Spotswood, John

The History of the Church in Scotland

London By J. Flesher for R. Royston 1655 Beginning the Year of our Lord 203, and continued to the end of the Reign of King James the VI of ever blessed Memory. Wherein are described, The Progress of Christianity; The Persecutions and Interruptions of it [...] The Reformation of Religion, and the frequent Disturbances of that Nation, by Wars, Conspiracies, Tumults, Schisms. Together with great variety of other Matters, both Ecclesiastical and Politicall [...]. Engraved frontispiece portrait of Spottiswood by Hollar, and portrait of Charles I. Title printed in red and black. First Edition. Folio. [10]ff, 546, [12] pp. Bound in contemporary calf. (Neatly rebacked, preserving the original paper manuscript label). Wing S.5022. Short tear (paper-fault?) in margin of X2, and a few spots, but a very good copy. The final leaf is "A Catalogue of some Books Printed for Richard Royston at the Angel in Ivie-lane, London. And of some formerly Printed at Oxford". This is an early example of a publisher's stock list printed on the spare pages of a book. Pollard and Ehrman - "The Distribution of Books by Catalogue" note an isolated instance in an Edinburgh imprint of 1603, but the practice started in England at the end of 1649. This catalogue for Royston's books is recorded in Pollard and Ehrman's Table XXIII (p.170). The fine engraved portrait of Charles I is headed "The Authors Dedication to". The Archbishop of St. Andrews's posthumous "magnum opus", "of value as a counterpoise to the "History" of Calderwood... Written with candour and impartiality" (DNB). This copy is inscribed on the front endleaf by the bookseller Gabriel Bedell: "Maij 23th: 1655. I doe warrant this booke to be ye last Edition & perfect. Gabr. Bedell". He probably sold it to the antiquary and bookcollector Daniel Fleming (1633-1701), who has signed it on the title, and with a flourish and the shelf-mark (?) "H.2,10" on the front endleaf. Fleming's other marks include the underlined code "Hcs" (for "History Church Scotland") and "11-0" on the front paste-down and the head of the title. He has paginated the preliminary and final leaves, and made a few marginal ink notes, and underlined a few words and marked a few lines in pencil. He also added the paper label on the spine, with the abbreviated title in manuscript. Fleming inherited considerable estates in Westmoreland after the death of his father in 1653. He was a staunch supporter of the Church of England, and enemy of protestant dissenters and Roman Catholics. He was knighted in 1681 and sat as M.P. for Cockermouth in the Parliament of 1685-87, but devoted himself largely to antiquarian studies and the tending of his books.

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• bookseller: George Bayntun (GREAT BRITAIN)