Leslie | De origine moribus, et rebus gestis Scotorum, Rome, 1578, later olive morocco by Clarke & Bedford

John Leslie

De origine moribus, et rebus gestis Scotorum libri decem... Accessit nova & accurata regionum & insularum Scotiae, cum vera eiusdem tabula topographica, descriptio. Rome: Stamperia del Popolo Romano, 1578

2 parts in one volume, 4to (220 x 158mm.), first word of titles within woodcut cartouche, woodcut printer's device on title-pages and at end, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, double-page engraved map, engraved genealogies, engraved arms of Mary queen of Scots (the dedicatee) on verso of second title-page, nineteenth-century olive morocco gilt by Clarke & Bedford, spine gilt in compartments, gilt edges

FIRST EDITION of Leslie's history of the kings of Scotland, concluding with Mary queen of Scots, for whom he acted as ambassador and adviser. It was printed in Rome where Leslie, the Catholic bishop of Ross, was in exile following his banishment from England after trying to secure the marriage of Mary with the Duke of Norfolk. He originally wrote this work in Scots while imprisoned in the Tower of London.

This copy has an early manuscript note in Latin on the leaf after the colophon, stating that Mary was executed in London "in this year" 1587, "exemplum memorabile, miseriae et calamitatis humanae".

LITERATURE

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