FROISSART'S CHRONICLES OF ENGLAND, FRANCE, SPAIN, PORTUGAL, SCOTLAND, BRITTANY, FLANDERS, AND THE ADJOINING COUNTRIES. [with] THE CHRONICLES OF ENGUERRAND DE MONSTRELET, [with] GRAFTON'S CHRONICLE; OR, HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [with] FABYAN'S CONCORDANCE OF HISTORIES, THE CHRONICLE OF IOHN HARDYNG, HALL'S CHRONICLE OF ENGLAND, RASTELL'S PASTIME OF PEOPLE . . . ESPECIALLY THE REALM OF ENGLAND, [and] ARNOLD'S CHRONICLE [THE CUSTOMS OF LONDON]

London and Hafod, 1809-11. 300 x 240 mm. (11 3/4 x 9 1/2"). 14 volumes. Froissart translated by John Bouchier, Lord Berners. Monstrelet translated by Thomas Johnes. Rastell edited by Thomas F. Dibdin.
HANDSOME CONTEMPORARY SPRINKLED CALF, GILT, covers with French fillet border, corners with floral spray topped by a coronet, raised bands, spine compartments with central floral sprig surrounded by small tools, acorn and oak leaf cornerpieces, one tan and one brown morocco label, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Monstrelet with 51 plates, one double page; Rastell with numerous woodcuts in the text and 18 full-page portraits of English kings. Lowndes III, 1586; Cave, "Private Press," pp. 43-44 (Monstrelet); Cox III, 380; Lowndes II, 924 (Grafton); Cox III, 375; Lowndes II, 843 (Froissart); Cox III, 378; Lowndes II, 984 (Hall); Cox III, 374; Lowndes I, 72 (Arnold); Cox III, 377; Lowndes IV, 2051 (Rastell); Cox III, 375; Lowndes II, 773-774 (Fabyan); Cox III, 378; Lowndes II, 994 (Hardyng). ◆Spines lightly sunned (top label more affected), a dozen boards with small patches of lost patina from insect activity, light rubbing to extremities, other insignificant defects, but the bindings lustrous, with very little wear, and making an imposing presence on the shelf. Illustrations lightly foxed, occasional minor foxing or browning to text (more prominent on a dozen or so openings, but never severe), other isolated negligible imperfections, but a fine set inside and out, the amply-margined text clean, bright, and fresh.

Tall, uniformly bound, and a striking ornament to any library, these volumes contain important histories first published in the 15th and 16th centuries, covering events in England, France, and western Europe from the first century A.D. through the mid-1500s. The famed "Chronicles" of Jean Froissart (ca. 1337 - ca. 1405) are a key resource for the Hundred Years' War and for the chivalric culture of the 14th century. Monstrelet (ca. 1400 - 1453) picked up where Froissart left off, reporting on the years 1400-44. The works by Robert Fabyan (d. ca. 1512) and John Hardyng (1378-1465) look at English history from the first century Roman occupation through the Plantagenet and Tudor dynasties ending in the 15th and 16th centuries, respectively. Printer John Rastell (d. 1536) compiled and published "Pastime," which looks at England from 1066-1485. The "Chronicle" by Edward Hall (1497-1547), covering the years 1399-1547, was a key source for Shakespeare's history plays and, according to A. W. Rosenbach's 1938 catalogue, was "the second book printed in English and written by an Englishman referring to America [as well as] the first English historical work mentioning a voyage to America." King's printer to Henry VIII and Edward VI, Richard Grafton (ca. 1506/7 or 1511 - 1573) produced an abridgement of earlier Chronicles and a continuation of Hall's work, notable, according to DNB, for "his description of the accession of Queen Elizabeth, her welcome in London, and the pageants held along the route—from the Tower to Westminster—which Grafton helped to oversee." "Customs of London," attributed to Richard Arnold (d. ca. 1521), lists mayors, sheriffs, and bailiffs of that city from the time of Richard I to that of Henry VI, and contains its articles, charters, and ordinances. It is easy to picture the present set on the shelves of a stately home---which, given their "country house" condition, is quite possibly where they resided for many years..