GRAFTON, Richard (d. ca. 1572). A Chronicle at large and meere History of the affayres of Englande... from the Creation of the Worlde, unto the first... yere... of the Queene Elizabeth. [This seconde Volume beginning at William the Conquerour...]. London: [H. Denham for R. Tottle and H. Toye], 1569[-68].
GRAFTON, Richard (d. ca. 1572). A Chronicle at large and meere History of the affayres of Englande... from the Creation of the Worlde, unto the first... yere... of the Queene Elizabeth. [This seconde Volume beginning at William the Conquerour...]. London: [H. Denham for R. Tottle and H. Toye], 1569[-68].

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GRAFTON, Richard (d. ca. 1572). A Chronicle at large and meere History of the affayres of Englande... from the Creation of the Worlde, unto the first... yere... of the Queene Elizabeth. [This seconde Volume beginning at William the Conquerour...]. London: [H. Denham for R. Tottle and H. Toye], 1569[-68].

2 volumes in one, 2o (274 x 178 mm). Title within woodcut border containing portraits of Queen Elizabeth and ten Biblical, classical and modern rulers [McKerrow & Ferguson 131], seven woodcut illustrations, mostly after Virgil Solis, Grafton's large woodcut printer's device at the end [McKerrow 104], large historiated woodcut initials. (First title torn, remargined and repaired, a few leaves with margins or corners renewed, affecting a few letters, small rusthole to a few leaves.) 19th-century morocco ruled in blind and gilt, spine gilt lettered, edges gilt (light rubbing to joints and corners). Provenance: Josiah Spode (bookplate); Walter Thomas Wallace (bookplate).

FIRST EDITION. Grafton is best known as a printer of the English Reformation: he printed Matthew's Bible (1537) and the first Book of Common Prayer (1549). His Chronicle has been criticised for its lack of new material; Grafton relied heavily on the works of Hardyng and Hall that he printed 1543 and 1548. STC 12147(a).

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