£1,000 - £1,500
Boece, Hector (14657-1536).
Scotorum historiae a prima gentis origine... libri XIX.
Duo postremi hujus Historiae libri nune primum emittuntur in lucem... per loannem Ferrerium... edita.
Lausanne, François Le Preux, for Jacq. du Puy in Paris, 1575.
Folio. 28 prelim., 402 numb. & 18 index leaves. With numerous large woodcut initials with scenes from the Old Testament. 18th century red morocco; sides with richly gilt border; richly gilt back with six raised bands; gilt inside dentelle; gilt edges (skilful repair to the hinges).
Hector Boece (or Boethius) of Dundee became a friend of Erasmus when they both stayed at the Collège de Montaigu in Paris and it was at his request that Erasmus wrote the 'Index omnium lucu-brationum', the last catalogue of his writings in 1530. In 1496 Boece had left Paris for Aberdeen where he contributed to the foundation of a new university and gained great renown as the first outstanding Scottish historian. Though his Historia Scotorum is not free of medieval fables and audacious fiction of his own, in the interest of patriotism he allowed even miracles to pass without criticism, Boece was regarded by his contemporaries, and till the 19th century, as a serious and reliable historian. It was from his pages that Holinshed took the tale of Macbeth and Duncan and so supplied Shakespeare with the plot of his great tragedy.
This work appeared first in 1527 in Paris, but the present edition (known in two variants: 1574 and 1575) is regarded as the best one (cf. Thompson I, p. 617). It is enlarged with two additional books by the Piedmontese historian John Ferrier, carrying the history from 1540, where Boece left it, down to the death of James III.
A very attractive copy, despite some spots and wormholes here and there, preserved in a richly gilt 18th (or 19th) century red morocco binding. 320mm x 210mm.
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