The Holkham Library : Illuminations and Illustrations in the Manuscript Library of the Earl of Leicester

Printed for presentation to members of the Roxburghe Club, Oxford, first edition, 1970. Roxburghe cherry morocco spine and boards, top edge gilt, folio, 44 cm, title printed in red and black,. xii, 48 pp, 160 plates (some colour). Unusually for a Roxburghe Club publication the volume reproduces not a single work but rather a selection of plates from some 39 manuscripts from the famous library at Holkham Hall. From Walter Hassall's preface: "As librarian to Lord Leicester's father and grandfather before him I welcome the challenge of producing this survey. The introduction does not confine itself to discussing the most important individual manuscripts, but touches upon some of the libraries from which the manuscripts came and upon the libraries from which those libraries had in turn acquired them. The Holkham library is not only an essential part of the interior decoration of some of the finest rooms in the house: the coexistence of many manuscripts is itself a historical fact which contains clues of value to historians and future historians, about the history of book production." Contents include: Introduction The History of the Holkham Library - 1. Library of Sir Edward Coke. His English Manuscripts. Library of Sir Christopher Hatton; 2. Library of Thomas Coke. a. Libraries of Raphael de Marcatellis, of Gaspar de Haro, and of the Discalced Augustinians of Lyons. Their Flemish, French, and Italian manuscripts; b. Library of Giuseppe Valetta at Naples; c. Paduan Libraries, especially San Giovanni in Verdara, Battista de Lignamine, Giovanni Marcanova, Battista di Bartolommeo Capodilista, and Pietro da Montagnana; d Library of Trevisan at Venice; e Library of Giustiniani at Venice; f. Unidentified Libraries, mostly Italian; g. Library of Seidel at Berlin. Byzantine Gospels; 3. Acquisition of Thomas William Coke of Norfolk - Virgil; Appendix I. List of Volumes at Holkham containing Illuminations and Illustrations in Manuscript with references to the plates; Appendix II. Locations of Books no longer at Holkham; Index of Patrons, Scribes, Artists, Printers, Binders, and Libraries; Index of Illustrated Manuscripts; Plates. Corners and fore-edges of boards a little bumped, page-edges slightly yellowed, otherwise Near Fine.