Dewe, 1622. 2 parts in one volume, 2 o (270 x 180 mm). Engraved allegorical frontispiece depicting Britannia, engraved full-length portrait of Prince Henry, both by W. Hole. 30 double-page engraved maps (maps with guards renewed, first map slightly wormed in gutter and frayed at lower margin, small repair on verso of one map in part two). (G6 and P6 in part one with small rust-holes catching a few letters, and 2C3-4 soiled in gutter, D1r in part two with soil mark affecting a few letters.) Late 17th-century panelled calf, covers tooled in blind with floral rolls and large corner-pieces (rebacked, preserving old gilt spine and lettering-piece, corners restored, upper joint cracked). Provenance : Jam[es] Dugdale (contemporary signature on blank recto of first leaf) -- Howard C. Levis (bookplate) -- Hannah D. Rabinowitz (morocco label) -- purchased from H.P. Kraus, New York, 1972. FIRST EDITIONS, third issue of part one. Each of the thirty songs that form Drayton's poetic survey of Britain is accompanied by a map of the region celebrated, with personifications of rivers, mountains and towns. Part one has the benefit of "dry but characteristically interesting notes" by John Selden (1584-1654). The title to part one was printed by Augustine Mathewes, 1622; but the publishers with their names in the imprint were in fact the purchasers of the remainder copies printed by Humphrey Lownes in 1612 for Mathew Lownes, John Browne John Helme and John Busby. Drayton had difficulty in finding a publisher for the second part, and even contemplated the then extraordinary step of having it printed in Edinburgh; the title-page to part two is the second variant, omitting the author's name. Grolier Langland to Wither 84; Pforzheimer 308 and 309; STC 7228 and 7230.