Lot 260
Conestaggio, Girolamo Franchi di
Rare Books, Maps and Manuscripts
Auction: 11 January 2012 at 11:00 GMT
Description
The historie of the uniting of the Kingdom of Portugall to the Crowne of Castill. London: Arn[old] Hatfield for Edward Blount, 1600. First edition, small folio, pp [xii] 324 [vii], woodcut printer's device (McKerrow 293), contemporary vellum, remains of 2 ties, small loss at head of spine, a little soiled, title page dusty and frayed at fore edge, a few fore-edges softening, predominantly marginal light water staining in places, some upper outer corners worn, a very little marginal worming and one neat marginal repair, spine, a little soiled
Footnote
Note: STC 562; Lowndes II, 508; Alden 600/31; Brunet II, 217 (with the original Italian edition).
Attributed to Juan de Silva, conde de Portalegre, the work deals with the recent history of the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal prior to and during the union of their crowns. Of particular interest is its treatment of the voyages of discovery and of Portuguese colonial expansion, especially in Africa, Asia and the Southern Americas. The translation is almost certainly by Edward Blount (1565-1632), though it was also attributed to Marlowe, publisher and translator into English of a number of popular Spanish and Italian works of the day, including the first English edition of Cervantes.
Provenance: Large 18th century armorial ex-libris of John Marsh.